Fidelity bank moves to acquire Union Bank UK subsidiary
Fidelity bank moves to acquire Union Bank UK subsidiary
Fidelity Bank Plc, has received the go ahead to acquire Union Bank UK as part of its expansion plans.
The proposed deal is still subject to the approval of the United Kingdom’s Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA).
The financial institution in a regulatory filing issued on the Nigeria Exchange (NGX) on Tuesday, stated that it entered into a binding agreement for the acquisition of 100 percent equity in Union Bank United Kingdom Limited, for which the Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a letter of “No Objection”.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe in a comment on the transaction stated, “This transaction aligns with our strategic plan of expanding our service touchpoints beyond the Nigerian market and providing straight-through services that meet and exceed the needs of our growing clients.”
This marks the bank’s footprint in the international market and signals yet another milestone in the bank’s increasing profile as a leading African bank.
“The diverse service bouquet and business model of Union Bank UK offered a compelling synergy, and we hope to build on the existing capacity to create a scalable and more sustaining service franchise that will support the wider ecosystem of our trade businesses and diaspora banking services”, explains Onyeali-Ikpe.
Recently, ratings agency, Fitch Ratings upgraded the bank’s long-term issuer default rating (IDR) from ‘B-’ to ‘B’, reflecting the bank’s increased creditworthiness as well as its National Long-Term Rating to ‘A(nga)’ from ‘BBB+(nga)’.
Standard and Poor’s, another global ratings agency also upgraded the bank’s national scale ratings to ‘ngBBB/ngA-2′ from ‘ngBBB-/ngA-3’ in recognition of its resilience and performance through the cycle.
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