How Viscount pays you to hold your money
When you place money with Viscount for a fixed period, you are making a deposit with a bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria and insured by the NDIC. The return is fixed on the day you commit, interest accrues daily, and every figure is shown before you confirm. This page explains how that works, how it is regulated, and what it is not.
A bank pays interest because it lends your money out
A microfinance bank is funded by its depositors. When you place money with Viscount for a fixed period, we lend it, under the CBN's prudential rules, to the individuals, businesses and institutions described on our Loans page. The interest they pay funds the interest we pay you. That is the whole mechanism, and it is why a fixed-period deposit earns more than money left in a current account: you have given us certainty about how long we can lend it.
- Longer commitment, higher rateThe longer the period, the more certainty we have and the higher the rate we can pay. Our rate table shows every tenor side by side.
- Fixed means fixedThe rate on your confirmation applies for the whole period regardless of what happens to market rates afterwards, in either direction.
- Interest computed daily, paid as agreedAccrual starts the day you fund. Interest is paid at maturity, or periodically for longer placements if you choose, into your Viscount account.
- Roll over or pay outAt maturity the money returns to your account, or renews for the same period at the rate then on offer. You choose, and you can change your mind any time before the date.
Every figure on the screen before you confirm
A deposit should have no surprises at either end. Before you commit, and again on the confirmation we send you, we set out the same things.
The rate and the period
Quoted per annum, fixed, with the start date and the exact maturity date.
Gross interest
The interest the deposit will earn over the full period, computed on the basis stated.
Withholding tax
Nigerian law requires banks to deduct 10% withholding tax on interest and remit it to the tax authority. We show it as a line, not a footnote.
Net amount at maturity
Principal plus interest after tax: the number that will actually land in your account, and the account it will land in.
Early liquidation terms
What happens if you need the money before the date, stated before you commit rather than discovered when you ask.
Your maturity instruction
Pay out or roll over, recorded on the confirmation and changeable in the app until the maturity date.
How a deposit with Viscount is protected
Two institutions stand behind every deposit: the Central Bank of Nigeria, which licenses and supervises us, and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures what you deposit. Here is what each of them does.
- Licence to take deposits
- Viscount is licensed by the CBN as a microfinance bank, which is a licence to accept deposits from the public. Only a CBN-licensed institution may do so.
- Prudential supervision
- The CBN sets minimum capital, liquidity and lending limits for microfinance banks and examines them regularly. The rules exist so that a bank can always meet withdrawals as they fall due.
- NDIC insurance
- Every microfinance bank must insure its deposits with the NDIC. Cover is currently ₦2,000,000 per depositor per bank, and it applies to savings, current and fixed or time deposits alike. Depositors pay nothing for it.
- What the cover means in practice
- If a bank's licence is revoked, the NDIC pays insured depositors directly, using their BVN to locate an account at another bank. Balances above the insured amount are paid from the liquidation of the bank's assets.
- Disclosure
- The CBN's Consumer Protection Framework requires that the terms of a deposit, including rate, tenor, tax and early-withdrawal conditions, are disclosed before a customer commits. We do this on screen and in writing.
- Tax
- Withholding tax on interest is deducted at the statutory rate and remitted to the tax authority. We issue a credit note for every deduction so you can claim it in your own filing.
- Identity and source of funds
- Deposits are accepted under the CBN's tiered KYC and anti-money-laundering rules. Larger placements may require confirmation of the source of funds; this is a licence obligation, not a judgement about you.
- Complaints
- Any dispute about a deposit, its interest or its maturity can be raised with us for a reference number, and escalated to the CBN's Consumer Protection Department if unresolved after fourteen working days.
A deposit, not a bet
Placing money with Viscount is a bank deposit: a fixed return, insured by the NDIC, with no exposure to markets. It is worth being clear about what we do not offer, because the difference matters.
- Not shares, funds or bondsThose are securities, regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and sold by licensed capital-market operators. A microfinance bank's licence does not cover them and we do not sell them.
- Not cryptocurrency or foreign-currency schemesWe do not hold, trade or promote them, and we will never contact you to suggest you should.
- Not a guaranteed return above what a bank can earnOur rates reflect what we can responsibly earn by lending under CBN rules. An offer of far more than that, from anyone, is a warning sign.
- A fixed return you can plan aroundYou know the date and the amount on day one. For money that has a purpose and a date, that certainty is the point.
Treasury under your own controls
A business, school or association holding cash between obligations can place it with Viscount under the same roles and approvals that govern its payments. An initiator proposes, an approver confirms, and the placement matures back into the operating account on a date chosen to suit the cash-flow.
- An approved action, loggedPlacing and breaking a deposit is recorded in the audit trail with who did it and when.
- Records for the auditorsA confirmation for every placement, an interest statement, and withholding tax credit notes for the company's filing.
About placing money with a microfinance bank
Is my money as safe here as in a commercial bank?+
What does "per depositor" mean if I have several deposits?+
Why is withholding tax deducted?+
Can the rate change during the period?+
What if I need the money early?+
Does Viscount offer shares, mutual funds or dollar investments?+
Place funds with a bank you can hold to account
Fixed return, daily accrual, every figure on the screen before you commit, and the CBN and NDIC behind it. Open an account and the rate table is in the app.
- Rate fixed the moment you confirm
- Net return shown after withholding tax
- NDIC insured up to ₦2,000,000 per depositor
