The total number of accounts in the deposit money banks across the country stood at 128.4 million in 2019.
Speaking at the 18th edition of workshop for business editors and finance correspondents association of Nigeria (FICAN), in Gombe State, the managing director and chief executive of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr Bello Hassan, said: “In 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, the total number of accounts in the deposit money banks stood at 83 million; 99.1million; 112.0 million and 128.4 million respectively. Out of these numbers, the N500,000 coverage limit fully covered 99.4; 97.6; 97.5 and 97.6 per cents of accounts, respectively.”
Stating that the figure entails that only less than three per cent of accounts/depositors are not fully covered by the prevailing insurance coverage limits, he added that the implication of this is that, in the event of failure of a bank, above 97 per cent of depositors would be fully covered by the corporation.
He promised depositors that they would be able to recoup their deposits in the event of any bank closure, even as the corporation seeks amendments that will speed up asset recovery.
According to him, “97.6 per cent of accounts are fully covered under the N500,000 current coverage limit of the corporation, adding that the limit is subject to periodic reviews.”
“From the foregoing statistics, it could be observed that the corporation’s deposit insurance coverage limits are not only adequate but robust enough to engender confidence in our banking system,” he pointed out.
Stating that the coverage limits are not designed to be static but subject to periodic reviews to ensure that they are consistent with the public policy objectives of the Deposit Insurance System, he added that, the corporation successfully reviewed upward the coverage limits from N50,000 at inception in 1989 to N200,000 in 2006 and N500,000 in 2010.”
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