Prime Business Africa
Fidelity Bank suffered a decline in its bottom line despite a double-digit growth in topline after recording over N200 billion derivative loss between January and December 2025.
According to analysis of the company’s consolidated and separate statement for the year ended December 31, 2025, Fidelity Bank’s Gross earnings rose by 45.64 percent year-on-year.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe financial institution reported gross earnings of N1.51 trillion during the period under review, surpassing the N1.04 trillion recorded by the bank between the first quarter and fourth quarter of 2024.
The company’s interest income also went up by 36.60 percent year-on-year, from N950.55 billion in 2024 to N1.29 billion in 2025, while interest expense climbed 45.61 percent, from N467.17 billion to N320.81 billion, during the same period.
Although interest expense rose faster than interest income, Fidelity Bank saw a 32 percent growth in net interest income, which increased to N831.35 billion last year, compared to the N629.77 billion reported in 2024.
Fidelity Bank managed to reduce credit loss expense by 61.71 percent year-on-year, from N56.44 billion to N21.61 billion, resulting in the company recording 41.23 percent growth in net interest income after credit loss expense.
According to the financial statement, Fidelity Bank reported N809.74 billion as net interest income after credit loss expense in 2025, exceeding the N573.32 billion posted the year before.
The bank further received a boost in its earnings, after recording fee and commission income of N113.35 billion last year, up by 44.67 percent, when compared to the N78.35 billion earned in 2024.
However, the growth was overshadowed by the N146.97 percent increase in fee and commission expense, which grew from N8.04 billion in 2024 to N19.86 billion in 2025.
The impact of the skyrocketing expense was curbed by a 749.90 percent growth in foreign currency revaluation gains, after increasing to N99.57 billion during the review period, exceeding the N11.71 billion posted in 2024.
However, it was not enough to prevent the company’s bottom line from crashing down as Fidelity Bank recorded derivative losses of N223.79 billion in 2025, failing to replicate the N57.87 billion derivative gains reported in the previous year.
Derivatives loss or gain is from derivative contacts involving banks betting against or in favour of the value of equities, commodities, currencies and interest rates rising or dropping during a period.
This dragged the pretax profit of Fidelity Bank down to N347.66 billion during the period under review, below the N385.21 billion recorded in 2024, representing a 9.74 percent decrease.
Fidelity Bank incurred N105.21 billion as income tax out of the pretax profit achieved last year, down by 1.76 percent, compared to the N107.10 billion paid to the government in 2024.
Due to the tax payment , the financial institution’s profit after tax (PAT) declined by 12.82 percent to N242.44 billion in 2025, below the N278.10 billion recorded the year before.
In addition, the company was penalised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in 2025.
The three regulators fined Fidelity Bank N345.7 million last year, up by 384.96 percent, from N71.28 million in 2024, indicating Fidelity Bank keeps contravening the rules that guide its operations.
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Prime Business Africa is a business, economy and policy news platform founded in 2021 by veteran journalist and media scholar, Dr Marcel Mbamalu, after he left The Guardian as Editor.
Dr Mbamalu, who serves as Founder and Publisher, set up Prime Business Africa to deliver sharp, data-driven reporting on Nigeria’s markets, trade, investment, and governance trends for decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and policy leaders.
He also writes The Bottom Line, a backpage column for Punch Newspaper every Thursday.
Under his leadership, Prime Business Africa combines deep newsroom experience with a focus on accountability journalism, aiming to bridge information gaps between Africa’s private sector and the global economy.
