Fake News -Alleged Planned Seizure of Bank Licenses

Our attention has been drawn to a message circulating on WhatsApp claiming that the licenses of some commercial banks (including Fidelity Bank) may be seized soon.

As the law enforcement authorities work to bring the mischiefmakers behind the false and malicious post to book, it has become necessary to debunk the story and point out the following:

1. The said message is attributed to a faceless author.
2. The Central Bank through a press release issued on 4 June 2024 confirmed that there are no plans to revoke the licenses of additional banks, stating that such allegations are false and intended to trigger panic in the financial system.
3. Fidelity Bank recently secured approval of the CBN, SEC, NGX and other regulators to embark on it’s capital raising drive. This is a mark of endorsement of the bank as no regulator would approve such an exercise if it did not find the bank in a good standing.
4. ⁠Fidelity Bank has been on a growth trajectory in the past three years, increasing PBT by a compounded Annual Growth Rate of 64%, Deposits by 33%, and Risk Assets by 32%. A review of the published financials of Nigerian Banks as of December 2023 showed that Fidelity is ranked 6th across several measures like total assets, total deposits, and total risk assets.
5. ⁠The Bank has consistently paid dividends, which has endeared us to shareholders. Two years ago,we introduced the payment of interim dividends. The average dividend yield in the past three years is 11% which ranks amongst the best in the country.
6. ⁠Fidelity Bank has maintained one of the healthiest NPL and capital adequacy ratios in the industry.
7. ⁠Global Ratings agency, Fitch, last week upgraded our LongTerm Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Positive from Stable, while affirming the rating at ‘B-‘. They also affirmed our National Long-Term Rating at ‘A(nga)’ with a Stable Outlook.
8. ⁠Our full year audit was recently carried out by reputable audit firm -Deloitte attesting to the efficiency of our operations

We urge members of the public to continue to disregard the story as it is entirely misleading.

Signed.
Dr Meksley Nwagboh
Divisional Head, Brand and Communications
Fidelity Bank Plc.