Indigenous bank, Fidelity bank has reported of an impressive growth in 2015 despite the economic downturn that affected the profits of some banks in the country.
In 2015, the bank’s profits shored up to GH¢ 206 m; representing an increase of 83% percent up from the GH¢ 122 m recorded in 2014.
Anchored on strong revenue growth, margin improvements and continued focus on operational efficiency, Return-On-Equity (ROE) increased by 200 bases points to 33% in 2015, up from the 2014 figure of 31%.
Addressing the 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Edward Effah said effective cost savings, notwithstanding the high inflationary environment, supported the bank’s performance.
“Overall, the bank had a very strong year in 2015, we were able to grow our business significantly and all the shareholders are very happy with the performance of the bank in 2015,” he stated.
Mr. Effah also indicated that the acquisition of Pro Credit in 2015 also contributed to the bank’s increased profitability.
“As you are aware, we acquired Procredit in 2015 and completed the integration. The Procredit branches that we acquired showed strong growth. In addition, our wholesale banking businesses enabled us to acquire new major accounts and customers which all helped us to build our balance sheet significantly.”
Fidelity bank’s 2015 results also showed that the bank’s assets grew by 36% to GH¢ 4.11bn up from the GH¢ 3.02 bn cedis recorded in 2014.
Earnings per share, increased by 67% to 585 pesewas from what was paid in 2014 which was 351 pesewas.
This saw shareholders being paid 1 cedi 27 pesewas dividend per share.
The bank however recorded a reduction in net loans and advances as it recorded negative 4 percent posting of GH¢ 1.49m cedis for 2015 from the GH¢ 1.56m cedis it gave in 2014.
2015 saw the bank increasing its customer deposits by 68% posting in nominal terms a little above GH¢3m from the GH¢ 1.78 m cedis in 2014.
The bank’s capital adequacy for 2015 went up by 5% to 29.5% while loan to deposits also decreased by 38% in 2015 from the 90% recorded the previous year.
The operating income of the bank in 2015 went up by 69% from the GH¢ 326m in 2014 to GH¢ 552m in 2015.
Meanwhile the bank’s operating expense in 2015 shot up by 60% moving from GH¢180m in 2014 to GH¢ 292m in 2015.
Way forward
Going forward into 2016, Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Edward Effah told Citi Business News the bank was going to invest heavily in technology in 2016 to position self for the digital age of banking.
“We are very well positioned to take advantage of fin-tech by investing significantly in technology and developing new products which will enable people transact business on their phones as well as internet banking,”
“So we are doing all we can to position ourselves as we are seeing more and more transactions being digitalized as opposed to manual,” Mr. Effah stated.
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By: Norvan Acquah-Hayford/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
