Shareholders of Fidelity Bank Plc have frowned at the high level of unclaimed dividends in the bank’s 2016 financial statement.
A shareholder, Mr. Nona Awoh, said an unclaimed dividend of 1.8 million in the bank’s financial is alarming. He advised the board and management of the bank to find ways to make sure that the unclaimed dividend comes down to manageable level, adding that there is the need for improvement of disclosure.
The shareholders also condemned the directive by the CBN for banks to set aside five per cent of their profit after tax for Export Fund, saying that the apex bank should not force the banks to do that ; rather banks should be encourage to fund the export businesses.
Commenting further on the performance of the bank, another shareholder, Mr. Alex Adio, said, “We dislike the actions taken by the CBN imposing high penalty on our bank for offences committed by the staff. Does the CBN want to kill the banks operating in the country? For Fidelity Bank alone the apex bank imposed over N175 million.
“This is money that would have come to us as dividend. The action of the apex bank is acting as a disincentive to shareholders to invest in the banking sector. We advise that the CBN should lower the penalty fee to save our bank, alternatively the staff should be held responsible for some contravention.”
Chairman, Fidelity Bank, Mr. Ernest Ebi, commended the shareholders for their useful contributions and advice. He said, “Fidelity Bank will continue to improve on shareholders’ value. The fundamentals of the Nigerian economy remain very strong. As the global commodity market begins to open up in 2017, we expect that the Nigerian economy would rebound with increasing opportunities for the banking industry.
“Your bank’s financial performance in 2016 is reflective of the slowdown in business activities due to lower government revenues arising from depressed oil prices, lower interest rate regime , rising inflation rate lower consumer disposable income , tougher operating environment and the impact on the currency devaluation on asset quality.”
