It was a chaotic moment at the Heritage Bank office in Calabar as angry customers have threatened to break down the facility if their deposits are tempered with.
Hundreds of customers as early as 7am on Wednesday crowded the bank’s Calabar head office entrance opposite the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Calabar office, demanding access to retrieve their money from Heritage Bank but denied entrance.
Some of the customers already in tears said they received an anonymous notice on withdrawal of the bank’s licence.
By 10am, an official from the bank addressed the angry Heritage Bank customers, asking them to go home while assuring their monies will be send to their other bank accounts linked to their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN).
The official appealed to the customers not to panic as the bank will commence the exercise on Thursday June 6, 2024.
The CBN on Monday revoked the operational license of Heritage Bank due to inability to improve its financial status.
The development caused panic among customers over their deposits.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says it will begin payment of insured sum to 2.3 million depositors of Heritage Bank in-liquidation this week.
The Managing Director of NDIC, Mr Bello Hassan, said this while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday.
Hassan said the bank had preliminary deposits of N650 billion and loan worth N700 billion.
According to him, 99.9 per cent of depositors of the defunct bank have a deposit balance of less than five million naira, while only 4,000 of the depositors have more than five million naira deposit. (Pieced together from reports by The Nation and NAN)
