We are investing heavily in digital technologies to drive our retail strategy – Fidelity Bank MD

…As shareholders approve N3.19bn final dividend for 2018

Temitope Adebayo

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank plc, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo has said that the bank is investing heavily in digital technologies, in order to drive its retail strategy, reduce cost and consequently improve revenue and returns for our shareholders.

This is even as the Shareholders of Fidelity Bank at the bank’s 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos on Friday unanimously approved the payment of a total dividend of N3.19 billion declared by the board of directors for the financial year ended December 31, 2018.

Speaking at the AGM, Mr Okonkwo, disclosed that the bank will not relent on efforts to increase the adoption rates and migration of customers to its digital banking platform.

Responding to shareholder questions, he said the conservative payout was to enable the bank to conserve capital for the future, while urging shareholders to watch out for a more robust dividend in years to come.

According to him, “We want you to remember that Fidelity Bank, without fail in the last 12 years has paid dividend consistently.

“We are not changing our policy of paying out between 30 per cent and 50 per CNET of Profit After Tax, we will keep the policy.

“However, we want your bank to be strong in terms of Capital Adequacy. When the board takes a decision to pay a lesser dividend than expected, just know that we are planning a bigger dividend in the future.”

The Fidelity bank boss projected that in 2019, the board and management of the company remained focused on the execution of the bank’s medium strategic objectives and targets for the financial year, while looking forward to sustaining the momentum and delivering another strong set of results in the next financial year.

According to him, “Our focus will remain on redesigning our systems and processes to enhance service delivery, deepen our cost optimization initiatives to reduce operating expenses and cost-to-serve, and enhance our overall risk monitoring capacities to ensure both internal and external risks are identified and mitigated before they crystallize.

“On the back of the evolving dynamics in the industry, we will continue to increase the adoption and migration of customers to our digital platforms and increase our retail banking market share through innovative products and services.

“The introduction of artificial intelligence and robotic process automation like Chatbots in our internal processes and service delivery channels will be used to drive growth in all sectors we are currently servicing.”

The chairman of the bank, Mr Ernest Ebi, said the bank as an institution would be focus solely on the execution of medium-term strategy which includes driving innovation through continual process improvements, cutting edge technology product differentiation and improved service delivery.

“I have every confidence that we will achieve our performance target for 2019 and beyond,” he said.

Also, speaking at the meeting, Patrick Ajudua, National Chairman, New Dimension Shareholders Association commended the board and management for maintaining dividend policy.

Mr Ajudua, however, expressed the need for payment of higher dividend by the bank in the years ahead.

Timothy Adesiyan, President of the Nigerian Shareholders’ Solidarity Association, said the bank had maintained steady growth in spite of a challenging environment.

Mr Adesiyan also commended the bank’s effort in ensuring aggressive loans recovery which impacted positively on its non-performing loan.

“We have a solid bank handled by professionals and our bank is in good hands”, he said.