By Barnabas Esiet.
Fitch Ratings has upgraded Fidelity Bank PLC’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) outlook to Positive from Stable, while maintaining the rating at ‘B-‘.
The credit rating agency has also affirmed Fidelity Bank’s National Long-Term Rating at ‘A(nga)’ with a Stable Outlook.
In a statement released on Friday, Fitch mentioned that the outlook revision reflects its expectations of the bank’s capitalization strengthening in the near term due to core capital issuances, including meeting the new paid-in capital requirement of N500 billion for banks with an international license by the end of the first quarter of 2026.
Fitch stated, “Fidelity’s IDRs are driven by its standalone creditworthiness, as expressed by its Viability Rating (VR) of ‘b-‘.
The VR considers the bank’s operations in Nigeria’s challenging environment, high credit concentration, and Stage 2 loans against a growing franchise, solid profitability metrics, good capital buffers, and reasonable foreign-currency liquidity coverage.
The agency noted that Fidelity Bank is Nigeria’s sixth-largest bank, accounting for 5% of domestic banking system assets at the end of 2023, with strong balance-sheet growth increasing market shares.
Regarding negative rating action/downgrade, Fitch mentioned that a sovereign downgrade could impact Fidelity’s VR and Long-Term IDR, but this is unlikely given the Positive Outlook on Nigeria’s Long-Term IDRs.
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