Fidelity Bank Plc was incorporated in 1987 and commenced business as a merchant banking outfit. It however converted to commercial banking in 1999 following the clamour of wholesale institutions for a level playing ground in the industry. The bank proceeded to list as a public entity in the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2005. Since then, Fidelity Bank has been on a firm and steady growth trajectory to emerge as one of the admirable institutions in the sector by key stakeholders.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated emerged in the West African banking landscape to fill a gap that long existed but not explored. Accordingly in 1985, a group of businessmen came together with the political support of the Economic Commission of West Africa States, ECOWAS, and various governments in West Africa to form Ecobank with the aim of playing a financial and economic role towards promoting international trade amongst the countries of the region and with other countries outside the region.

During the 9th Annual General Meeting of Unity Bank Plc to review activities for the financial year ended December 2014, an opportunity was provided for the bank to commend all critical stakeholders for returning the bank to the path of profitability and also sustaining the bank on a journey that started nine years ago with the coming together of nine banks during the Soludo-era consolidation exercise.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Benin, Edo State, has reserved judgement in the appeal by candidate of Labour Party, LP, Chief Great Ogboru and Labour Party, praying the appellate court to set aside the decision of the Justice N. T. Gunmi-led governorship election petition tribunal in Asaba.

Yoruba Youth Congress, yesterday, explained why it chose a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the best politician in Yorubaland.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Air Force, Senator Duro Faseyi, has said that autonomy for local governments in the country would remain a pipe dream, so long as governors continue to maintain their stranglehold on the states House of Assembly.

TENSION is mounting over granite and precious stones in the mineral rich Lokpaukwu Umuchieze community in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State following alleged disobedience of a court order for the company operating a mining site in the community to stop work.

Top kits manufacturing outfit, NIKE, is out to take care of women and professional athletes as the body opened a new outlet on Friday in Lekki.

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has unveiled four of its recently redesigned and more modern branches in Lagos state. This is part of the bank’s efforts to continue to deliver superior banking experience to its customers. The branches are located at Oba Akran, Allen, Alausa and the Agege areas of Lagos. Union Bank said the redesigned branches are part of the Bank’s plan to offer “simpler and smarter” banking solutions to customers and prospects. The branches have been exquisitely designed and furnished to wear a sophisticated look.

Sterling Bank is set to increase its customer base by attracting one million new customers in 2016. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Mr. Yemi Adeola disclosed this at the annual press conference of the banks, adding the bank will also complete ongoing efforts to raise additional fund to beef up its capital base. He said, “As we get ready to go into 2016, we are focussing on four key areas strategically. The first is to improve our funding and customer counts. We intend to increase our customer base by one million new customers in 2016.”

Oando’s cost-income structure has faltered with a sustaining decline in sales revenue and a continuing rise in costs. Turnover went down by 5.5% year-on-year at the end of September but cost of sales rose by 47%, which led to a 36% fall in gross profit. This has been the trend for the third year running. In 2013, the company lost 30.8% of sales revenue and in 2014, a further loss of 5.6% occurred. Profit drops happened for the second year in 2013 and huge losses have followed for the second year in 2015.

FBN Holdings still towers above the rest of the banks in the industry by revenue but rising credit losses have robbed it of significant profit capacity this year. Impairment charges for credit losses made an upsurge of about 250% year-on-year at the end of the third quarter to stand at N46.64 billion. That has far exceeded the total impairment charges of N25.94 billion the bank made in the whole of 2014.

The Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Alhaji Gimba Ya’u Kumo, said last week that some 68 million Nigerians were improperly housed. Ya’u Kumo stated this in Abuja at a civil society interface organised by Initiative for Leadership and Economic Watch in Nigeria (ILEWN), a civil society organisation.

A Dutch Appeals Court ruled weekend that Royal Dutch Shell can be held liable for oil spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria. Judges in The Hague ordered Shell to make available to the court documents that might shed light on the cause of the oil spills and whether leading managers were aware of them. Friday’s ruling overturned a finding by a lower Dutch court in 2013 that Shell’s Dutch-based parent company could not be held liable for spills at its Nigerian subsidiary.

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says it expects to capture at least 500,000 new corporate accounts in its tax database by March 31, 2016. The Chairman of FIRS, Mr Babatunde Fowler, told State House correspondents in Abuja that the objective was to ensure timely collection of revenue on behalf of the Federal Government.