Investors show confidence in Fidelity Bank despite EFCC allegations

Investors at Thursday’s trad­ing on the Nigerian Stock Ex­change (NSE) demonstrated that they were unshaken by the allegations made by the Econom­ic and Financial Crimes Commis­sion (EFCC) against Fidelity Bank Plc as they staked more resources in the bank’s equity.

The bank’s shares were among the few shares that recorded gains in trading despite media reports that the bank’s Managing Director has been arrested over allegations that $115 million were passed through it to bribe electoral of­ficials during the 2015 elections.

The banks’ share price ap­preciated by 2.5% in Thursday’s trading on the NSE to close at N1.20 per share, making it one of the best performing stocks in the banking sector, showing that investors’ confidence remain un­shaken by the allegations.

Analysts say the appreciation in share price is a sign that inves­tors believe that the allegations will have no material impact on the bank’s operations.

“This clearly shows that inves­tors are not really worried about the allegations. Besides, I think the figures being mentioned are exaggerated just for effect. The monies were collected in the nor­mal course of business and dis­bursed in the normal course of business in my perspective. I be­lieve this issue is likely to be re­solved,” said an analyst.

Fidelity Bank on Thursday also issued a press release stating that that the bank was fully coop­erating with the EFCC over the al­legations.

The bank’s statement read:

“Our attention has been drawn to reports in the media on investigations into transac­tions undertaken by the bank in the normal course of business in 2015.

“The transactions are now the subject-matter of investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“We can confirm that the transactions were duly reported as required by the regulators and the bank is cooperating with the authorities on the investigation.

“We assure our numerous stakeholders, including our cus­tomers that we are working assid­uously towards a quick resolution of the issues.”

Fidelity Bank Plc, one of the country’s most capitalised finan­cial institutions, recently released its full year results showing gross earnings for the period ended De­cember 31, 2015 grew to N146.9 billion from N136.1 billion re­corded in 2014 Financial Year (FY). The bank also announced N4.6 billion as dividend pay-out, thus maintaining a tradition of consistent dividend pay-out for the past 10 years.