NDIC begins auction of failed 37 MFBs’ landed property

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) may have begun the process of auction of landed property belonging to the liquidated 37 Microfinance Banks (MFBs) in the country.

The MFBs, which lost their licences in a target examination carried out jointly by NDIC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), would now have their landed property auctioned.

Specifically, the distressed MFBs were observed to be as a result of many factors, including high level of non-performing loans resulting in high portfolio risks; poor corporate governance and incompetent boards; high level of non-performing insider-related credits; and others forms of insider abuse, as well as heavy exposure to the capital market crisis.

NDIC, in exercise of its authority as liquidator of the failed MFBs, in an advertorial, has invited interested members of the general public to buy the landed property of the financial institutions.

A breakdown of the list of the failed microfinance banks showed that out of 37 MFBs, seven are from Ogun, three from Akwa Ibom, two from Enugu, one from Ekiti, six from Rivers, two from Imo, three from Lagos, two from Anambra, one from Ebonyi, one from Kano, two from Kebbi, two from Kaduna, one from Kogi, three from Plateau and one from Delta states.

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) recently auctioned other assets of failed 46 MFBs, which included furniture, fixtures, fittings, equipment, generators, motor vehicles of defunct MFBs through Public Competitive Bidding/Auction.

MFBs were established to help the micro and small businesses by extending financial services to them and in the process, boost their growth and generation of income and employment.

NDIC is an independent agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, with the objective of protecting deposits, as well as guarantee payment of insured funds in the event of failure of the financial institutions.

However, NDIC said it had in 2013, embarked on confidence building and stability in the banking system through continuous and effective supervision and regulation.