Credit Worthiness: Fitch Upgrades Fidelity Bank’s Issuer Default Rating From ‘B-’ to ‘B’

<h4>Credit Worthiness&colon; Fitch Upgrades Fidelity Bank’s Issuer Default Rating From &OpenCurlyQuote;B-’ to &OpenCurlyQuote;B’<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>OpenLife Nigeria has gathered that Fitch Ratings has upgraded Fidelity Bank Plc’s long-term issuer default rating &lpar;IDR&rpar; from &OpenCurlyQuote;B-’ to &OpenCurlyQuote;B’&comma; reflecting the bank’s increased creditworthiness&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The rating agency also upgraded Fidelity’s National Long-Term Rating to &OpenCurlyQuote;A&lpar;nga&rpar;’ from &OpenCurlyQuote;BBB&plus;&lpar;nga&rpar;’&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This information is contained in a statement signed by Adetayo Shofodunrin and made available to OpenLife&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Fidelity Bank is a full-fledged commercial bank operating in Nigeria with over 6&period;5 million customers serviced across its 250 business offices and digital banking channels&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The statement stated that according to the global rating agency&comma; the upgrade is a result of the Bank’s improving business profile and resilient financial metrics&period; The agency added that the improved rating reflected the bank’s increased creditworthiness relative to other issuers in Nigeria&comma; emphasizing that&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Fidelity’s Long- and Short-Term IDRs are driven by its standalone creditworthiness&comma; as expressed by its Viability Rating &lpar;VR&rpar; of &OpenCurlyQuote;b’ ’’&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The agency further stated that the VR reflects healthy asset quality&comma; good business profile and reasonable capitalisation and liquidity&period; These are balanced against high sensitivity to Nigeria’s challenging operating environment as well as higher credit concentration as a percentage of equity and weaker profitability than larger domestic-rated peers&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Commenting on the upgraded rating&comma; Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe&comma; Managing Director&sol;CEO&comma; Fidelity Bank Plc&comma; stated&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Receiving this upgrade at a time when the global economy is faced with a myriad of challenges&comma; speaks to the strength of our business model&comma; the efficacy of our risk management culture and the commitment of our staff towards creating sustainable value for all stakeholders&period; As a bank&comma; we will continue to execute our growth strategy in a prudent manner that allows us to take advantage of emerging opportunities in our various markets”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;