Fidelity Bank announces impressive Q3 financials as profit soars 24% to N20bn

FIDELITY BANK PLC. has announced an impressive Q3 financial performance, which saw profit before tax soaring 24 percent to N20.1 billion. The results show the financial services company is on course to finishing strong in FY 2018.

Details of the 9-months results for the period ended September 30, 2018, released at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed a doubledigit growth in revenues and profitability. Gross Earnings grew by 6.9 percent to N139.0 billion from N130.1 billion reported in the same period in 2017, whilst profitbefore-tax soared by 23.6 percent from N16.2 billion to N20.1 billion.

In other indices, total assets grew by 21.9 percent to N1.68 trillion from N1.38 trillion in the corresponding period of 2017. Total deposits; a measure of customer confidence, increased by 27.3 percent to close at N986.8 billion from N775.3 billion in 2017

Nnamdi Okonkwo, Fidelity Bank CEO said he was delighted at the performance.

Okonkwo attributed the performance to the continued execution of the bank’s medium-term strategy which has further yielded positive results, leading to impressive growth across key performance indices including profitability, total deposits and balance sheet size etc.

According to him, the bank has continued to grow its market share driven by significant traction in its chosen business segments such as corporate, commercial, SME and digitally led retail banking. “Gross earnings increased y-o-y by 6.9 % to close at N139.0 billion primarily driven by the growth in earning assets by 19.2 percent which led to a 9.1 percent increase in interest income to N120.4 billion”, he explained.

Over the years, Fidelity Bank has differentiated itself from its peers by continuously introducing customer-focused digital products to grow its market share and mobilize cheaper funds. Attesting to that, its savings deposits increased by 12.9 percent to N201.7 billion leading to the fifth consecutive year of double-digit savings growth whilst low cost deposits, now account for 73.6 percent of total deposits as shown in the results.

The growth in deposits is further complemented by its digital banking push with has resulted in having over 40 percent of its customers enrolled on the mobile/internet banking products and recording over 80 percent of total transactions on digital platforms.

Despite the high inflationary environment, the Bank’s expenses grew by 6.5 percent to N50.6 billion due to increased technology investment and higher AMCON charges. Its cost to income ratio remained relatively stable at 68.4 percent compared to 67.5 percent in the 2017FY.

Non-performing Loans (NPLs) Ratio improved to 6.0 percent from 6.4 percent in the 2017FY despite a 3.4 percent growth in the absolute NPL numbers with the NPL coverage ratio at 109.9 percent.

Other regulatory ratios remained above the required thresholds with capital adequacy ratio (CAR) at 17.0 percent and liquidity ratio at 38.3 percent.