All Nigerian banks remain safe, sound – NDIC boss

Bello Hassan, Managing Director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has said that all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria, including Polaris Bank, are safe and sound.

Hassan clarified the sideline of a three-day Capacity Building Workshop organized by the Legal Department of NDIC, for law enforcement agencies at BWC Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Wednesday.

Speaking at the workshop which was themed, “Effective Investigation and Prosecution of Banking Malpractices that Led to Failure of Banks,” Hassan said the Polaris Bank was not sold as reported by some media recently.

“All banks that are operating within the country are sound in as much as their licenses have not been revoked. If there is a problem, the regulator that issues the license will be the one to revoke the license.

“In as long as the license is not revoked, you’re free to continue to bank with the institution; it means it is safe,’’ Hassan said.

The NDIC boss also explained that the corporation usually carried out stress tests on banks every month, to ascertain their financial soundness.

He said: “The Central Bank also does stress testing, and so do we in NDIC. We do it every month to ascertain the financial soundness of those banks and we see no red line.