Shareholders okay Fidelity Bank’s 35 kobo dividend

Shareholders of Fidelity Bank Plc have unanimously endorsed the payment of a cash dividend of 35 kobo per share to all shareholders whose names appear in the register of members at the close of business on April 22, 2022.

The shareholders who commended the bank’s performance at the 34th yearly general meeting held in Lagos, also among other things, authorised the directors to undertake as it deems appropriate and in accordance with applicable laws, any actions, business combinations or transactions, including but not limited to investment, acquisition, restructuring, capital raising, expansion or business arrangement required to secure a competitive advantage for the company.

Chairman of the bank, Mustafa Chike-Obi, reassured shareholders that the management would maintain the high corporate governance standard, as well as ensure that the bank continued in its growth trajectory in the years ahead.

“We will continue to strengthen our enterprise risk management capabilities to ensure the sustainability of our business, while modeling our governance practices to align with international best practice”, said Chike-Obi.

He noted that the last fiscal year was a period of consolidation and growth for the bank.

“Despite the challenges in the operating environment, we were resolute in the execution of our strategy. We paid particular attention to optimising our balance sheet and strengthening our risk management structures. We aggressively pursued an automation framework to increase digital footprints and migrate more customers to electronic platforms.

“These initiatives drove the achievement of our performance objectives. PBT increased by 35.7 per cent from N28.05 billion in the 2020 financial year to N38.07 billion in the review period. Deposits grew by 19.2 per cent to close at N2.02 trillion. Risk assets rose by 25.1 per cent to close at N1.66 trillion and Total assets by 19.3 per cent to N3.29 trillion. It is important to note that this is the best set of results in our corporate history,” he said.

“Going forward, our business will be driven by technology and innovation. We will optimise current processes through digitisation and automation to allow for improved service quality. We will deploy predictive tools to enhance customer experience. In recent times, there has been a significant increase in migration of skilled manpower from Nigeria to more developed economies. Consequently, we will institutionalise remote working protocols to enable us to attract and retain the best talents.

“In a technology-driven environment, Risk Management is critical. We will continue to strengthen our Enterprise Risk Management capabilities to ensure the sustainability of our business. We will also continue to pay close attention to corporate governance and capital preservation,” he stated further.

Onyeali-Ikpe noted that the digital banking products gained traction during the year driven by new initiatives in the retail lending segment and increased cross selling of our digital banking products.