Shareholders have thrown their weight behind the ongoing recapitalisation plan of Fidelity Bank Plc.
The shareholders gave their support at the recently held annual general meeting of the bank, where they said that they would buy into any share offering by Fidelity Bank.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, Fidelity Bank is one of the country’s commercial banks with international authorisation.
With its current license category, Fidelity Bank would need to meet the N500bn capital base stipulated by the apex regulator.
Speaking on the capital raising plan, the National Coordinator of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Moses Igbrude, said Fidelity Bank has shown that shareholders can trust it for sustainable growth and returns.
“Fidelity Bank is a promising bank that is growing organically; it is servicing its niche and share of the market. My appeal to the board is to continue to imbibe good corporate governance to sustain this growth,” Igbrude said.
In his comments, the President of the Association for the Advancement of Rights of Nigerian Shareholders, Dr Faruk Umar, noted that the performance of Fidelity Bank over the years had been very encouraging.
He pointed out that the successful acquisition of Union Bank UK was a testimony to the financial strength of the bank.
“The bank has since joined the league of banks paying an interim dividend, which shareholders are happy with. Also, the appointment of Dr Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe as the group managing director, after serving as executive director, indicates that the bank has good succession planning in place.
“The calibre of the independent non-executive directors on the board gives shareholders strong confidence in the kind of board oversight they will be expecting.
“Now that the bank is coming out with a rights issue offer, we are very confident shareholders will take their rights, and we are sure the bank will meet the recapitalisation requirement set out by the Central Bank of Nigeria,” Umar aserted.
National Coordinator, Pragmatic Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mrs Bisi Bakare, on the floor of the AGM, pointed out that the bank continually showcased exemplary leadership with continuous impressive results, with successive growths over the past five years.
“Despite various challenges and economic uncertainty and other unforeseen occurrences, Fidelity Bank weathers the storm with strong performances,” Bakare said.
Meanwhile, in its first quarter interim report, Fidelity Bank recorded three-digit growths across key performance indicators.
The three-month report, released on the NGX, showed that gross earnings increased by 89.9 per cent to N192.1bn in the first quarter of 2024, with interest income rising by 90.7 per cent and non-interest income growing by 84 per cent, respectively.
The bank said that the growth in interest income was primarily spurred by a higher yield environment and strong earning assets base, while the increase in non-interest income was led by double-digit growth in account maintenance charges, foreign exchange-related income, trade, banking services, and remittances, supported by improved customer transactions.
Profit before tax rose by 120 per cent to N39.5bn in the first quarter compared to N17.9bn in the same period in 2023.
