Fidelity Bank Plc has announced a gross earnings of 7.7 percent Year-on-Year to N55.1 billion on account of 66.7 percent growth in non-interest revenue to N12.1 billion from N7.2 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
The bank’s profit before tax grew by 53.9 percent to N10.1 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. This was against N6.6 billion posted in the corresponding period of 2020.
Details of the unaudited results, released at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) showed that the net revenue for the period increased by 13.4 percent to N34.4 billion from N30.3 billion in Q1’20.
Giving details of the performance, Mrs Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director of the bank, stated: “We commenced the year showing impressive double-digit growth in profitability and improved performance across key efficiency indices whilst ensuring our business model continued to deliver strong positive results in line with our guidance for the 2021 financial year.
In absolute terms, the increase in net interest revenue came from foreign exchange related income, digital banking income and account maintenance charge among others as total customers’ induced transactions across all our service channels increased by 30.4 percent and 17.1 percent.
“Net interest margin remained unchanged at 6.3 percent compared to 2020 as the drop in average funding cost offset the decline in average yields on earning assets. Average funding cost dropped to 2.5 percent from 3.6 percent in full year 2020 due to a combination of improved deposit mix and a slight moderation in average borrowing cost.
This led to 26.2 percent decline in total interest expenses, which translated to 17.1 percent increase in net interest income to N28.8 billion despite a 4.3 percent increase in interest bearing liabilities.
“We refinanced our 7-year N30.0 billion Tier II bonds issued in 2015 at 16.48 percent p.a. with cheaper 10-year N41.2 billion Tier II bonds priced at 8.5 percent p.a., which led to a 61bpts drop in average borrowing cost to 4.5 percent.” she said.