Fidelity Bank Grows Profit By 7% To N20.4bn In Q3, 2020
By UDO ONYEKAThe third-quarter, 2020 results released by the bank on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, shows profit before tax closed at N21.3 billion.
Details of the financials show improvements in key indices though Gross Earnings dropped marginally by 3.7 per cent from N161.1billion in 2019 to N155 billion.
Total assets grew by 21 percent from N2.1 trillion in 2019 to N2.5 trillion; customer deposits were up by 22.3 percent from N1.23 trillion to N1.5trillion and net loans rose by 12 percent from N1.12 trillion to N1.27 trillion.
Profits were however up by 3.6 per cent, closing at a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N21.3 billion whilst Profits After Tax (PAT) rose by 7 per cent from N19 billion to N20.4 billion in the period under review.
In other indices, Customer Deposits, Net Loans and Total Assets grew in double digits. Total Assets grew by 21 per cent from N2.1trillion in 2019 to N2.5trillion; Customer Deposits were up by 22.3 per cent from N1.23 trillion to N1.5 trillion whilst Net Loans rose by 12 per cent from N1.12 trillion to N1.27 trillion to cap the good outing by the top lender.
“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” said Fidelity Bank CEO, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo.
He explained that the drop in Gross Earnings was due to the decline in interest and similar income caused by lower yields and drop in fee income. “Net fee income declined by N1.3bn largely due to a reduction in FX related income on account of the revaluation gains recorded in H1 2020. 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 per cent 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 digital banking strategy and that has continued to deliver, with the bank on course to achieving the 7th consecutive year of double digits growth. “The growth in Savings Deposits accounted for 40.2 per cent of total growth in in Customer Deposits and Savings Deposits now represent 25.7 per cent of total deposits, up from 22.3 per cent in 2019” he noted.
He further disclosed that the bank has disbursed over N50 bilion in intervention funds to customers in the last three months, in critical sectors to kick-start the economy after the lockdown and was quite optimistic about finishing the year strongly.
