Fidelity Bank Plc made a profit after tax of N11.4bn in the nine months ended September 30, 2015, the lender’s results for the period showed.

The figure represents a 1.8 per cent increase on the N11.2bn PAT it made in the corresponding period of 2014.

The bank’s total equity rose by 4.2 per cent to N180.3bn from N173.1bn as of December 2014, while its operating income for the review period was N62bn, 9.7 per cent higher than the N56.5bn it posted a year earlier.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, was quoted in a statement by the lender as saying that the bank’s operations in the period had been limited by regulatory and economic headwinds.

Okonkwo explained that issues such as currency devaluation concerns, the tight monetary stance of the Central Bank of Nigeria and implementation of the Treasury Single Account had resulted in negative earnings in the banking sector.

He, however, said he was optimistic that the new business model adopted by the bank, which resulted in a year-on-year growth in both fund and fee-based income, leading to a three per cent growth in profitability.

“Despite these challenges, we continued with the disciplined execution of our medium-term strategy. Profit before tax increased to N13.8bn despite the decline in our total assets due to the TSA implementation,” he said, adding that the bank’s net interest income increased by 10.8 per cent year-on-year to N40.6bn, but declined by 4.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter due to the reduction in its earning assets.

Okonkwo, however, stressed that the bank continued to increase yields on earning assets faster than growth in funding costs, which improved its net interest margin to 6.9 per cent in third quarter of 2015.

This growth, he said, put the bank in pole position to attain its 2015 net interest margin target of seven per cent.

Okonkwo added that the bank’s retail strategy was also vital to its performance.

He said, “Electronic banking income increased by 128.4 per cent year-on-year to N4.5bn and 115.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter.”

He explained that the e-banking income was driven essentially by the deployment of the bank’s innovative online banking application, increased migration of customers to alternate electronic channels as well as a rise in international card transactions.

Okonkwo said despite the numerous challenges being faced by the banking sector, Fidelity Bank remained committed to keeping its promises to customers.

He explained that the new corporate identity unveiled by the bank in September was inspired by its past “with our eyes set on the future and always staying true to our vision. Our new identity comes with a renewed brand promise…‘your aspiration may prove to be a tough job but someone’s got to do it’”

source Punch