In a bid to attain Tier 1 status and play within the top 10 financial institution in the country, Fidelity Bank Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, has reeled out steps strategically taken by the bank to achieve its objectives of improving operational efficiency and expanding market share. The bank recently found itself in an unnecessary leadership tussle, when the incumbent CEO insisted on probing the immediate past CEO, Nnamdi Okonkwo. However, the bank has refuted the story of any rift at either top management level or at the board level.
Mrs. Onyeali-Ikpe is adjusting “the sails” to ensure that her colleagues at Fidelity Bank have the wind at their backs as they work toward common goals and individual successes. Currently, the CEO has her sights fixed on positioning the bank as one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, which leverages automation and robotics to replace manual and repetitive processes. The global lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic was a messenger unlike any other. It signaled that Nigeria’s traditional and over-the-counter banking systems are no longer viable.
Since assuming office in January 1, 2021, the bank’s first female CEO/ MD, has outlined a seven-point agenda to move the bank further in its quest to become a tier-1 bank that is well-positioned to be competitive and serve well into the future.
In accordance with this, the bank intends to embark on an innovation drive through the implementation of new processes and techniques. The bank is also executing fresh ideas to ensure continuous process improvement, reduced cost to serve, increased competitiveness, improved brand recognition and value, building new partnerships and relationships, driving turnover, and increased profitability. The second agenda for the bank is to refresh the brand with the aim to increase top-of-mind awareness of the Fidelity brand by external and internal stakeholders; and workforce transformation to create a future readily supported by a high performing and empowered workforce. This will be achieved by deepening the skills and competence of staff across the bank, entrenching a culture of high performance, and embedding new ways of working in the bank. So far, these processes have commenced with the capacity building training for staff and senior management training.
