Fidelity Bank, Stanbic IBTC Directors, Others Barred from Trading Shares

By Dipo Olowookere

Some highly placed employees of Fidelity Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings have been prohibited from trading the shares of the respective companies from Tuesday, December 1, 2020.

Those affected include directors, senior management staff and their connected persons with vital information about the company, especially its financials.

This is to prevent them from using their positions and access to information about the books to take trade decisions they would not have made if they were not in the same position.

Last week, the board of Stanbic IBTC Holdings said it was starting its closed period from tomorrow and in accordance with the provisions of Rule 17.18(b) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Rule Book, none of its employees with access to information about the financials and others would be allowed to trade its stocks until the full year 2020 audited financial statements are released.

“We would also like to note that in accordance with the above rules as well as the company’s internal personal account trading policy, we have advised all embargoed individuals that they are prohibited from trading in the shares of the company during the closed period,” the notice specifically stressed.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings further said its board of directors will hold a meeting on Thursday, February 4, 2021, at 10:00am to “discuss amongst other items, the company’s consolidated and separate audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, as well as a proposed dividend.”

On its part, Fidelity Bank said it was commencing its closed period from December 1, 2020, stating that the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, should be released on or before March 31, 2021, and that the embargoed persons would not be allowed to trade the companies equities until 24 hours after the release of the results.

However, the lender said the audit of the results has commenced and upon completion, the documents would be forwarded to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for approval and they submitted to the exchange.