Fidelity Bank Plc plans to issue a N100 billion ($261-million) bond in the local currency to boost its capital ratios and funding capacity.

The based bank wants to issue the debt in a series, starting with a N50 billion offer in the last quarter, Nnamdi Okonkwo, chief executive officer told Bloomberg by phone.
The extra funds will help increase the bank’s capital adequacy ratio by two percentage points, from 18.8 per cent in June, he said.
Fidelity Bank plans to refinance a N30 billion, seven-year fixed-interest security with part of the proceeds by recalling it two years earlier, Gbolahan Joshua, executive director, said in a separate interview.
The bank needs higher capital levels to meet increasing demands from customers whose businesses have been hampered by the triple whammy of the Covid-19 outbreak, a slump in oil prices and the devaluation of the local currency.
The central bank expects the industry to restructure as much as 65 per cent of loans this year.
Fidelity Bank is looking to raise funds at a cheaper rate than the 16.5 per vent it paid for a similar issuance in 2015, according to Joshua.
