Fidelity Bank has reassured that it will continue to take measures that
\nwill ensure the safety of customers, staff and other stakeholders during
\nthis period. This reassurance was given on Thursday during the bank’s
\n32nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the annual shareholders meeting, Chairman, Board of
\nDirectors of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Ernest Ebi said the bank “remains
\ncommitted to building a sustainable business, even in the midst of the
\nchallenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic”.\u00a0 Mr. Ebi, who was a
\nformer Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), revealed
\nthat the Board, in line with its oversight responsibilities, has been
\nmeeting virtually, to strategize on new opportunity areas to cushion the
\nimpact of the pandemic and to sustain the growth trajectory of the bank
\nin recent years.<\/p>\n
These views were also affirmed by Fidelity Bank CEO, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo
\nwho said Fidelity Bank’s greatest strength its ability to adapt to
\nchange. According to him, the bank would explore new prospects that are
\nopening up in the retail market, continue to focus on
\ncustomer-centricity, innovation and digitization, whilst keeping its eye
\non governance, risk and liquidity. “We place a high premium on risk
\nmanagement and will continue to review our risk acceptance criteria in
\nreaction to new market realities” he assured.<\/p>\n
The meeting which was held by proxy, in compliance with the Corporate
\nAffairs Commission’s (CAC) issued guidelines on holding AGMs within the
\nperiod, had in attendance very few shareholders, on account of social
\ndistancing and restriction of movement in Lagos as a result of COVID-19
\npreventive and precautionary measures. Others joined remotely via live
\nstreaming.<\/p>\n
The shareholders who spoke on the occasion, gave kudos to the Board and
\nmanagement for the 2019 performance which saw the bank delivering
\ndouble-digit growth across key performance indices. Gross Earnings grew
\nby 14. percent to N215.5 billion, driven by a 15.8 percent growth in
\ninterest and similar income. The bank’s Profit Before Tax (PBT) rose by
\n21percent from N25.1 billion in 2018 to N30.4 billion in 2019.<\/p>\n
The shareholders unanimously endorsed the payment of a cash dividend of
\n20 kobo per share, which translates to N5.793 billion for the year ended
\nDecember 31, 2019. Mr. Boniface Okezie, National Coordinator,
\nProgressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria applauded the dividend
\ngrowth from 11kobo paid in 2018 to 20 kobo in 2019. “From all the
\nindices, this is a superlative performance. The achievement of over N30
\nbillion in profits is indeed worthy of commendation”, Okezie stated.<\/p>\n
Chief Timothy Adesiyan, President of the Nigerian Shareholders’
\nSolidarity Association commended the improvements particularly in
\ninterest income, Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), Liquidity Ratio, Profit
\nAfter Tax and Gross Earnings. Whilst lauding the bank for its
\ndigitization programme, he expressed optimism that the bank is truly
\npositioned to take advantage of new and emergent opportunities on
\naccount of the bank’s comprehensive upgrade of its technology
\narchitecture.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Fidelity Bank has begun the 2020 financial year on a positive
\nnote with the announcement of its unaudited results for the three months
\nended March 31, 2020. Gross Earnings for the first quarter of the year,
\ngrew by 5.7 percent to N51.2 billion from N48.4 billion in the previous
\nyear, whilst Profit before Tax (PBT) stood at N6.6 billion representing
\na marginal drop from N6.7billion recorded in the first quarter of 2019.
\nShareholders’ Funds the other hand grew by 3.6 percent from N234billion
\nin 2019 to N242billion in the first quarter of 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fidelity Bank has reassured that it will continue to take measures that will ensure the safety of customers, staff and other stakeholders during this period. This reassurance was given on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n