Fidelity Bank declares N4.1 billion … assures support to SMEs, agriculture production
Fidelity Bank Plc. has declared a dividend payment of 14 kobo per share for the financial year ended 31st December, 2016.
The dividend which was approved by shareholders of the bank at its annual general meeting would be payable to shareholders whose names appeared in the banks register and that translates to N4.1 billion.
Shareholders at the meeting commended the lender for living up its responsibility and maintaining its dividend policy.
Addressing shareholders, the Chairperson of the bank, Mr Ernest Ebi assured shareholders of consistent dividend payment.
Speaking further, he said, the bank has plans to support access to finance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) adding that the bank will continue to support any government policy in this regard and other measures to promote agriculture production across the country.
Also speaking at the meeting, the bank’s Managing Director, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo attributed that banks significant improvement to quality service delivery, innovative products and services tailored to meet the varying needs of the banks’ customers.
“The strides achieved in our innovative pursuits strengthened the income stream of your bank”, he said.
He assured that the bank would continued to improve the earnings capacity of the different segments of its business as gross earnings increased by 3.5 percent, net interest income increased by 1.6 percent and fee-based income increased by 9.6 percent while expense growth at 4.7 percent was significantly below the average inflation rate of 15.7 percent in 2016.
The retail and electronic banking strategy of Fidelity Bank continued to deliver impressive results as savings deposit grew by 30.1 percent to N155 billion while instant banking and online banking products grew by over 200 percent leading to a 41.3 percent growth in e-banking revenue.
Okonkwo however attributed the growth in e-banking revenue to the upgrade of the bank’s core banking system which provided a superior architecture that enhanced operational efficiency and dependable electronic banking capabilities.
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