Resilient business model pushes bank’s profits to N21.3 billion in nine months

By Helen Oji

Disburses N50 billion in intervention funds

Fidelity Bank Plc has hinged the improved performance recorded in its nine months of operations to a resilient business model, especially in areas of optimising operating expenses and driving customer-induced transactions through robust digit banking services.

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The bank’s nine monthly results for 2020, showed a Profit before Tax (PBT) of N21.3 billion and a Profit after Tax (PAT) of N20.4 billion, which translated to a 7.1 per cent year-on-year growth compared to the N19.1 billion reported in September 2019.
   
Its customer deposits and customer loans also recorded double-digit growth, while its total assets base grew by 21.8 per cent to N2.6 trillion in the period under review.
 
The Managing Director, Nnamdi Okonkwo, said: “Our nine 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.”
Okonkwo explained that although gross earnings dropped by 3.7 per cent due to a general slowdown in the economy in view of the pandemic, however, the bank was able to scale profit by optimising its operating expenses and driving up its customer-induced transactions through robust digit banking services.

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“Digital Banking however continued to gain traction as we now have 52.3 per cent of our customers enrolled on the mobile/internet banking products from 47.4 per cent in 2019 full year and 88.2 per cent 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.
 
He further disclosed that Fidelity Bank has disbursed over N50 billion in intervention funds to its customers in the last three months, to stimulate the economy especially after the lockdowns in most states occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
While expressing optimism on the outlook for the next financial year, he reiterated that the bank would continue to monitor and pro-actively manage evolving risks as business activities improve.