By Amaka Ifeakandu
Lagos
Shareholders of Fidelity Bank has approved a total dividend payment of N4.054 billion for the financial year ended December, 2016.
The amount translates to N0.14 kobo per ordinary shares of 50 kobo each held by investors. Shareholders also commended the board and management for maintaining dividend policy despite the challenges being experienced in the economy.
They also kicked against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive that banks would use five per cent of their profit to fund the exportation of goods in the country, stressing that this would impact negatively on the investors return on investment.
Speaking on behalf of other shareholders, Mr Nonah Awoh expressed concern over the accumulation of unclaimed dividend which stood at N1.8 billion.
He said there is for the board to involve investor relation to ensure that unclaimed dividend reduced drastically.
The chairman of the Bank, Mr Ernest Ebi while addressing shareholders said that the board and management would continue to strive to ensure to do something that would enable them increase dividend.
On the branch network, he said the management would try its best to deepen penetration across the country. He said that today we are in the era of Mobil banking, adding that Fidelity Bank target is to satisfy the interest of the customers. ” we are investing more in technology to provide First Class services to our customers.
We have invested a lot of money in informstion technology to ensure that our customers can do banking transaction without stress. Managing Director of the Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo said that despite the growth in operational income by 3.9 per cent, profit before tax declined by 21.2 per cent due to a N4.8 billion increase in staff gratuity scheme.
