Jim Baiden, Managing Director of Fidelity Bank
Information gathered by BUSINESS GUIDE indicates that Fidelity Bank, the largest privately owned indigenous bank in Ghana, is set to lay off 190 of its employees, including 110 permanent and 80 contract staff.
The retrenchment exercise, the paper learnt, is already underway and will be completed by end of September 2016.
The management cited a number of internal factors, including poor performance as a result of bad economic and political conditions in the country, slower than expected growth registered in deposits mainly due to the poor economic environment and non-performing loans, which have increased across the industry threatening profits.
A management member of the bank, who pleaded anonymity, said that the affected workers would be compensated but refused to disclose the package.
Staff shocked
The staff are surprised that the bank has embarked on the exercise in spite of the successes chalked by the financial institution in recent times.
Awards
Fidelity Bank was recently adjudged the Bank of the Year 2016 for its outstanding performance in trade financing and strong financial output.
At the 15th edition of the Banking Awards which was held in Accra, the indigenous bank won the Best Bank in Trade Deal award and Best Corporate Social Responsibility Bank of the Year award.
Growth Performance
Fidelity Bank last year increased its profit before tax by 83 percent to GH¢205.8 million, up from GH¢112.5 million in 2014.
The bank grew its deposits by 69 percent to GH¢3 billion from GH¢1.78 billion in 2014.
Fidelity Bank’s customer growth has been partly attributed to its acquisition and integration of ProCredit and the ‘Save for Gold’ deposit promotion, which rewarded over 100 customers of the bank with three gold bars and 120 gold coins.
Bank Appoints New MD
Meanwhile, the bank has appointed Jim Baiden as the its new Managing Director, taking over from Edward Effah, who is now the Group CEO of the Fidelity and Chairman of the Board of Fidelity Bank.
Fidelity Asia Bank and Fidelity Securities Limited are subsidiaries of the Group.
Jim Baiden served as Deputy Managing Director of the multiple award-winning bank for 10 years.
Speaking in an interview, Mr. Baiden expressed his gratitude to the board of Fidelity Bank for reposing confidence in him.
Cephas Larbi
cephrok@yahoo.com