MON, APRIL 01 2019-theG&BJournal-Fidelity Bank Nigeria Plc has been growing profit since 2016 when it surmounted the macroeconomic headwinds brought on by a precipitous drop crude price that tipped the country in its first recession that year.
For the year ended December 2018, Fidelity Bank’s net income increased by 29.63 percent to N22.34 billion from N17.76 billion as at December 2017 while profit before tax was up 30.55 percent to N25.08 billion in the period under review from N19.21 billion the previous year.
The lender has been investing in technology such as digital and mobile banking, little wonder non-interest income added impetus to gross earnings even amid a low yield environment.
Non-interest income was up 9.22 percent to N31.84 billion in the period under review from N29.15 billion as at December 2017; a breakdown of noninterest revenue shows fees and commission income was up 17.24 percent to N17.07 billion.
While lenders in Africa’s largest economy have seen interest income dip as a result of slow growth in yield on short term government securities, Fidelity Bank’s interest income was up 4.46 percent to N153.68 billion in December 2018 from N147.42 billion the previous year. The lender’s deposit to customers increased by 26.33 percent to N979.41 billion in the period under review from N775.27 billion the previous year.
Retail deposit, which is driven by disciplined execution of retail banking strategy, contributed to growth in total deposit.
Fidelity Bank’s savings deposits achieve the sixth consecutive year of double digit growth.
Over 40 percent of customers now self-enrolled on mobile/ internet banking products while over 80 perent of customer s transactions are now done on electronic banking channels, according the Bank’s third quarter financial statement.
Fidelity Bank has already spent N3 billion on digitizing its processes in the nine months September, 43 percent from a year earlier, according to Chief Operations Officer of the Bank, Gbolahan Johua.
Banks and other companies are leveraging on Nigeria’s robust digital space to magnify earnings while contemporaneously maximizing shareholders’ wealth.
Mobile phone subscribers in the nation of over 200 million people reached 162 million in September, according to Nigerian Telecommunication Commission.
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