Fidelity Bank Plc has posted a hefty N21.3 billion profits for the nine months ended September 30, 2020.The Bank’s profit after Tax (PAT) stood at N20.4 billion for the period, and this translates to 7.1% year-on-year growth compared to the N19.1 billion reported by the Bank in September 2019. Details of the nine months results showed an increase in the Bank’s market share as well as an improvement across key performance indices as its customer deposits and customer loans record double-digit growths, whilst its Total Assets Base grew by 21.8% to N2.6 trillion in the period under review.
Commenting on the results, the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo said “Our 9 months results reflect our resilient business model, particularly in a very challenging operating environment. We worked closely with our customers to gradually recover from the economic impact of the pandemic and the attendant effect of the lockdown”
He further explained that although Gross Earnings dropped by 3.7% due to general slowdown in the economy in view of the pandemic, the Bank was able to get profit up by optimizing its operating expenses and driving up its customer-induced transactions through robust digit banking services. “Digital Banking however continued to gain traction as we now have 52.3% of our customers enrolled on the mobile/internet banking products from 47.4% in 2019FY and 88.2% of customer-induced transactions are done on digital platforms. Similarly, digital banking income increased by 20.0% quarter on quarter due to improved adoption by customers and new services migrated to our digital channels” he stated.
Fidelity Bank has over the years implemented a retail banking strategy that has continued to deliver impressive results with consistent double-digit growth in savings deposits. Savings deposits increased by 39.9% to N385.1 billion during the period to record the 7th annual double-digit growth. “The growth in Savings Deposits accounted for 40.2% of total growth in in Customer Deposits and Savings Deposits now represent 25.7% of total deposits, up from 22.3% in 2019” he enthused.
He further disclosed that the bank has remained loyal partner and has disbursed over N50 billion in intervention funds to its customers in the last three months. Clearly, the funds will help in kick starting the critical sectors in the economy especially after lockdown in most states occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic. By providing this cheap funds to players in the economy, Fidelity Bank has continued to fulfill its promise of supporting the real sector of the economy. Whilst the bank remains positive in its outlook on the Nigerian economy, the MD/CEO reiterated that Fidelity Bank “will continue to monitor and pro-actively manage evolving risks as business activities improve” with a promise to deliver another set of results in the remaining quarter of 2020FY.