Reduced costs push Fidelity Bank’s profit by 94% in 2017

Fidelity Bank has reported a 94 percent growth in profit for the financial year that ended on December 31, 2017 and proposed an 11 kobo per share dividend for investors.

According to a statement by the bank, it’s gross earnings increased by 18.3 percent from N152 billion to N179.9 billion and profit after tax grew by 93.7 percent from N9.7 billion to N18.9 billion.

Total expenses declined by 2.3 percent to N65.7 billion from N67.2 billion.

Nnamdi Okonkwo, Fidelity Bank’s CEO, said the bank reported such results through disciplined balance sheet management, strategic cost reduction, increased focus on the corporate, commercial, SME segments and continued execution of its retail and digital banking strategy.

“We are delighted at the results, which showed strong growth in key revenue lines, significant traction in our chosen business segments and a corresponding decline in our operating expenses despite the high inflationary environment,” he said.

“The combination of the strong net revenue growth of 9.9% to N7.7 billion and the 2.3% decline in total expenses which translated to cost savings of N1.5 billion resulted in our increased profitability.”

In 2017, the bank issued a $400 million Eurobond that was over-subscribed by over 200 percent.

The bank reported a 15.2 percent in savings deposit and a 21 percent in vault cash holding due to increased digitization as more customers subscribed to mobile and internet banking platforms.