Fidelity Bank assures investors of sustained performance

Fidelity Bank Plc has assured stock market investors that it would continue to foster a robust engagement with the market, grow the bank and improve on key performance indices.

The Managing Director, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo, disclosed this during a closing gong ceremony, held virtually to formally close trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian stock market recently.

Giving account of his seven-year stewardship while introducing his successor, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, to stockbrokers, Okonkwo, stated that the bank has been able to grow its Return on Equity (ROE) which averaged 5 per cent in 2013 to 13.3 per cent in 2019.

He attributed the successful capital raising exercise of 2015 and 2017, when the bank raised N30 billion local bond and 400million dollars Eurobond, respectively to the result of the deepening of investor engagements, through holding quarterly earnings calls and non-deal road-shows across different geographies

Okonkwo added that the Fidelity Bank is currently in the process of issuing a N74 billion series 1 Bonds under its N100 million bond issuance programme.

The Fidelity Bank boss who will be retiring at the end of the year, after the completion of his contract tenure, said the bank has enjoyed a very stable leadership since inception and was very pleased with the crop of leaders he is leaving behind. 

“We recently appointed five Executive Directors from within and the incoming MD/CEO, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, has been an integral part of management since 2015. She is part of the success story and we are convinced that the performance of the bank, under her leadership, will be even better,” he enthused.  

In her remarks, the MD/CEO designate, Mrs. Onyeali-Ikpe, whose tenure begins by January 1, 2021, gave assurance that the corporate aspirations of the bank would remain the same under her leadership. She thanked the outgoing CEO for laying a solid foundation for her and the new team, to take the bank to greater heights. “We will continue to deliver superior returns and to do this.