Fidelity Bank Now Among Top 3 Dividend-Paying Nigerian Banks—Shareholders

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

Fidelity Bank Plc has been praised for giving cash reward to shareholders, saying it is now among the top financial institutions in Nigeria giving investors a reason to smile in terms of dividend payments, closely behind GTCO Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.

The National Chairman of the Progressive Shareholders Association, Mr Boniface Okezie, while speaking at the company’s 37th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, where shareholders approved a final dividend of N1.25, encouraged the management and board of the lender to maintain the accelerated growth trajectory.

Mr Okezie said shareholders of the lender were impressed with the outstanding performance of the organisation in the 2024 fiscal year, where the gross earnings increased by 87.7 per ent to N1.043 trillion and the profit before tax jumped by 210 per cent to N385.2 billion.

“This is a superlative performance and we the shareholders are grateful to management and staff for giving us a bank to be proud of. It is also important to note that the bank has earned its spot as one of the top 3 dividend-paying financial institutions in Nigeria,” Mr Okezie stated.

Also, the Chairman of the Zonal Shareholders Committee, Mr Tunji Okelana, praised the chief executive of Fidelity Bank, Mrs Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, for her exceptional leadership quality.

“The achievements of the current MD have surpassed that of everyone who held that office before her.

“In addition, staff working with her are assets. They are truly Fidelity, they keep their word. Without any doubt, I am very happy with the bank,” he declared.

Addressing the shareholders at the gathering, the chairman of Fidelity Bank, Mr Mustafa Chike-Obi, said, “Despite the global economic headwinds, we demonstrated exceptional resilience, achieving record breaking growth across all performance indicators, most notably our PBT.”

He added that the bank’s stakeholders were all pleased with the success of the first stage of the capital-raise exercise.

“The oversubscription of 237.9 per cent in the public offer and 137.7 per cent in the rights issue is a testament to the strength of our brand and the confidence the investing public has in us. Equipped with this vote of trust, we will proceed swiftly and conclude the second tier of our capital-raise exercise,” he stated.

On her part, Mrs Onyeali-Ikpe shared the strategic outlook to build on the bank’s FY 2024 success, stating, “Our priorities in 2025 financial year are to complete the next phase of our capital raise and further strengthen our asset base, enhance operational efficiency and digital innovation and explore strategic regional expansion into select African markets.”

According to the bank’s 2024 annual report available on its website and distributed to shareholders, the lender recorded an impressive 106.9 per cent growth in interest and similar income to N950.6 billion, as customer deposits rose by 47.9 pr cent to N5.9 trillion in 2024 from N4.0 trillion in 2023.