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Tag: Fidelity Bank

  • Fidelity Bank to help schools for new session

    Fidelity Bank to help schools for new session

    Fidelity Bank Plc has pledged to help schools prepare adequately for the new session and deliver quality education.

     Through its product known as the Fidelity Edu Loan, administrators of registered private primary, secondary and tertiary institutions can access loans of up to N180 million.

     In a chat with reporters, Divisional Head, Product Development, Fidelity Bank Plc, Osita Ede said: “At Fidelity Bank, we recognise the pivotal role quality education plays in the development of any nation and this informed our introduction of the Fidelity Edu Loan. Through the offering, privately-run educational institutions can access loans at a friendly rate for working capital needs like minor renovation on their school property, financing the purchase of school supplies like books, teaching materials, furniture or uniforms; and making salary payments.

    Read Also; ‘Education minister’ll not disappoint Nigerians’

     “Similarly, schools can leverage the Fidelity Edu Loan to purchase fixed assets like school buses, generators and construct new school buildings.

    “To be eligible for the product, the requesting customer must have operated their educational institution for at least three years and should be duly registered with the relevant authorities.

     “The Fidelity Edu Loan is part of our larger education finance proposition at Fidelity Bank as we aim to empower everyone within the education ecosystem, including the schools, parents and contractors, with amazing financial and non-financial products and services.

     “For instance, we have the Fidelity personal loan which provides instant loans of up to N5 million to employees of private and public organisations by simply dialing *770*08# from their mobile phones. This can become handy for paying school fees or meeting other personal needs.”

     Fidelity Bank is a full-fledged commercial bank with over eight million customers serviced across its 250 business offices and digital banking channels. The bank was recently recognised as the Best SME Bank Nigeria 2022 by the Global Banking & Finance Awards.

    The bank has also won awards for the “Fastest Growing Bank” and “MSME & Entrepreneurship Financing Bank of the Year” at the 2021 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.

  • Fidelity Bank eyes tier 1 category by 2022

    Nnamdi Okonkwo is the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc. In this interview with EMEKA UGWUANYI, he speaks on how the bank is contributing to the growth of the economy through various interventions, its aspirations, achievements and other issues in the financial sector.

    A UITED Nations  report says Nigeria has the highest poverty rate despite the contributions of the Central Bank and commercial lenders, such as Fidelity. Where is the missing link?

    In general, several factors are responsible for high unemployment rate, which include poor infrastructure, misaligned government policies, excessive importation and dumping, as well as paucity of funds, especially to growing companies and start-ups, among others. Unemployment in Nigeria is about 23.1 per cent, which is considered very high. However, the Federal Government, through its agencies, is creating the right environment and policies to encourage job creation. The early signs of what these agencies are doing are impactful.

    According to World Bank, the ease of doing business in Nigeria has improved significantly in 2019. Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has created several intervention funds to increase the investment in agriculture and manufacturing and other key sectors that employ a large percentage of the  workforce.On the part of Fidelity Bank Plc, we have consistently supported the economy by providing funding to companies and help them grow their businesses. Few years ago, we set up small and medium enterprises (SME) advisory desk primarily to deepen our attractions with SMEs and understand how best to serve. We have, so far, sponsored several events as well as partnered with government agencies such as the CBN and Bank of Industries, to support the growth of SMEs. Just last month, precisely on August 7, 2019, we organised a funding event for the SMEs in Lagos which had a theme: Entrepreneurship meets capital. The event hosted over 2,000 SMEs and provided them with the opportunity of interacting with several fund providers, private equity firms and venture capitalists etc. After the event, three SMEs with compelling business proposals received prize awards to help them execute their plans. We plan to host the event in three other cities in the country. Beyond events, we have designed unique products to uplift SMEs in our economy.

    Can you tell us something about the company?

    Fidelity Bank is a commercial bank operating in Nigeria. We started operation about 31 years ago as a merchant bank and gradually grew our brand to become one of the top 10 banks in Nigeria. Currently, we have about five million customers, 250 business offices, 816 automated teller machines (ATMs) and over 6,000 point of sale (POS). To understand how we became a force in the banking space, in 2014 when I was appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), our profit before tax (PBT) was N9billion, net interest margin was one of the lowest in the industry at four per cent and we had about 2.4 million customers with digital banking penetration ratio of less than one per cent. At that time, Fidelity Bank was lagging behind some of the tier 2 banks. So, we set a four-year target to become the most profitable and the biggest Tier 2 bank in Nigeria and by December 2017, that feat was achieved through the concerted efforts of the Management Team and the Board of Fidelity Bank Plc.We were able to double our profit from N9 billion to N20 billion; our savings deposits doubled, growing from N83 billion to N179 billion and our customer base grew to 4.5 million; increased our digital penetration ratio from one per cent to 40 per cent. Digital income to total fee income increased from eight per cent to 25 per cent.More importantly, we were rated the third best Retail Bank in the KPMG Banking Industry Satisfaction Survey (BISS). Having achieved our 2014–2017 growth targets and fulfilled our promise to shareholders, our aspiration is now to become a Tier 1 Bank by 2022.

    CBN announced loan debits to be settled by deposits from other banks. What is your position on it?

    The Banking Industry in Nigeria has an NPL of about 10 per cent as at May 2019. These are funds the bank would have lent to other borrowers to improve their businesses and employ more workforce. So, clearly, NPL is a challenge and every effort geared towards reducing it will be encouraged. This is not to say the new policy has no blemishes or will not be implemented without some challenges. I am sure there will still be some modifications to the rule to ensure it is fair and effective. Do I support the policy? Yes – 100 per cnet. Do we have the capacity and infrastructure to implement it? Yes – 100 per cent.

    What are the efforts of the bank in tackling unemployment and food security through support to the agricultural sector?

    We have collaborated with NEPC and LBS on the Export Management Programme. We have trained over 475 budding and established exporters on techniques for increasing capacity and reaching new markets for agro-commodity exports. We have financed several agricultural companies in the country across different agricultural sectors stated below:

    • In the rice industry, we funded the expansion of the largest indigenous rice milling company in Nigeria. This has supported the drastic reduction of rice imports into the country resulting in direct and indirect employment of over 20,000 workers and farmers.
    • In the dairy industry, we funded the expansion of the biggest integrated dairy farms in Nigeria in addition to engagement of over 500 outgrowers.
    • Our intervention in the cocoa value chain has resulted in increased export volumes of our Nigerian cocoa products leading to direct and indirect employment of over 1,000 people.
    • We funded one of the largest producers of Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) in Nigeria
    • And we are one of the leading disbursement banks of the CBN Commercial Agric Credit Scheme (CACS). Over N20 billion has been disbursed to both the private sector and state governments resulting in employment generation in the affected locations.

    As a demonstration of our drive to support the agriculture and non-oil exports sector, we have provided finance in excess of N50 billion farm start-up, expansion and consolidation, among others.

    There is consolidation in the banking system with the merger between Diamond and Access Bank. Is there near term expectations of Fidelity acquiring a bank, especially ahead of Basel III?

    As noted earlier, our aspiration is to be a Tier 1 Bank by 2022 and we plan to achieve the feat by growing organically. However, we will not close our eyes to any acquisition opportunity in or outside Nigeria. If the transaction will add value to us and the price is good, we will buy.On the Basel III implementation, we have synthesised the impact and we have no doubt it will be minimal on our capital base. Currently, we have over $600 million (N215 billion) in equity and we are well above all the regulatory ratios, including liquidity ratio and capital adequacy ratio.

    How has Fidelity Bank demonstrated commitment to Environmental &Social Risk Management?

    Over the years, the bank has supported initiatives aimed at identifying and promoting the preservation, protection and beautification of the environment. We work in collaboration with public institutions, states and local governments – to create and maintain green parks in chosen locations. The beautification of the Falomo Roundabout in Lagos State, in partnership with the Lagos State government, is a typical example of what the bank seeks to achieve in this area.  We have successfully executed several beautification projects across the country. Some of these projects include Onikan, Eko Court, Burma Road. Apapa, BBA and Falomo Roundaboutall in Lagos; RSUT in Rivers State, Rangers Avenue junction in Enugu State, Mbaise Road in Imo State, Abia Towers in Umuahia, Secretariat junction, Ibadan, Oyo State; and Itam Peace Colon, AkwaIbom State, among others. The bank supports environmental advocacy groups like the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), a non-governmental organisation established and dedicated to the advocacy and practice of nature (Forest, Species and Habitat) conservation and good environmental practices. We participate in their advocacy programmes, one of which is the annual “Walk for nature”. We also undertake green initiatives that assist the environment. In this regard, we have become the first, and perhaps, the only bank in Nigeria that dispenses cash with recycled biodegradable cash bags instead of polyethylene bags used by others, which is destructive to the ecosystem. The bank also assents to relevant international Accords and Protocols aimed at promoting sustainability, like the Equator Principles. The Equator Principles (EPs) is a risk management framework, adopted by financial institutions, for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in projects. It is primarily intended to provide a minimum standard for due diligence and monitoring to support responsible risk decision-making.

    How active is Fidelity Bank participating in sector-wide efforts in promoting sustainable development?

    The Fidelity Bank Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy is hinged on Education, Environment, Health/Social Welfare and Youth Empowerment. However, we have an internal structure through which we achieve our CSR objective called the Fidelity Helping Hands Programme (FHHP), an all-inclusive staff voluntary initiative. The FHHP challenges the staff in every location where we do business to identify a project that is relevant to its community, contribute some funds while they get a 100 per cent counterpart fund from the Bank to support that project. Through the FHHP, several live changing and sustainable community development projects have been undertaken.

    How compliant is Fidelity Bank with providing accurate and timely information to the public regarding its lending, investment and advisory activities in accordance with corporate governance stance?

    Fidelity Bank is very strict on corporate governance. Interestingly, we have strong and reputed persons on the Board of Fidelity Bank. Our Chairman, Ernest Ebi, is a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, a former DMD of another bank and has held several top positions in the economy. We also have former CEOs of other banks, a former CEO of Guinness Nigeria PLC and Coca Cola West Africa, among others. You can’t attract such calibre of people to your board without practising top-notch corporate governance. We have a robust Call Centre that operates 24/7. Our Call Centre service has toll-free lines, so that our customers can call to make enquiries for free. To ensure we regularly get feedbacks from customers, we integrated a short feedback mechanism on our electronic platforms that prompts customers to provide feedback after their transactions. Our branches have a display board that shows our deposits and lending rates by maturities as well as our foreign currency exchange rates.On our financial results, we are one of the only six banks in Nigeria that audit interim results. Our quarterly results are published in at least two national dailies and also hosted on our website for the public to view and download.In addition, I host a conference call after the release of each quarterly result. The call gives investors, analysts and anyone interested in Fidelity Bank, the opportunity to ask me questions on the performance of Fidelity Bank.

    Can you enumerate areas where Fidelity Bank has empowered and created opportunities for women?

    Our staff count is about 3,000, and 45 per cent of them are women. On the Executive Management Team, three executive directors are women. Fidelity Bank has the highest number of female Executive Directors amongst Nigerian banks. We have done a lot to ensure women are given their rightful positions in and outside Fidelity Bank. At our maiden Fidelity SME Funding Event, the three prize winners were women.

    Climate change is a serious global challenge that may impede economic and social well-being and development efforts. How has Fidelity Bank contributed to the greenhouse emissions reduction?

    Fidelity recognises that climate change is a serious global challenge and addressing it, therefore, is a strategic priority for the bank. In pursuit of greenhouse gas emissions reduction, we have implemented strategies at the bank to reduce local and overseas travels. Key components of these strategies include installation of online learning and conferencing facilities which have reduced official travels within the bank. Also, as a deliberate carbon emissions reduction strategy, we ensure that our over 734 ATMs are powered with inverters.

    SMEs are critical agents for economic development, job creation and poverty alleviation. How has Fidelity Bank supported the growth and development of SMEs in Nigeria?

    below are some of the measures we have implemented to support SMEs:

    • We are sponsoring the first SME radio programme in Nigeria called Fidelity SME Forum where successful entrepreneurs are invited to discuss their success stories to motivate others. The programme is running on several radio stations across three states and can be stream live.
    • Last month, we organised a funding event for the SMEs in Lagos which had a theme “Entrepreneurship Meets Capital”. The event hosted over 2,000 SMEs and provided them with the opportunity of interacting with several fund providers, private equity firms and venture capitalists etc. After the event, three SMEs with compelling business proposals received prize awards to help them executive their plans. We plan to host the event in three other cities in Nigeria.
    • We have partnered several DFIs like DBN and AfDB to provide cheaper funds to SMEs.
    • We have also helped our customers access intervention funds from CBN and BOI which are lent at a maximum of 9 per cent.

    Cybercrime has been a major threat to the banking sector. What mechanism has Fidelity Bank put in place to guard against this menace?

    Cybercrime is a major threat to the Banking sector and in Fidelity Bank, discussion on cybersecurity starts at the Board level.We have implemented international security best practices and standards such as information security management systems (ISMS) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS). We are currently implementing the 2019 Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR). Information Security is constantly considered in our system/software development life cycle, project and change management. We know very well that the cybercriminals are not relenting and are using different simple to sophisticated techniques in carrying out the crimes. They can operate within and outside the Bank and from different geo-locations. In response to this, we have implemented fraud and security incident monitoring processes that operated on 24/7 basis.Despite the laudable security processes and technologies implemented, they must be driven by humans and we know for sure that humans are always the weakest link in security. As such we ensure that we have best brains within our security/fraud teams and assess risks before engaging third parties that provide solutions and services to us. The security responsibilities of the third parties to the bank are also codified in the contracts/service level agreement we execute with them. Moreover, we also provide periodic specialis ed security trainings to security professionals and security awareness/tips to Bank staff & customers generally. We are hopeful to continually win the war against cybercriminals and providing secure and user-friendly services to our customers. We are currently rejigging our defensive/preventive security apparatus and infrastructure to support our digitalisation vision.

  • Lagos, Fidelity Bank push for SMEs funding

    The Lagos State government and Fidelity Bank have advised financial institutions to fund small medium enterprises (SMEs) because of their importance to economic development.

    The state Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat,  spoke at the inaugural edition of the grants competition organised at Fidelity SME Funding event in Lagos.

    Hamzat praised Fidelity Bank for the initiative, saying the importance of SMEs to economic development could not be overemphasised.

    He said small businesses contribute to employment creation, poverty alleviation and revenue generation.

    “What Fidelity Bank is doing is to create access to capital, which is the biggest threat to MSMEs,” he said, urging other financial institutions to borrow a leaf from Fidelity Bank.

    “The Lagos State government is ready to create the enabling environment for the MSMEs to thrive,” he added.

    Also speaking on the occasion, Fidelity Bank CEO, Nnamdi Okonkwo,  emphasised the importance of Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to the growth and development of the economy.

    He said: “MSMEs employ over 80 percent of the country’s total 90.5 million labour force, contribute 48 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and constitute over 80 percent of registered exporters in Nigeria.”

    While noting that the MSME sector remained largely bedeviled by a myriad of problems with limited financing options being one of the main drawbacks, the Fidelity Bank chief said it was important for the bank as “one of the best SME-friendly banks to come up with the initiative in furtherance of our support for the sector because of its contribution to economic development and poverty eradication”

    He praised the winners of the competition.

    Market Doctor, an innovative healthcare provider that sets up clinics around clustered markets in the country emerged the overall winner of the  SME Funding event.

    It got N2 million cash prize.  An initial 12 finalists emerged from more than 2,500 successful applicants who went through a rigorous and intensive selection process conducted by the renowned accounting and consultancy firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

    The number was further cut down to five after another round of assessment and they were made to pitch to panel of judges during the SME Funding  event.

    The  independent judges led by Prof  Yinka David-West of the Lagos Business School, pronounced Market Doctor winner, in consideration of the profitability, viability, and scalability of her  business model.

    Founder Market Doctor, Miss Yetunde  Ayo-Oyalowo, said: “We are thrilled to receive this grant by Fidelity Bank to scale our business and improve the wellbeing of Nigerians.”

    Healthy Nellies, a food production firm and Greenhill Recycling, who emerged first and second runner up, took home N1 million each. Other finalists include Adeyinka Tekenah of Happy Coffee and Olalekan Afolayan of PackMyLoad.com, who smiled home with consolation prizes of N500,000 each, and the remaining seven shortlisted SMEs received N200,000 each.

     

  • Fidelity Bank, PwC connect SMEs to investors

    Fidelity Bank Plc are partnering PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have easy access to investors.

    The entrepreneurs will also, through the  SME Funding Connect-Lagos, being planned by both institutions be able to connect to institutions that will provide them with funding.

    Speaking on the  programme, Fidelity Bank Managing Director Nnamdi Okonkwo said the lender came up with the initiative  to deepen funding, which remained the biggest challenge confronting small businesses.

    Okonkwe, represented by the bank’s Executive Director, Lagos & Southwest, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, said the initiative was aimed at providing funding for SMEs through the bank’s funding partners, venture capital and Angel investor, among others.

    “Fidelity Bank is SME-friendly and we deemed it necessary to do something that directly affects our base as a bank.

    “We have a lot of SME customers who we have worked with and some that we are still working with, and a lot of us know that the SMEs are the engine of any economy that is growing,” Okonkwo said.

    He said there were over 40 million registered SMEs in Nigeria, noting that SMEs contributed 80 per cent of the workforce and could not be ignored.

    Also, Osaigbovo Omorogbe, the Divisional Head, Managed SMEs, said events for the funding of the SMEs would be carried out in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and another location to be determined by the bank.

    He said: “Our focus is to ensure that the customers business is strong. We have decided to bring the various Angel investors and also create platform for ideas sharing.

    ‘’The SMEs will meet the fund provider and they will get the right funding depending on their business objective.”

    Omorogbe said the Lagos event titled: ‘Entrepreneurship meets capital’ would take place on August 7. He said the funding partners would provide equity capital for SMEs to strengthen growth and development.

    “We are not launching a fund, we are not looking to sell any fund to SMES on this paltform. We are creating a platform for everybody in SMEs’ ecosystem to participate,” Omorogbe stated.

    He said the programme had six focus sectors: manufacturing, technology, entertainment, lifestyles, and agriculture value chain.

    He, however, said the funding would be anchored by PwC, stressing that Fidelity Bank was not a funding platform, but a platform for every SME to meet funds providers.

    The Fidelity Bank SMEs Funding Connect has 3,000 participants, 60 providers, 60 founders, N12 million in grant, six breakout sessions and three networking cocktails.

    Omorogbe said the bank  disbursed N2.3 billion under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) N220 billion SME fund programme.

    Nigeria’s Chief Economist and Partner, PwC, Mr Andrew Nevin, noted that the programme could develop more SMEs, which would in turn contribute to the development of the economy.

    “For the past two years, the Nigerian economy has suffered and it has been difficult for banks to lend to the private sector, but Fidelity Bank has risen up to the occasion and should be given credit for what they have done in the SME sector, which is the engine room of every economy,’’ he said.

  • Fidelity Bank eyes Tier 1 status on rapid digital growth

    Fidelity Bank Plc plans to leverage its rapidly expanding digital banking to drive growth and leapfrog into a Tier 1 bank over the next four years.

    At its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, the bank said its sustained investment in digital innovations would engender enhanced customer service delivery and open fresh streams of revenue.

    Its Chief Executive Officer Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo said the bank was on track towards breaking into the league of Tier 1 banks by 2022.

    According to him, the 2018 financial year marked the beginning of the second phase of the growth aspirations the bank.

    He said the bank will not relent on efforts to increase the adoption rates and migration of customers to its digital banking platform.

    According to him, with 25 per cent of the bank’s fee-based income coming from digital banking, the bank is introducing a digital lending solution and AI-Chatbots to spur further growth in the industry verticals, where it currently operates.

    “We are investing heavily in digital technologies to drive our retail strategy, reduce cost and consequently improve revenue and returns for our shareholders,” Okonkwo said.

    The bank’s Chairman Mr. Ernest Ebi said directors of the bank would continue to provide the right leadership with focus on governance, risk management and capital preservation.

    “Every action and everything we have done thus far have been around these areas. The fundamentals are very strong we intend to keep things that way,” Ebi said.

    Shareholders commended directors and management of the bank for sustaining good performance. Shareholders approved the payment of N3.19 billion as cash dividend for the 2018 business year, representing a dividend per share of 11 kobo.

    The Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS) Chairman, Dr. Farouk Umar, commended the bank for paying dividend regularly. He urged the management to improve on its financial performance.

    Former President, Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA), Mr. Timothy Adesiyan, also commended the bank for investing in digital banking, noting that digital banking has led to increased profitability and progress.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of Fidelity Bank for the year ended December 31, 2018 showed that gross earnings increased by 4.8 per cent to N188.9 billion in 2018, driven primarily by 22.7 per cent growth in earning assets.

    Total deposits increased by 26.3 per cent to N979.4 billion in 2018 as against N775.3 billion in 2017. Profit before tax rose by 30.6 per cent to N25.1 billion as against N19.2 billion in 2017 while profit after tax increased by 29 per cent to N22.9 billion in 2018 compared with N17.8 billion in 2017.

  • Fidelity Bank realigns for next growth phase

    As part of corporate realignment and repositioning for the next growth phase, the Board of Directors of Fidelity Bank Plc has announced the appointment of three new Executive Directors. The Board which met in Lagos, approved the appointment of Gbolahan Joshua as Executive Director/Chief Operations and Information Officer; Obaro Odeghe, Executive Director, Corporate Bank and Hassan Imman, Executive Director, Northern Directorate, subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    Gbolahan will have executive responsibilities for operations, technology, digital banking, investor relations, strategy and business transformation. Obaro on his part will oversee all the bank’s corporate banking business covering energy, power, manufacturing, telecoms, fast moving consumer goods, construction and real estate.  Hassan will supervise all commercial, SME, consumer and public sector businesses of the lender in the North Directorate, comprising 18 states and Abuja.

    The elevation of the three erstwhile General Managers to Executive Director positions, is consistent with the bank’s new succession strategy of grooming leaders from within. “Over the years, we have worked assiduously at proactively preparing our people and growing the talent and leadership pool in the bank, so that when opportunities arise, we do not always have to look outside. I am most delighted that our three new EDs were all appointed from within” said Fidelity Bank CEO, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo.

    The strong and cohesive Board of Directors of Fidelity Bank  is Chaired by Mr. Ernest Ebi, former Deputy Governor, CBN. The Bird has 3 female Executive Directors; the largest on any bank Board and is comprised of seasoned businessmen/technocrats as members. “We welcome Gbolahan, Obaro and Hassan to the Board. Collectively they have with them, varied and deep industry knowledge and relevant experiences that will not only deepen but engender even more robust discussions and engagements at Board level” said Chairman, Fidelity Bank, Mr. Ebi.

  • Fidelity Bank to pay N3.2b dividend to shareholders

    Fidelity Bank Plc is proposing a N3.2 billion dividend payout to shareholders. The payout followed the bank’s strong financial result for the year-ended December 31, 2018.

    The bank posted a 4.8 per cent growth in Gross Earnings from N180.2 billion to N188.9 billion while Profit Before Tax soared by 30.6 per cent to N25.1 billion, when compared with the N19.2 billion it recorded in 2017.

    Profit After Tax grew by 29 per cent from N17.7 billion in 2017 to N22.9 billion in 2018, while Operating Income rose by 13.9 per cent from N85.9 billion to N97.2 billion. Customer Deposit, which is a measure of consumer confidence rose by 26.3 per cent from N775.2 billion to N979.4 billion just as total assets grew by 24 per cent from N1.4trillion to N1.7trillion.

    “We are delighted by our 2018 numbers, which clearly shows a sustained performance trajectory. We are growing our market share with continued traction in our chosen business segments. We recoded double digits growth in interest income on our liquid assets, digital banking, FX and other income lines,” said Fidelity Bank CEO, Nnamdi Okonkwo.

    As seen in recent years, the bank’s digital retail banking approach has continued to yield positive results. Savings recorded its fifth consecutive year of double digits growth with a 27.7  per cent increase to peak at N228 billion.  ”Savings accounts for over 23 per cent of our total deposits, an attestation of our increasing market share in the retail segment,” he said.

    Okonkwo was also enthused with the progress of its digital banking play stating that over 42 per cent of customers are now enrolled on the bank’s mobile/internet banking products and more than 81 per cent of total transactions done on digital platforms, resulting in 25 per cent of fee-based income, coming from digital banking.

  • Fidelity Bank restates commitment to strategic plan

    Fidelity Bank Plc has reaffirmed its commitment towards achieving its five-year strategic plan. The lender said it will continue to advance  socio-economic development through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes.

    The bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nnamdi Okonkwo spoke in Lagos on Saturday during its annual Fidelity Year End Party appropriately themed “Doing Good”, held at Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos.

    Organised in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the bank’s flagship CSR initiative known as the Fidelity Helping Hands Programme (FHHP), Okonkwo pointed out that the event provided ample opportunity for the Bank to appreciate its teeming customers and other stakeholders for their support and patronage. He stated, “Last year, we crafted a new five-year strategic plan to mark the beginning of another growth phase. We are making good progress so far and the figures are panning out as envisaged”.

    The Fidelity boss explained that the FHHP is the Bank’s unique approach to giving back to the society and allows staff members to contribute personal funds to execute sustainable projects of their choice, supported by a 100 percent counterpart funding from the financial institution. “It gladdens our hearts to see that we have impacted lives through the numerous projects recorded over the years by FHHP in the focus areas of Health, Social Welfare, Environment, Education and Youth Empowerment”, he stated.

    Whilst commending staff for hard work and customers for their continued patronage, Board Chairman Ernest Ebi reiterated the bank’s commitment to service delivery. “Service is a key differentiator in banking and at Fidelity we pride ourselves to be a customer-centric bank. “We will continue to innovate and retool our people to serve you better” said Ebi, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The event was used to recognize some of the bank’s outstanding performers both in CSR and other areas.

  • Court orders Fidelity bank to pay dismissed worker

    The National Industrial Court, Abuja, on Monday ordered Fidelity Bank Plc to pay N340, 361 to its dismissed staff, Mr Alah Jonathan.

    The amount is the ex-worker’s one month’s salary in lieu of notice of termination of his employment.

    The dismissed worker had sought redress in the court after his dismissal without being paid a month’s salary in lieu of notice of termination of his employment.

    In her judgment, Justice Rakiya Haastrup, held that there was no evidence before the court to prove allegations of misconduct and fraud made by the bank against the ex-worker to justify his summary dismissal.

    According to her, since the bank failed to justify the dismissal, the proper thing for the court to do was to convert the summary dismissal to termination of employment.

    Haastrup also held that Fidelity bank must act in accordance with the terms and conditions regulating its employment as contained in the ex-worker’s employment letter before the court.

    The terms and conditions, according to the judge, stipulate that one month notice is required before termination of employment or a month’s salary in lieu of notice of termination of employment.

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    She, therefore, ordered the payment of N340, 361 in lieu of one month notice of termination of employment and any other entitlements that may be due and accruable to the ex-worker.

    The judge also ordered that the payment must be done within 60 days from the date of the judgment, after which the defendant (Fidelity bank) shall be liable to pay 10 per cent interest on the judgment sum.

    She awarded N100, 000 against Fidelity bank as the cost of prosecuting the suit in favour of the claimant.

    The judge, however, remarked that any wilful disobedience of a lawful and reasonable order of an employer by an employee was misconduct that should attract summary dismissal.

    Counsel to Fidelity bank, Mr Etukwu Onah, had told the court that the ex-worker was dismissed because he was inconsistent in his responses to queries over allegations of misconduct, fraud and disappearance of N4.7 million in his custody as a cash officer.

    He said that the ex-staff member failed to defend himself even before a disciplinary committee.

  • Fidelity Bank grows profit by 24% to N20b in nine months

    Fidelity Bank Plc its bottom-line by 23.5 per cent to cross the N20 billion mark in the third quarter, putting the commercial bank on a stronger footing for better returns for the 2018 business year.

    Fidelity Bank’s share price rose by 4.50 per cent to N2.09 at the announcement of the results at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) at the weekend, the highest price gain in the banking sector.

    Key extracts of the interim report and accounts of Fidelity Bank for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2018 showed that profit before tax rose from N16.24 billion in third quarter 2017 to N20.06 billion in third quarter 2018. After taxes, net profit rose from N14.45 billion to N17.86 billion. Gross earnings had risen from N130.07 billion to N139 billion.

    The balance sheet showed that total assets grew by 21.9 per cent to N1.68 trillion in 2018 compared with N1.38 trillion recorded in comparable period of 2017. Total deposits; a measure of customer confidence, also increased by 27.3 per cent to close third quarter 2018 at N986.8 billion as against N775.3 billion in corresponding period of 2017.

    Despite inflationary trend, the bank’s expenses grew by 6.5 per cent to N50.6 billion due to increased technology investment and higher charges due to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). However, cost to income ratio remained relatively stable at 68.4 per cent in September 2018 compared with 67.5 per cent at the beginning of the year. Non-performing Loans (NPLs) ratio improved to 6.0 per cent as against 6.4 percent at the beginning of the year. Other regulatory ratios remained above the required thresholds with Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) at 17.0 per cent and Liquidity Ratio at 38.3 per cent.

    Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, said the has continued to grow its market share by achieving significant traction across its business segments of corporate, commercial, Small and Medium Enterprises and digitally led retail banking.

    “We are delighted with our nine-month financial performance as we continue execution of our medium-term strategy, which has further yielded positive results, leading to impressive growths across key performance indices including profitability, total deposits and balance sheet size,” Okonkwo said.