Profile: Most influential woman in banking, Billionaire Mrs Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, CEO Fidelity bank

Mrs Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe assumed office as Managing Director/CEO, Fidelity Bank, on January 1, 2021.
Mrs Onyeali-Ikpe has been an integral part of the transformation team at Fidelity Bank in the last six years.

She was formerly Executive Director, Lagos and South West, overseeing the bank’s business in the six states that make up the South West region of the bank. She led the transformation of the Directorate to profitability.

She sustained its impressive year-on-year growth, across key performance metrics, including contributing over 28% of the Bank’s PBT, Deposits and Loans.
She is a consummate professional with over 30 years of experience across various banks.

She’s had experiences in banks, including Standard Chartered Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Citizens International Bank Limited, where she held several management positions in Legal, Treasury, Investment Banking, Retail/Commercial Banking, and Corporate Banking.

She has been involved in structuring transactions in various sectors, including oil & gas, manufacturing, aviation, real estate and exports.

As an Executive Director at Enterprise Bank Plc, she received a formal commendation from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) as a management team member that successfully turned around Enterprise Bank Plc.

Mrs Onyeali-Ikpe holds Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Master of Laws (LLM) degrees from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Kings College, London, respectively. She has attended executive training programs at Harvard Business School, The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania, INSEAD School of Business, Chicago Booth School of Business, London Business School and IMD, amongst others.
She is also an Honorary Senior Member (HCIB) of The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

Under her watch, Fidelity Bank Plc has released its H1 2022 results, recording a remarkable 21.6% growth in profit to N21.6bn as well as decent growth in most key ratios.
According to the report released on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) on Tuesday, August 30 2022, the bank grew Total Deposits by 13.1% YTD to N2,290.1bn from N2,024.8bn in 2021FY, driven by double-digit growth in low-cost deposits.

Low-cost deposits increased by 26.1% YTD to N1,902.4bn and now represent 83.1% of total deposits from 74.5% in 2021FY, which explains the drop in funding cost.
“We are delighted with our H1 2022 performance which showed strong growth across key performance indices”, said Fidelity Bank’s CEO, Mrs Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe.
“With improved efficiency and customer experience around our network, customer transactions have grown as we optimize our balance sheet and build up a large stock of stable, low-cost deposits.”

Gross Earnings increased by 37.9% YoY to N154.8bn on account of a 52.9% growth in interest income to N136.2bn from N89.1bn in H1 2021.
The increase in Interest Income was driven by the improved yield on earning assets and 14.9% YTD expansion in earnings base to N2,546.5bn.

Similarly, Net Interest Margin improved to 6.4% from 4.7% in 2021FY due to improved yields on average earning assets and a decline in average funding cost.
Average yields on earning assets increased by 211bps YoY to 11.5%, while average funding cost declined by 84bps to 4.0% YoY, which resulted in 50.4% growth in net interest income to N75.6bn.
The release of the half-year results coincides with the bank’s recent announcement on expanding to the United Kingdom with its proposed purchase of Union Bank U.K.

Commenting on the proposed acquisition, Onyeali-Ikpe said: “We recently executed a binding agreement to purchase a 100.0% equity stake in Union Bank U.K. Plc in line with our strategic objectives and business expansion drive.
“Union Bank U.K. offers a compelling synergy we hope to build on, to create a scalable and more sustaining service franchise that will support the wider ecosystem of our trade businesses and diaspora banking services.”
On the back of the positive H1 2022 performance, the board of fidelity bank approved an interim dividend of 10k per share, making it the first time the bank will pay an interim dividend in its 34years history.