Fidelity Bank is Nigeria’s Sixth Largest Banking Group With N9.5trn Balance Sheet

Fidelity bank Plc is the sixth largest banking group in Nigeria with a balance sheet size of N9.5 trillion (USD4.9bn) as of 30 September 2024, accounting for approximately 8.2% of the Nigerian banking industry’s total assets.

Fidelity Bank recently expanded its geographical coverage following the acquisition of a UK subsidiary, FidBank UK, which is expected to drive trade finance transactions and offshore lending over the medium to long term.

The group’s revenue remains stable, supported by the dominance of earnings from its core banking operations. Operating revenue registered at N567.2Bn as at 30 September 2024 (December 2023: N386.6Bn), with net-interest income accounting for 83.0% of operating revenues (December 2023: 71.7%).

Despite the impact of the Naira devaluation on the group’s risk-weighted assets, the core capital ratio inched up to 24.0% as of 30 September 2024 (December 2023: 15.8%) on the back of strong earnings generation and retention.

To comply with the new capital requirement for its license category in line with Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive, the group recently concluded the first phase of its recapitalisation process, raising over N127.0Bn through a combination of right issues and public offer.

The proceeds are currently awaiting CBN’s verification. This, together with strong earnings retention could further strengthen capitalisation metrics over the medium term.

The group is largely funded by customer deposits, which constituted 86.1% of the total funding base as of 30 September 2024 (December 2023: 86.6%).

Leveraging over 8 million customer base as well as the naira devaluation on foreign currency (FCY) deposits, customer deposits grew by 55.6% in December 2023 and a further 51.5% growth as of 30 September 2024 to register at N6.1 trillion (USD 3.8 billion), supported by strong retail franchise and low-cost deposit mobilisation strategy.

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