The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has said its enhanced deposit insurance coverage of up to N5 million now provides full protection for more than 98 per cent of depositors in Deposit Money Banks and Mobile Money Operators.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the NDIC, Thompson Oludare Sunday, disclosed this yesterday at the corporation’s Special Day at the ongoing 21st Abuja International Trade Fair.

Sunday said the enhanced coverage, introduced in 2024, was aimed at strengthening confidence in the banking system and protecting households, small businesses and other vulnerable depositors against the immediate financial impact of bank failures.

Under the revised framework, depositors in Deposit Money Banks and Mobile Money Operators are insured up to N5 million per depositor, per institution. Depositors in Microfinance Banks, Primary Mortgage Banks and Payment Service Banks are covered up to N2 million.

He said the higher limits had strengthened the financial safety net for depositors as households and businesses increasingly relied on banks to safeguard savings, facilitate payments and provide access to credit.

Sunday also said the NDIC had modernised the reimbursement of depositors of failed banks through technology, including the use of Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), the Single Customer View framework and the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System infrastructure.

He said verified depositors of failed banks could now receive their insured deposits within days of a bank’s closure, compared with the manual processes that previously made claims reimbursement more cumbersome.

The NDIC boss said the corporation was also repositioning itself as a “Risk Minimiser”, rather than merely an institution that reimburses depositors after bank failures.

According to him, the NDIC is increasingly focused on identifying vulnerabilities early and taking measures to prevent institutional weaknesses from escalating into wider financial-system problems.

He said the corporation had deployed risk-based supervision, an enhanced Differential Premium Assessment System, the Single Customer View Framework and the Bank Liquidation Management System, while strengthening collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria and other financial safety-net institutions.