E-Financial
JMR Infotech Expands Footprints with West African Office
JMR Infotech, formerly known as TRASSET Services Group, has announced the opening of its subsidiary in Nigeria, as part of the company’s expansion plans in the key emerging markets. The company, is an the India-based banking software services and solutions provider and Oracle Partner for FLEXCUBE Services covering entire gamut of services such as Implementation, Onsite Application Management and Support, Reporting and Interfaces already serves a number of key clients in the African continent. It is a fast growing IT company with more than 250 dynamic and highly skilled people globally in the group. JMR Infotech’s success depends on its ability to offer specialised BFS domain expertise with exclusive focus on this industry. The Nigerian subsidiary will allow JMR Infotech to increase its reach and logistics flexibility across the West African region and promises to deliver more value to the existing clients. By making a direct presence in Nigeria, JMR Infotech overcomes a big barrier, local language, to entry in the African region. Presence in Nigeria enables JMR Infotech to offer local support and insights to its clients across the West African region. A decade old Banking IT services and solutions company, JMR Infotech anticipates the steady growth of West African economy and sees opportunities to explore as banking and financial institutions across the African continent turn to banking software service providers to support rapid growth, increase profitability and launch innovative products and services. Backed by excellent FLEXCUBE product know-how, coupled with in-depth knowledge and sound practices in the banking domain, JMR Infotech currently provides support to key players in the West African BFS sector in the areas of FLEXCUBE implementation, upgrade and application management and support. There is an increased demand for consumer and business loans in West Africa as the African continent continues to tap its immense resources. Lending activity driven by auto-finance and home-finance, and booming real estate forces West African financial institutions to look for end-to-end automated solutions. In this scenario, our portfolio of solutions and services delivered through our unique ‘Extended Arm’ engagement model will help banking and financial institutions to address the growing demand effectively by working as an ‘Extended Arm’ of the bank’s IT team, thus considerably reducing the initial investment and TCO. By addressing the needs of the BFS sector, the new facility in Nigeria will provide new IT insights to the West African financial institutions to drive operational efficiencies and improve customer service. “The growth of different industry verticals drives the expansion of West Africa’s BFS sector, which is showing a very high demand for end-to-end banking IT services and solutions. I believe JMR Infotech can play a major role in meeting this demand with its domain expertise, Kingsley Eze, JMR Infotech Nigeria CEO said . Kingsley is optimistic about JMR Infotech’s capability to act as a catalyst for the development of West Africa’s banking IT infrastructure. “Burgeoning economy of Africa necessitates banking and financial institutions to bring in state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. In such a scenario, West Africa’s BFS sector can surely benefit from our portfolio of services and solutions delivered through our unique Extended Arm engagement model that reduces the initial investment and TCO,” asserted Jayafar Moidu, CEO, JMR Infotech.
E-Financial
Fidelity Bank Reports N124.3Bn Pre-Tax Profit for 2023
Fidelity Bank Plc has recorded a profit before tax of N124.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023, indicating a 131.5 per cent increase from N53.7 billion posted in the 2022 financial year.
The bank disclosed this in its 2023 full year audited financial statement issued to the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) on Tuesday in Lagos.
Fidelity Bank said it would also pay investors a final dividend of 60k per share and a total dividend of 85 kobo per share for the reporting period.
This represents a 70 per cent increase compared to the 50 kobo per share paid to its shareholders in the previous year.
The financial institution stated that this led to an increase in return on average equity of 26.5 per cent in the year under review from 15.6 per cent in the corresponding year.
According to the financial statement, the bank’s gross earnings increased by 64.9 per cent year over year to N555.83 billion.
The bank stated that this was driven by 81.6 per cent growth in net interest income which increased from N152.7 billion in year 2022 to N277.37 billion in the 2023 financial year.
This led to a profit after tax of N99.45 billion, representing a 112.9 per cent annual growth.
Commenting on the performance, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, managing director of Fidelity Bank, said the financial institution closed the financial year with strong double-digit growth across key income and balance-sheet lines.
Ms Onyeali-Ikpe stated that the bank’s performance in 2023 was an attestation of its capacity to deliver superior returns to shareholders despite the difficulties in our operating environment.
She said, “A review of the financial performance showed that the bank grew its net interest income by 81.6 per cent to N277.4 billion. This was driven by a 55.5 per cent increase in interest income, thus reflecting a steady rise in asset yield throughout the year.
“The average funding cost dropped by 20bps to 4.4 per cent due to increased low-cost funds that grew from 83.6 per ent in 2022 to 97.4 per cent in 2023.
“The combination of higher asset yield and lower funding cost led to an increase in net interest margin of 8.1 per cent from 6.3 per cent in 2022 financial year.”
According to her, the total customer deposits crossed the N4 trillion mark, as deposits grew by 55.6 per cent from N2.6 trillion in 2022.
She noted that the increase was driven by 81.1 per cent growth in low-cost funds.
Mrs Onyeali-Ikpe explained that despite the challenging operating environment, the bank reaffirmed its devotion to helping individuals grow and inspiring businesses to thrive.
She said the bank also committed to empowering economies to prosper by increasing net loans and advances to N3.1 trillion from N2.1 trillion in the 2022 financial year.
The managing director stated that despite the growth in its loan portfolio, regulatory ratios were maintained well above the required thresholds.
Mrs Onyeali-Ikpe noted that the bank liquidity ratio stood at 45.3 per cent in the year ended 2023, from 39.6 per cent in the year 2022, while the capital adequacy ratio rose to 16.2 per cent, compared to the minimum requirement of 15.0 per cent.
“We recognise the changing dynamics in the Nigerian banking space and the need to monitor and proactively manage evolving risks. The proposed final dividend of 60 kobo per share reflects our commitment to strong value creation and returns to our shareholders.
“Fidelity Bank has consistently paid dividends since 2006,” she said.
E-Financial
ClaimBuddy Bags $5m to Streamline Insurance Claims for Hospitals, Patients
ClaimBuddy, insurancetech startup has raised $5 million in its Series A funding round led by Bharat Innovation Fund (BIF), with participation from Japanese VC firm CAC Capital, Chiratae Ventures, and Rebright Partners.
The Delhi NCR-based startup plans to utilize the capital to enhance its tech infrastructure, onboard skilled talent, and diversify its product offerings.
Founded in 2020 by Khet Singh Rajpurohit and Ajit Patel, ClaimBuddy aims to streamline the insurance claims process for both patients and partner hospitals through its digital platform.
ClaimBuddy has already assisted over 35,000 patients and collaborated with more than 250 hospitals nationwide, establishing itself as a comprehensive solution for medical insurance claims.
CEO Rajpurohit expressed confidence in leveraging the investment to introduce innovative financial tools and further improve healthcare experiences. ClaimBuddy’s focus aligns with addressing fundamental issues in insurance claim settlements and patient experiences, as highlighted by BIF’s Ashwin Raguraman.
ClaimBuddy faces competition from other insurtech startups but aims to disrupt the Indian insurtech sector, which is witnessing a surge in digital-first solutions and increased investor interest.
The Indian insurtech space is projected to be a significant segment within the larger fintech opportunity by 2030.
E-Financial
Recapitalisation: UBA Seeks Shareholders’ Nod to Raise Capital
United Bank for Africa (UBA) has said that it will seek shareholders’ approval at the company’s 62nd annual general meeting (AGM) to raise capital.
The AGM is scheduled to be held on May 24.
UBA disclosed this in a statement filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Monday.
The development is coming after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on March 28, directed commercial banks with international licences to raise their capital base to N500 billion, while national and regional financial institutions’ capital bases were pegged at N200 billion and N50 billion, respectively.
UBA said the board will propose the capital be raised in the Nigerian or international capital markets by way of public offerings, private placements, rights issue or other transaction modes.
The bank said the decision to raise the capital is subject to regulatory approval after consent from shareholders.
According to UBA, the instruments “can either be as a standalone issue(s) or by the establishment of capital raising programmes, whether by way of public offerings, private placements, rights issues and/or other transaction modes, at prices, coupon or interest rates determined through book building or any other acceptable valuation method or combination of methods, in such tranches, series or proportions, within such maturity periods and at such dates and upon such terms and conditions as may be determined by the board of directors of the company subject to obtaining the requisite approvals of the relevant regulatory authorities”.
The company said the board would also propose increasing its issued share capital, from N17,099,710,683 to N22,500,000,000.
UBA, with a capital base of N115.82 billion, needs to raise N384.19 billion to meet the minimum capital requirement for international licence holders.
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