Business
GCR upgrades Fidelity Bank rating on stronger capital position
GCR Ratings has upgraded Fidelity Bank Plc‘s national-scale long-term issuer rating to A Plus (NG) from A (NG), while affirming its short-term issuer rating at A1 (NG). The outlook remains stable.
The upgrade reflects Fidelity Bank’s significantly strengthened capital position following the addition of NGN227.0 billion to its total core capital. GCR also recognised the bank’s strong domestic market position, stable funding base and healthy liquidity profile.
Fidelity Bank’s competitive position remains a key rating strength, supported by its strong domestic franchise and nearly four decades of operating experience. With total assets of NGN10.5 trillion and an estimated 8.0 per cent share of the banking industry’s gross loans as of December 2025, the bank ranks as Nigeria’s sixth-largest bank.
The bank also plans to leverage its international banking licence to enter three additional African markets over the medium term. The expansion is expected to diversify its country exposure and further strengthen its competitiveness among rated peers.
Fidelity Bank raised NGN227.0 billion in additional equity capital in 2025, enabling it to fully comply with the revised capital requirement for its licence category. The capital was officially recognised as the core capital in 2026.
Consequently, the bank’s GCR core capital ratio increased substantially to 29.4 per cent at the end of March 2026, from 17.2 per cent in December 2025. Its stage three loan loss reserve coverage also remained strong at more than 100.0 per cent.
GCR expects the bank’s core capital ratio to remain above 20.0 per cent over the outlook period, supported by good earnings retention. The rating agency also noted that Fidelity Bank’s exposure to the oil and gas sector is diversified across the upstream, downstream and services segments. Foreign currency exposure is further moderated through natural hedging.
Fidelity Bank’s funding profile remains positive, underpinned by a large and stable deposit base. Customer deposits grew by 16.1 per cent as of December 2025 and by a further 7.1 per cent as of March 2026, reaching NGN7.4 trillion.
Customer deposits accounted for 89.5 per cent of the bank’s total funding base in March 2026. Approximately 90 per cent of these deposits were held in relatively inexpensive current and savings accounts, providing a strong foundation for sustainable funding.
READ ALSO: Fidelity Bank gets extension to publish H1 2026 audited results
The bank also maintained a robust liquidity position, supported by a substantial portfolio of liquid assets. Its liquid assets-to-customer deposits ratio stood at 56.9 per cent in March 2026, while liquid assets covered wholesale funding by 4.8 times.
The stable outlook reflects GCR’s expectation that Fidelity Bank will maintain a strong financial profile, with its core capital ratio remaining above 20.0 per cent, supported by stable funding, strong liquidity and resilient asset quality indicators.
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Nigeria’s headline inflation rate edged down to 14.63 per cent in September, from 15.39 per cent a month earlier, official data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday, as the pace of increase in price levels continues to slow in Africa’s most populous country.
The development extends the downward trend in annual consumer inflation recorded in recent months, with inflation dropping marginally to 15.39 per cent in August from 15.43 per cent in July.
Food inflation stood at 19.59 per cent year-on-year in September, slightly higher than the 19.57 per cent recorded in August, but lower than the 20.16 per cent reported in September 2025.
Food accounts for a substantial share of household expenditure, particularly among lower-income households.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items like agricultural produce and energy prices, stood at 12.95 per cent year-on-year in September, down from 13.29 per cent in August and 22.11 per cent in September 2025.
The annual figure indicates a continued slowdown in price increases outside the more volatile food and energy components.
The divergence between the annual and monthly figures suggests that, although underlying inflation has moderated considerably over the past year, some price pressures persisted during September.
Despite the slowdown in inflationary pressures, Nigeria continues to face a cost-of-living crisis, principally on account of elevated food prices and energy costs, which have hammered the disposable income of many households.
The drop in living standards has been fuelled by tough economic reforms introduced by the current administration, including the removal of fuel subsidies, devaluation of the naira and a prolonged hawkish monetary policy stance.
The statistics office’s data also reflected differences between inflation in urban and rural areas.
READ ALSO: CBN restates single-digit inflation target as FG woos investors with tax credits
Urban inflation stood at 15.64 per cent year-on-year in September, down from 20.63 per cent in the corresponding month of 2025. Rural inflation was lower at 12.46 per cent year-on-year, compared with 21.06 per cent in September 2025.
What the figures mean
The September data point to a further slowdown in Nigeria’s inflation rate, with annual headline inflation falling for another month.
A fall in annual inflation means that prices are rising more slowly than they did over the corresponding period a year earlier. A negative monthly rate, such as the September food inflation figure, means that average prices in the measured basket declined compared with the previous month.
With annual food inflation still at 19.59 per cent, the September figures show that the pace of food price increases has moderated over the past year, while the average cost of food remains higher than it was a year ago.
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