Heritage Bank Pays SGBN Customers At Account Valid Centres

One significant highpoint of the account validation exercise kicked off by Heritage Banking Company on Tuesday 29 January for Customers of the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN) is the immediate issuance of payment cheques to customers whose accounts are successfully validated.

Investigations conducted across some designated centres showed that the exercise is in two parts namely verification of accounts and instant issuance of payment cheques for those who prefer to collect the balances in their accounts. Owners of successfully validated accounts also have the option of retaining such with the new Heritage Bank which is set to begin operations before the first quarter of the year ends.

At the AIB plaza centre in Lagos, an official who asked not to be named stated that the management of the new Heritage Bank has put everything in place to ensure that all SGBN customers who turn up for the month-long exercise go back satisfied.

In her words, “Management has made adequate arrangement for everybody and we have the financial strength to pay everybody if the need arises”.

On the modality for account validation, the official said Savings account holders are 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, account holders are expected to present their chequebooks or cheque stumps.

 “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”, the official explained.