Banking
34,000 Defunct Microfinance Banks’ Depositors Share N1.2bn
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) claims it has refunded over N1.2 billion to about 34,000 depositors of 179 microfinance banks whose licenses were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Managing Director of the agency, Mr Bello Hassan, revealed this while speaking during the 2023 Sensitisation Seminar for Judges of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) and members of the Investments and Security Tribunal in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Tuesday.
Mr Hassan, who was represented by the Executive Director of Operations at NDIC, Mr Mustapha Ibrahim, explained that the seminar was imperative for stakeholders to understand the workings and nuances of NDIC and also its operational activities.
Speaking on the theme of the seminar, Strengthening Depositors’ Confidence in Banks and Other Financial Institutions through Speedy Dispensation of Justice, Mr Hassan said the programme was anchored on the need for strategic partnering and collaboration with the judiciary for the promotion of financial System stability in Nigeria.
“Our first mandate is deposit guarantee, in other words, any deposit institution that we found, we have to guarantee payment of depositors.
“The recent closure of 179 microfinance banks and four primary mortgage institutions and we have been resolving them in an orderly manner.
“So far, we have been able to settle over 34,000 depositors of microfinance banks whose licenses were recently revoked by CBN and we paid N1.2 billion to settle these 34,000 depositors of microfinance banks and it is still an ongoing process, liquidation is not something you accomplished in a day or two,” he said.
The NDIC boss further stated that the statutory functions of the corporation include deposit guarantee, bank supervision, distress resolution, and bank liquidation, saying that upon the revocation of banking license, the NDIC has the statutory powers, to liquidate the insured financial institution whose license has been revoked.
He noted some of the challenges facing the NDIC included the, “Execution of judgement against the corporation for liabilities of banks in-liquidation, Attachment of the assets of the corporation (NDIC), including garnishee of the corporation’s corporate accounts, difficulties in the recovery of debts owed the failed banks, difficulties in bringing to book (criminal prosecution) directors, managers, and officers of failed banks that might have contributed to the collapse of their banks.”
He listed others to include a lack of specialised winding-up rules for failed financial institutions as provided for in Section 56(1) and (2) of the NDIC Act 2023; an increase in cases by ex-staff of banks under liquidation on labour law matters and issues relating to stocks and securities matters.”
According to him, despite the noted challenges, the CBN and NDIC had recorded tremendous achievements in the intervention and resolution of problem banks through the various resolution options such as bridge bank mechanism, purchase, and assumption option, among others.
“The corporation over the years has successfully liquidated many DMBs, MFBs, and PMBs whose licenses were revoked by the CBN, and their depositors as well as other claimants paid, with some of them fully settled from debts recovered and the assets realised,” he added.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Sewa Capital Investment, an investment banking and financial advisory firm focused on supporting high-growth businesses across Africa, has made a strategic investment in Mathesis Analytics, a Nigerian financial technology company providing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered credit decisioning infrastructure.
The investment is expected to support Mathesis Analytics’ expansion drive for its AI-powered credit infrastructure in Nigeria.
Currently, Nigerian lenders face a critical structural gap: the fragmentation of verifiable consumer data makes it difficult to accurately price risk at scale. Mathesis directly addresses this bottleneck by aggregating disparate transactional and behavioural data into a real-time measure of creditworthiness.
The investment will support product development, institutional integrations, expansion of Mathesis’ lender network, and the strengthening of its data and technology infrastructure, a statement from the fintech firm stated.
By embedding this infrastructure, financial institutions can expand underwriting capacity, support more accurate risk-based lending decisions, and reach new market segments without compromising established risk thresholds.
For Mathesis Analytics, this investment represents an important milestone in its strategy to build Africa’s next-generation credit infrastructure to drive true financial inclusion.
Mathesis has already supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, providing a substantial operating base from which to deepen institutional adoption and expand into additional markets.
The company will leverage Sewa Capital’s backing to accelerate the expansion of its institutional footprint.
“At Sewa Capital, we are interested in businesses building the infrastructure that enables African economies to allocate capital more efficiently and inclusively.
“Mathesis Analytics is addressing a fundamental constraint in credit markets: the information gap that limits lenders’ ability to assess risk confidently.
“Its technology has the potential to expand responsible access to credit in Nigeria and, over time, across Africa. We are pleased to support the team through its next phase of growth,” the Managing Director of Sewa Capital, Ms Angela Jide-Jones, commented.
The chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Mr Winston Osuchukwu, in his reaction, said, “Credit inclusion begins with information visibility.
“Partnering with Sewa Capital accelerates the rollout of our infrastructure; equipping a wider network of lenders with the capabilities required to accurately evaluate risk and ultimately deliver credit services to previously excluded populations across the continent.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Eligible innovators, financial institutions, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), financial technology (fintech) companies, and technology firms have been invited to apply for the second cohort of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Regulatory Sandbox Programme.
A statement signed by the acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Department of the apex bank, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed that entries opened on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, and will close on Monday, August 31, 2026.
Cohort 2 of the initiative introduces two dedicated testing tracks to support emerging technologies with the potential to strengthen Nigeria’s financial system while upholding high standards of consumer protection, financial stability, and market integrity.
According to the central bank, the two tracks are VASP and Data-Enabled Financial Services (Non-VASP).
VASP track is to support innovative virtual asset, stablecoin, payment, settlement, custody, wallet, and related financial infrastructure solutions that require supervised live testing, while the non-VASP track supports innovations that leverage secure digital infrastructure and permission-based data sharing to improve financial inclusion, payments, credit, risk management, operational efficiency, and consumer outcomes.
The CBN Regulatory Sandbox provides a controlled environment in which eligible participants may test innovative financial products, services, business models, and enabling technologies under the supervision of the CBN.
The programme enables the CBN and innovators to engage constructively throughout the testing process, supporting regulatory learning while encouraging responsible innovation that benefits consumers and the wider financial system.
Eligible organisations whose proposed innovations fall within the programme’s scope are encouraged to apply.
Applications will be assessed based on the level of innovation, readiness for controlled live testing, potential consumer or market benefit, governance arrangements, risk management capability, and the suitability of the proposed testing plan.
Successful participants will undertake supervised testing within clearly defined parameters agreed with the CBN, including appropriate safeguards for consumer protection, operational resilience, cybersecurity, and regulatory reporting.
The central bank emphasised that participation in the scheme does not constitute a licence, authorisation, or approval to operate outside the approved testing parameters.
It noted that the Sandbox is intended to facilitate responsible experimentation, strengthen regulatory engagement, and support evidence-based policy development in line with the CBN’s statutory mandate.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The international spending limit on the GTBank Naira card has been increased by the financial institution to $40,000.
This information was revealed by the lender in an email to customers on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.
The banking subsidiary of GTCO Plc disclosed that the new offshore spending limit is for a quarter.
This development comes as the Nigerian foreign exchange (FX) market is witnessing stability against the United States Dollar.
The forex volatility experienced a few years ago has eased, allowing companies and others to plan within a reasonable exchange rate band.
“The Dollar limit on your GTBank Naira Card is now $40,000 quarterly,” the tier-1 commercial bank said in the message sighted by Business Post.
Improvement in forex liquidity in the domestic FX ecosystem has allowed Nigerians to use their local cards to complete financial transactions on foreign platforms, which was not possible a few years ago because of Dollar scarcity and arbitrage.
At the official market on Tuesday, the exchange rate closed at N1,364/$1. It was exchanged at N1,367/$1 at the GTBank FX desk and N1,395/$1 at the parallel market.
