Heritage Banking Company has commenced payment to customers of the defunct Societe General Bank, whose accounts have been successfully validated.
A statement made available to our correspondent on Friday said the exercise was in two parts: verification of accounts and instant issuance of payment cheques for those who preferred to collect the balances in their accounts.
It said owners of successfully validated accounts had the option of retaining their money with the new Heritage Bank, which will begin operations before the first quarter of the year ends.
According to the statement, the management of Heritage Bank has put everything in place to ensure that all SGBN customers who turn up for the month-long exercise go back satisfied.
It said, “Management has made adequate arrangement for everybody and we have the financial strength to pay everybody if the need arises,” it said.
On the modality for account validation, the statement said savings account holders were expected to come with means of identification such as driver’s licence, passport or national identity card, as well as their cash withdrawal forms and deposit slips.
For current and corporate accounts, customers are expected to present their cheque books or cheque stumps.
It said, “The process is simple, hassle-free and technology-driven to ensure that customers that turn up do not have to wait endlessly. We just call up the customer’s number from our server base at the head office.
“Once this appears, the customer’s picture is taken and stored and the form is passed on to the validation officer through the control officer, for the account to be verified, including the balance in such account.
“Once this is done, the customer is referred to the cashiers who instantly write cheques for those that want their account balance paid.”
It will be recalled that Heritage Banking Company, which was licensed recently by the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate under a regional banking status, had announced the commencement of a one-month account validation exercise for customers of the old SGBN
A statement from the bank had earlier stated that the exercise, was in line with the terms of the operational licence granted it by the CBN.
The exercise, which began last week will set the tone for the commencement of operations of Heritage Bank.