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Walter Muchinguri  Assistant Business Editor
The Deposit Protection Corporation  (DPC) is unlikely to pay all the depositors of closed banks as a good number of depositors had low balances when the banks closed while others are yet to submit their claims.The corporation said that such depositors were reluctant to submit their claims.

The corporation is in the process of settling claims from 85 Genesis Bank clients, 5 483 Royal Bank clients and 2 958 Trust Bank clients.
So far it has settled 71 percent of the insured deposit of Genesis Bank clients, 75 percent of insured deposits of Royal Bank clients and 34 percent of insured deposits of Trust Bank clients.

Genesis closed on June 11, 2012 followed by the Royal Bank on July 27, 2012 and Trust bank on December 6 2013.

The corporation has since paid out $471 188 against total insured deposits of $812 523,14.

“We expect that most depositors would have responded to our various adverts to submit claims by end of the year but we are unlikely to pay 100 percent of the depositors due to lack of up to date contact details of some clients while other depositors are reluctant to claim small balances below $10.

“For instance 1,219 Trust Bank depositors have balances below $10,” the corporation said.

The Deposit Protection Corporation said it was considering using mobile payment platform to settle some of the payments due to depositors of closed  banks.

According to the institution the mobile payment platforms will be used to settle payments of depositors who had balances that were below $10.

“Efforts have been made to pay some of these small balances using Ecocash and Telecash but not all payments have been processed as some of the lines are not registered,” it said.

Apart from depositors with low balances, the corporation said most corporates with balances above the insurable amount were also reluctant to come forward preferring to wait for the liquidation process than submit claims for the maximum insurable amount of $500.
In terms of section 38 (5)b of the DPC Act (Chapter 24:29),the period within which a protected depositor must exercise his or her rights shall be 36 months from the date when the Corporation is appointed liquidator.

Genesis Bank depositors have up to 2015 to claim their funds while Royal and Trust bank depositors should submit their claims by 2016.

However the Corporation can use its discretion to waive the period in instances where the depositor has valid reasons for failing to submit a claim within the prescribed timeframes.