By Eugene Onyeji
Nnamdi Okonkwo’s performance in the year 2019 at Fidelity Bank Plc is one that must be making him very happy at the moment. Reason? Simple. According to latest unaudited figures, nearly all the essential margins improved. No doubt, it is certainly a big plus in these times.
In recent years, the bank has been doing rather well. This tradition apparently continued last financial year with N29.5 billion as profit after tax (PAT), a substantial growth from N22.9 billion recorded in 2018 financial year.
Okonkwo, it does appear has touched of some good performance, growing profits by 28.51 per cent in 2019 and shoring up shareholders funds by 20.22 per cent, from N194.4 billion in 2018 to N233.7 billion
Again, total assets leapt by 23.05 per cent from N1,719.9 billion in 2018 to N2,116.3 billion in 2019. Depositors have also been looking the way of the bank. They deposited N1,225.2 billion, as against N979.4 billion in 2018.
At the bank’s last year customers appreciation/end of the year party tagged “Give them wing”, held at Eko Hotels and Suite, on January 24, 2020, Okonkwo says that they have stayed the course to steady the fortunes of the bank and that wouldn’t have been possible without the unalloyed support of its customers. He was optimistic that the bank has done well and will continue to stay the course.Off course, he is right! The bank swelled its loans and advances portfolios to customers from N849.8 billion in 2018 to N1,127.7 billion in 2019 from where it earned N183.3 billion as interest and similar income.
The bank is rapidly implementing a digital based retail banking strategy which has resulted in exponential growth in savings deposits over the last three years. Spurred by the need to reach its global destinations with great efficiency, Fidelity bank’s craving for SMEs is a niche that has set the bank apart from the many competitors and answers the call for involvement in helping to grow Nigeria’s economy.
This has won the Bank many accolades, including recognition for excellence as pillar of support to Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria by TheNiche Newspaper in its 2019 annual lecture.
With this impressive growth trajectory, it is fair to say that the future remains very bright for Fidelity Bank Plc.
Even with the marginal percentage change of 1.42 in PAT Margin from the previous year’s record, chiefly caused by a significant 23.05 per cent increase in its other operating expenses, the shareholders of Fidelity Bank Plc should be smiling and thanking Nnamdi Okonkwo for pointing the chart upwards once again.