Business
FirstBank Celebrates 2021 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week, Calls for All to Adopt Kindness as a Way of Life.
FirstBank Celebrates 2021 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week, Calls for All to Adopt Kindness as a Way of Life.
SaharaWeeklyNG Reports Concerning First Bank That The best definition of kindness is not one provided by any of the world’s best dictionaries but one demonstrated by how we treat others daily. Kindness is a universal language that does not require any special knowledge, exposure, skills, training, or background to understand and appreciate it as a beneficiary or observer of a kind act. Neither is any special knowledge or training required to show and extend it to others. Just as anyone and everyone can be shown acts of kindness, all persons without exception can and ought to show and extend acts of kindness to others. Kindness flows from deep within us, from the better angels of our nature. Hence, the common idiom “the milk of human kindness”.
FIRSTBANK
This is probably the backdrop to the theme “Kindness…a Way of Life”, which FirstBank has chosen for the commemoration of its 2021 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week (CR&S Week). This year’s CR&S Week, scheduled to hold from 26th – 30th July 2021, will feature Kind Comments Days, visits to orphanages/fewer privilege homes, webinars focused on the kindness theme, SPARK school engagement among other activities – lined up for each of the days. The yearly CR&S Week is a dedicated week designed to offer FirstBank staff, customers and the public opportunities to demonstrate the milk of human kindness that flows in them and give their time and resources to defined causes. It seeks to amplify FirstBank’s innate culture of giving and volunteering as embodied in its Employee Giving and Volunteering programme.
The Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week was introduced in 2017 as part of the bank’s longstanding Employee Giving and Volunteering programme created to enable and encourage staff to give back to society through donations and volunteering. Specially designed to reignite acts of random kindness in the society with events that are tailored to reorient people towards the right values, it provides a veritable platform for encouraging the citizenry to intentionally create a positive impact in their immediate environment. One of the main highlights of the first CR&S Week was the SPARK Initiative. S.P.A.R.K stands for Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness. But originally the “S” stood for “Staff”. It was changed to “Start” to broaden the initiative beyond just staff and encourage everyone else to be part of the kindness brigade. Also, “P” originally stood for “Promoting” but was changed to “Performing” to convey the sense that participants are equally involved in actually doing kind acts and not only promoting kindness.
Held between 25 – 29 September 2017 with “Promoting Kindness: Putting You First” as the theme, the maiden CR&S Week was the first of its kind in Nigeria’s financial services industry. It highlighted the role FirstBank’s corporate citizenship interventions was playing in driving positive impact across various communities – all within one compact week. It was aimed at encouraging people everywhere to step out of their comfort zones, shift attention from themselves and their personal needs to others in society who have not been as fortunate as they have and perform a random act of kindness towards them. The first edition of the CR&S Week provided the opportunity for FirstBank staff to give their time and resources to promote acts of random kindness within their communities and contribute to the welfare and well-being of others through giving and visits to orphanages/homes of the less fortunate and internally displaced people (IDPs). Within the same week, the bank held career counselling sessions with secondary school students across the six geo-political regions in Nigeria with FirstBank staff coordinating the impactful sessions that inculcated the values of financial literacy and inclusion in young students. Also, staff had the opportunity to nominate beneficiaries they believe are deserving of random acts of kindness. Through this activity, Baby Ijeoma was nominated as one of the beneficiaries that received corrective heart surgery in India which was in partnership with the Vama Wave Foundation. The impact of the first edition went beyond Nigeria as FirstBank’s subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK also participated, benefitting people and at least 22 charities in six countries.
The second edition of the CR&S Week was held from 19 – 23 June 2018. Themed “Touching Lives: You First”, the 2018 Week was intended to demonstrate FirstBank brand promise to always put stakeholders first. It focused mainly on five key initiatives/activities. First was the launch of a partnership with VisionSpring to advance social impact by providing vision screening and affordable eyeglasses for 10,000 low-income earners. This aligned with the bank’s financial inclusion and financial literacy approach of promoting accessible and affordable financial products and services to disadvantaged groups to bring these marginalised populations into the mainstream economy, improving their chances for resilient livelihoods and financial stability. Second were giving and visits to orphanages/fewer privileged homes. This was the biggest platform for employee engagement during the week. It followed a needs assessment of the orphanages to be visited to enable employees to donate appropriate items, and employees responded generously, donating at a scale that had never been done before. In all, eight countries witnessed this initiative while more than 26 charities participated.
Celebration of the UN International Widows’ Day on 23rd June 2018, which coincided with the last day of the CR&S Week, was the third activity. Driven by the International Women’s Society (IWS) in Lagos with whom the bank partnered to organise an empowerment outreach for 500 widows in Lagos, it provided start-up capital and capacity building required to successfully run start-ups and small businesses, to the widows. The fourth was a Career Counselling Day for over 10,000 senior secondary school students, as part of the broader FutureFirst programme of the bank aimed at ensuring the youth are empowered to be financially independent through fulfilling careers and the right financial knowledge. Fifth and final was the SPARK (Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness) initiative, which included a SPARK Day set aside in the bank for people to act within their individual spheres of influence to promote kindness. The initiative also saw the bank receiving about 200 internal and external nominations of people deserving of kindness, out of which 24 beneficiaries were to emerge. The 2018 Week was marked across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones with two states from each zone, totalling 12 states in all. It was also commemorated in the six countries/markets outside Nigeria where FirstBank already had subsidiaries – the UK, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Guinea, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
In 2019, the CR&S Week was held from 1 – 6 July 2019 with the theme “Ripples of Kindness: Putting You First”. The theme was informed by the bank’s belief that every act of kindness (regardless of how little or in whatever form) ignites a ripple effect that goes on without end. The year’s CR&S Week focused mainly on the SPARK initiative, which had gained so much traction since its humble beginnings in 2017. A Kindness Manifesto for both internal stakeholders and external stakeholders was introduced. There were other new activities or initiatives. A Nice Comments Day was introduced and scheduled to hold on the first day of CR&S Week. The basis for it, according to the bank’s committee that oversaw the planning and implementation of the 2019 CRS Week, is the important place of words in the “kindness ecosystem”. The committee underlined this point when it noted as follows: “One of the truest reflections of how kind we are in our choice of words. That’s why we have created Nice Comments Day to help build a kinder world [through kind words].”
Another new initiative introduced in 2019 was the SPARK School Engagement, which involved launching the SPARK initiative in schools to promote the 3Cs projected as the pillars of kindness – Compassion, Civility and Charity. The schools – secondary schools across Nigeria – were to be visited to educate students on acts of kindness, encouraging them to make kindness a lifestyle. A crowd-funding initiative was also added in 2019 to enable both employees and external stakeholders to donate to defined humanitarian causes, such as supporting widows, sending children (from indigent homes) to school and providing health care for the physically challenged and the old. As of August 2019, nearly N7 million had been raised through the crowd-funding initiative.
The regular initiatives/activities were also retained in 2019. There were visits to orphanages/fewer privileged homes. Widows’ empowerment was organised in collaboration with the International Women’s Society (IWS), Nigeria to empower a select number of widows across Nigeria. The implementation in Nigeria covered the six geopolitical zones with activities held in four states per zone, amounting to 24 states in all. Six subsidiaries of FirstBank also implemented the programme in their markets/countries – UK, Ghana, DRC, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Senegal. In all, 25 schools benefitted with 6,000 students participating in terms of the School Engagement; 50 charities and NGOs, including Leap Africa and IWS, were partnered. Over 20,000 orphans/fewer privileged people including widows were reached and impacted.
No CR&S Week could take place in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions on public gatherings and visits. But FirstBank did not just fold its hand and sit idly. The bank did something absolutely amazing, demonstrating uncommon solidarity with a vulnerable segment of society – children. Realising that the harsh effects of the COVID-19 crisis were borne disproportionally by children, whose education and thus future was being endangered due to the lockdown and prolonged closure of schools, FirstBank embarked on a mission to do something about it. Working with partners, such as IBM, UNESCO, Robert & John, Curious Learning and the Lagos State Government, it launched the bold and ambitious e-Learning Initiative designed to move one million children onto safe online learning platforms. The Initiative was to minimise the disruption to children’s education, ensuring that they remained fully engaged during the difficult period and are not left behind by their peers across the (developed) world. There are already over 150,000 students benefitting from the e-Learning initiative in the height of the COVID-19 crisis. In addition, the Bank deployed communication material to create more awareness of the SPARK Initiative and to sensitize staff, customers and the public during unprecedented times.
What greater demonstration of kindness could there have been in 2020 given the circumstances the whole world found itself, especially vulnerable children? So there may not have been a CR&S Week in 2020 but the same kindness narrative that has characterised all activities of the various CR&S Week since 2017 clearly shone through FirstBank’s COVID-19 response, especially its e-Learning Initiative. In future, people would probably easily be forgiven if they assumed the e-Learning Initiative represented FirstBank’s CR&S Week in 2020. FirstBank has demonstrated uncommon consistency over the years to its Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week and the ideals it seeks to project through the platform. This has earned the bank the right to make the bold call that is the theme of this year’s CR&S Week.
The question is whether we will heed the clarion call to adopt kindness as a way of life. Will we go out there and extend kindness to others in ways that will make them realise that kindness is not just a word taken from the dictionary but an act that should always be expressed to others? Will we embrace kindness as our new way of life? Will we commit to making our every day a Kind Comments Day, thus giving others permission and the strength to do the same? Will we Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness towards all and make them feel obligated to start acting kindly towards other people as their new lifestyle?
Culled from Nigerian Tribune
ALIKO DANGOTE FOUNDATION’S FORGES PARTNERSHIP WITH ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT BANK
Ms. Zouera Youssoufou, Managing Director & CEO of Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) in company with Mr. Ahmed Iya, Head of Community Engagement & Polio Eradication of ADF visited Dr. Rami Ahmad, Vice President (Operations) of the Islamic Development Bank at IsDB Headquarters in Jeddah.
The delegation used the occasion to highlight the activities of the Foundation so far which made great impact on people of all races by enhancing opportunities for social change through strategic investments that improve health and wellbeing, promote quality education, and broaden empowerment opportunities for individuals and communities.
Dr. Rami also expressed his expectation of a good and rewarding partnership between the two organisations, as many member countries of the IsDB face pressing debt challenges that constrain their investments in people and livelihoods.
Bank
Top 10 Microfinance Banks in Nigeria: Nigeria’s Microfinance Banking Sector: Key Institutions Driving Financial Access, SME Growth, and Inclusion
*Top 10 Microfinance Banks in Nigeria: Nigeria’s Microfinance Banking Sector: Key Institutions Driving Financial Access, SME Growth, and Inclusion
Nigeria’s microfinance banking sector has evolved into one of the most critical components of the country’s financial ecosystem. What began primarily as community based lending structures has now grown into a more structured industry supporting millions of individuals, small businesses, and informal sector operators who remain outside traditional banking systems.
Today, microfinance banks are no longer viewed solely as lenders of last resort. They have become active enablers of financial inclusion, SME development, payroll support, and digital financial access, particularly in a country where access to credit continues to shape economic participation.
Across this expanding landscape, several institutions have consistently stood out based on operational scale, service delivery, innovation, and long term presence in the market.
Among them, Regent Microfinance Bank (Regent MFB) continues to maintain a strong position as one of the notable institutions contributing to the sector’s growth.
A sector shaped by scale, specialization, and evolving customer expectations
The Nigerian microfinance landscape is not uniform. It is a mix of legacy institutions with deep grassroots penetration, digitally driven players reshaping user experience, and hybrid banks balancing both models.
What is becoming increasingly clear is that competitiveness is now defined less by licensing status and more by execution; how effectively institutions are able to deliver credit, maintain trust, and adapt to changing customer behaviour. Within this environment, many microfinance banks continue to define different segments of the market.
*LAPO Microfinance Bank:*
With deep grassroots penetration and scale driven inclusion,
LAPO remains one of the most widely recognised microfinance institutions in Nigeria, largely due to its extensive reach across underserved communities. Its model has historically focused on micro lending and social impact financing, making it one of the most entrenched players in grassroots financial inclusion.
Its continued relevance is tied to its ability to maintain scale while serving a broad low-income customer base.
*AB Microfinance Bank Nigeria: Disciplined Credit Framework*
AB Microfinance Bank operates with a more structured credit approach, particularly in SME financing. Its operations are characterised by standardised lending frameworks and a strong emphasis on repayment discipline, making it a consistent player in urban and semi urban markets.
*Accion Microfinance Bank: Inclusion driven financial services*
Accion Microfinance Bank has maintained its focus on expanding access to financial services for underserved individuals and small businesses. Its model is largely centered on responsible lending and tailored financial products aimed at low to middle income segments.
*Moniepoint Microfinance Bank: The fintech driven disruptor*
Moniepoint represents a more recent evolution in the sector, where microfinance banking intersects with fintech infrastructure. Its strength lies in its agent network, payment systems, and digital rails that support real time transactions and business payments at scale.
Its growth reflects the increasing convergence between traditional financial services and technology led platforms.
*Kuda Microfinance Bank: Digital first banking model
Kuda operates almost entirely within the digital banking space, offering app based financial services that prioritize ease of use, low fees, and user experience. It has contributed significantly to shifting expectations around what banking should feel like for younger, tech savvy customers.
*Regent Microfinance Bank: Modern Microfinance Banking*
Regent Microfinance Bank has continued to position by serving SMEs, corproates and individuals with business support, working capital needs, and customer financial stability.
The bank has maintained a steady presence within Nigeria’s microfinance space through an approach shaped by operational structure, customer engagement, and an understanding of the practical challenges faced by SMEs and retail banking customers.
As financial expectations continue to evolve, Regent MFB remains focused on building a banking experience centered on accessibility, consistency, and solutions aligned with the pace and realities of modern enterprise.
*Addosser Microfinance Bank: Retail and SME hybrid positioning*
Addosser has gradually strengthened its position by serving both retail and SME segments. Its model combines traditional lending services with increasing digital adoption, allowing it to remain competitive in an evolving market.
*Boctrust Microfinance Bank: Salary backed lending specialisation*
Boctrust Microfinance Bank is widely known for its focus on payroll-based lending. By targeting salary earners and formal sector employees, it has carved out a niche in consumer credit, particularly for short-term financial needs.
*Fina Trust Microfinance Bank: Diversified Micro Lending & Retail Services*
Fina Trust maintains a stable presence in the sector with a mix of SME financing, retail banking services, and gradual expansion efforts. Its growth approach has remained measured, focusing on sustainability over rapid scaling.
*NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB): Development and intervention financing*
NIRSAL MFB operates within a more policy-driven framework, with strong emphasis on agricultural financing and government-backed credit schemes. Its role is closely tied to economic development initiatives aimed at boosting productivity in key sectors.
*Industry outlook:*
From access expansion to experience-driven banking
The microfinance sector in Nigeria is entering a more competitive phase, where growth is increasingly influenced by customer experience, digital capability, and trust rather than just geographic presence.
Institutions are now being evaluated on their ability to:
1. Deliver fast and reliable credit access
2. Maintain strong repayment and risk structures
3. Integrate digital and physical banking channels
4. Build long-term customer relationships
This shift is gradually redefining what leadership means in the sector.
*Conclusion*
Nigeria’s microfinance banking space continues to expand and diversify, with institutions playing different but complementary roles in driving financial inclusion and SME development.
From long-established players with deep community roots to digitally driven challengers reshaping customer expectations, the sector reflects a broad spectrum of financial innovation and service delivery models.
Within this evolving ecosystem, Regent Microfinance Bank’s decade-long operational presence and steady, structured approach to growth position it as one of the notable institutions contributing to the stability and progression of microfinance banking in Nigeria.
Fidelity Bank’s gross earnings rise by 45%, shareholders’ funds cross N1trn mark
Fidelity Bank Plc has reported a 45 percent increase in gross earnings for the 2025 financial year, as the lender’s shareholders’ funds crossed the N1 trillion mark following sustained balance sheet expansion and fresh capital injection.
Analysis from the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, reveals that the bank delivered robust results across key financial metrics, including Gross Earnings, which stood at N1.5 trillion, up from N1,04 trillion reported in 2024.
Net Interest Income rose to N831.3 billion, compared to N629.7 billion in 2024, reflecting the bank’s stronger earnings capacity amid elevated interest rates and growth in interest-earning assets.
Interest and similar income calculated using the effective interest rate rose by 38.7 percent to N1.11 trillion in 2025 from N803.05 billion in 2024, while other interest and similar income increased by 25.1 percent to N184.51 billion.
Net interest income after credit loss also rose significantly by 41.2 percent to N809.74 billion from N573.33 billion. The bank also recorded an improvement in asset quality costs, as credit loss expense moderated to N21.61 billion from N56.44 billion, representing a 61.7 percent improvement year-on-year.
Fidelity Bank continued to expand its digital banking footprint, enhance customer experience, and support key sectors of the economy. Non-interest revenue performance remained strong during the period, with fee and commission income increasing by 44.7 percent to N113.36 billion from N78.36 billion. This was driven by letters of credit commissions and fees (N12.5 billion), ATM charges fees (N11.6 billion), commission on travellers’ cheques and foreign bills (N8.9 billion), accounts maintenance charge (N7.13 billion and commission on E-banking activities (N2.2 billion),
Other operating income rose by 200.5 percent to N8.24 billion, while foreign currency revaluation gains surged by 749.9 percent to N99.58 billion from N11.72 billion in 2024.
Fidelity Bank’s investment assets expanded significantly during the year, reflecting the bank’s stronger positioning in fixed income and other securities markets. Debt instruments at fair value through other comprehensive income (FVOCI) rose by 199 percent to N557.78 billion from N186.57 billion, while debt instruments at amortised cost increased by 27.2 percent to N1.97 trillion from N1.55 trillion. Equity instruments at FVOCI also rose by 26.2 percent to N87.85 billion.
The bank also recorded gains from financial assets measured at fair value through profit or loss (FVTPL), which increased by 280.7 percent to N2.75 billion. A new gain of N988 million from derecognition activities was also recorded during the period.
On the balance sheet side, cash and cash equivalents increased sharply by 87 percent to N1.32 trillion from N707.45 billion, indicating stronger liquidity buffers. Restricted balances with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also rose to N1.65 trillion from N1.59 trillion.
Other assets increased by 76.4 percent to N278.89 billion, while investments in property, plant, and equipment rose by 161.6 percent to N203.72 billion. Intangible assets climbed by 147.5 percent to N50.44 billion, indicating continued investment in technology and operational infrastructure. Deferred tax assets also increased significantly to N33.10 billion from N5.31 billion.
The bank further reduced debts issued and other borrowed funds to N888.95 billion from N929.60 billion, reflecting lower reliance on external borrowings. Deferred tax liabilities declined completely from N727 million in 2024 to zero in 2025.
The lender’s total assets grew by 18.6 percent to N10.46 trillion from N8.82 trillion, driven by growth in liquid assets and investment securities. Customer deposits rose by 16.1 percent to N6.89 trillion from N5.94 trillion, reflecting sustained customer confidence and expansion in the bank’s funding base.
Fidelity Bank also strengthened its capital position during the year as total equity increased by 21.1 percent to N1.09 trillion from N897.87 billion, pushing shareholders’ funds above the N1 trillion mark, reinforcing the lender’s capacity to support larger transactions, absorb shocks, and expand its regional and international banking ambitions.
The bank disclosed that it completed a private placement of 12.9 billion ordinary shares in December 2025, raising fresh capital that increased eligible capital to N532.6 billion, above the Central Bank of Nigeria’s N500 billion minimum requirement for banks with international authorisation.
The exercise increased total issued shares from 50.2 billion units to 63.17 billion units, significantly boosting shareholders’ funds beyond the N1 trillion threshold.
The stronger capital base is expected to improve the lender’s capacity to finance larger transactions, expand lending activities, and support future regional growth opportunities.
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