In September Fidelity Bank, one of Nigeria’s largest banks in terms of deposits, announced record half-year results despite a challenging operating environment. Fidelity is not as boisterous as some of the bigger Nigerian banks but has gained a solid reputation for its work in serving the real economy and the unserved by growing its SME lending and also its digital services. The bank is known for its prudent philosophy and governance.
Its current CEO Nnamdi Okonkwo, who has occupied his role since 2014, will be handing over the reins to Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, who will join a short but illustrious list of women at the top of African banks. During his tenure profits have increased over 200% and deposits by 100%. Arguably the bank’s greatest achievement has been in digital banking, where penetration has gone from 1% in 2014 to 50.1% today and now accounts for 28.4% of total fee income.
We caught up with Okonkwo to find out about how serious the current downturn is and what it means for banks in Nigeria.