Fidelity Bank Plc said it may raise up to $500million from the international debt capital market through the issuance of unsecured notes.
A statement by its Company Secretary, Ezinwa Unuigboje, said the company intends to list the notes on the Irish Stock Exchange, while the proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes, including supporting its trade finance business.
The Bank said: “The proposed aggregate offer size is $500million, due 2026, which will, when issued, rank pari passu, without preference among themselves, with all other unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of the bank. The Securities and Exchange Commission has confirmed that it has no objection to the transaction.”
It described the development as an interesting stride, “from a bank that has always set the bar when it comes to its leadership and is very well known for its stable management, positive investor relations and forward-thinking digital innovations.”
It also noted that in its almost 35 years of operations; Fidelity has had only four chief executive officers (CEOs), which it noted was a testament to stability of management and strong corporate governance.
With the bank’s recent ISO 27001 certification on information security, Fidelity Bank is leading the industry with its commitment to provision of quality and secured services to investors and depositors across the country.
“The bank has consistently and sustainably grown its business based on a careful well-thought out strategy. This has not only contributed to its bottom line, but also guarantees the safety of its and depositors funds.
“With the bank’s recent ISO 27001 certification on information security, Fidelity Bank is leading the industry with its commitment to provision of quality and secured services to investors and depositors across the country.
“This certification continues to enable the bank to prevent information security lapses and mitigate associated risks. As a customer-centred financial institution, the bank is ensuring the safety of depositors funds through a host of initiatives including Online Vulnerability Assessment, SSL encryption, second factor authentication, to mention a few.
“Without a lot of fanfare and noise, Fidelity has become one of the best capitalised and safest banks in Nigeria,” it added.
The bank said it has also continued to deploy a market-leading digital strategy encompassing not just mobile and online banking, but end-to-end digital products to better serve its customer base of over six million individuals and corporates, as well as to diversify its revenues.
It explained that the diversification would further strengthen the bank’s balance sheet and increase the sustainability of its growth strategy.
According to the bank, a demonstration of its digital prowess was its recent award by Citigroup for excellent operational efficiency in foreign currency payments.
“With a strong history of serving small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria, it didn’t come as a surprise when the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) also recently recognised Fidelity Bank as the performing financial institution with the highest disbursement to DBN-focused locations.
“To further underscore the bank’s digital transformation initiatives, its chatbot Ivy was named in the KPMG Digital Channels Scorecard as the Best Chatbot of 2020,” it added.
