Despite all the pressures plaguing the banking sector, mostly due to the adverse macroeconomic environment, Fidelity Bank Plc appears to be driving towards attaining Tier-1 status.
Currently, in Nigeria, Tier-1 banks are categorized by the size of their balance sheets. Tier-1 banks in the nation include; Access Bank Plc, First Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Bank.
With the bank’s superb performance in the 2017 financial year and, most recently, in its first quarter 2018 (Q1’18) outputs, the bank has successfully attained leadership position amongst tier-2 banks.
Nnamdi Okonkwo, Managing Director of the bank said the bank just completed its internal four-year strategic growth plan, which would bring it into tier-1 status upon successful implementation. He said the growth strategy could be a mix of both organic and inorganic, stating that if the right acquisition opportunities present themselves, the bank would oblige.
On the implication of the growth plan, Okonkwo said if the bank requires additional capital to pursue any opportunity, the bank would go to the capital market. He also stated that despite the application of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS-9), the bank is adequately capitalized at over 16% ratio.
Okonkwo said the bank is heavily and efficiently run on digital platforms and that as at Q1’18, its debit card penetration was about 50% and over 37% of its customers now self-enroll on internet banking products.
The bank also showed further earnings capacity in the Q1’18 financials, with total interest income and cost-to-income ratio rising by 6.2% and 72.7% respectively.
Image Credit:Investors King & Thisday live
