Fidelity Bank’s pre-tax profit hits a record N385 billion in 2024, up 210% 

Despite a windfall tax of N13.333 billion, post-tax profit surged by 179.63% to N278.106 billion.

According to the audited financial statement, gross earnings grew by 87.72% to N1.043 trillion, with core operational income contributing about 97% of total revenue.

The Board has proposed a final dividend of N1.25k per share (up from N0.85k in 2023), payable on April 29, 2025.

This brings the total dividend for 2024 to N2.10k per share, including the N0.85k interim dividend, to be paid from retained earnings.

Interest income dominance

Fidelity Bank’s earnings structure remained heavily reliant on interest income, which accounted for 91% of total revenue. This was primarily driven by:

Notably, the contribution from loans declined, while investment in securities increased. While loans and advances grew by N1.2 trillion, investment in securities expanded significantly to N1.55 trillion, adding N733.544 billion in 2024.

The bank suffered higher credit losses, reflecting a risky lending environment for Nigerian banks. According to details contained in its financials, total credit loss expense declined to N56.441 billion, with 91.47% (N51.63 billion) linked to loans and advances.

However, 73.46% of these loans were classified under Stage 3 Expected Credit Loss (ECL).  Credit losses are loan provisions undertaken by banks to cater for loans that they consider might go bad. Stage 3 loans are typically loans in bad shape.

Despite this, the net interest income after providing for bad loans remained strong, supported by net fees and commission income of N70.312 billion contributed to the strong pre-tax profit.

Fidelity Bank’s increase in commission and fees was driven by letters of credit commission and fees (N9.47 billion), ATM charges (N6.4 billion) and commission on travelers’ cheques and foreign bills (N6.9 billion).

The bank recently launched ‘Fidelity Send’, a real-time payment platform powered by MasterCard, that enables individuals and businesses to send and receive money quickly and securely. The bank takes a cut on such transactions.