Fidelity Bank’s Nine Month Profit Increases By 31.4%

Fidelity Bank Plc recorded a 31.4 per cent increase in its profit before tax for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

The bank said its pretax profit rose to N28.1bn in the period under review from N21.3bn in 2020.

According to its unaudited financial statement obtained from the issuer’s portal of the Nigerian Exchange Limited, its gross earnings grew by 12.5 per cent to N174.4bn from N155bn in the corresponding period of 2020.

The bank’s total assets rose by 15.4 per cent to N3.18tn from N2.76tn.

Commenting on the performance, the Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, said in a statement on Tuesday, “We were able to sustain our performance trend since the start of 2021 with an impressive double-digit growth in profit, driven by 69.9 per cent increase in net fee income, which compensated for the decline in net interest income as the average yield on liquid assets remain low.”

She noted that Fidelity’s digital banking business gained traction as the bank had 56.1 per cent of its customers enrolled on its digital banking platform, up from 52.8 per cent in the 2020 financial year.

She said the bank had recorded a 125 per cent year-on-year increase in total NIP transaction, with 24.9 per cent of fee-based income currently coming from digital banking.

“Other regulatory ratios remain well above the minimum requirement: Capital adequacy ratio at 18.8 per cent from 18.2 per cent in 2020 FY while liquidity ratio came in at 34.5 per cent, well above the regulatory threshold of 30 per cent,” said Onyeali-Ikpe.