THE National Data Protection Commission (NDPC) said it had levied a fine of N555.8 million against Fidelity Bank Plc for breaching customers’ data privacy.
The national commissioner of NDPC, Vincent Olatunji, disclosed this at the validation workshop on the Nigeria Data Protection Act General Application and Implementation Directive on Wednesday, August 21, in Abuja.
He said the fine was issued on Tuesday and the bank was mandated to pay the penalty sum within 14 days upon the receipt of the notice.
According to Olatunji, the lender violated the NDP Act, 2023, and the NDPR, 2019, regarding a data breach.
The fine equals 0.1 per cent of Fidelity Bank’s annual gross revenue in 2023.
A check on Fidelity Bank’s 2023 audited financial statements shows the bank posted gross earnings of N555.83 billion.
“Data protection compliance is important and we have stated that non-compliance will be punished.
Olatunji said the commission’s penalties range from N10 million and up to two per cent of the prior year’s earnings of offenders.
“Since we started, the major penalty we issued on fidelity bank was yesterday (Tuesday). For the violation of the NDP Act, 2023, and the NDPR, 2019. We issued a fine of N555.8m and they have to pay.
“We have observed serious breaches and we have been working with them, investigating the issue since April 2023. But by the time we finalised our findings, they became arrogant, and we decided to issue a full penalty on them, which is about 0.1 per cent of their earnings for 2023,” Olatunji was quoted to have said.
In its 2023 financial year records, Fidelity Bank reported a penalty payment of N42.96 million, The ICIR can report.
A breakdown of the penalties showed that the bank got N26.26 million fine from the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF) infraction; N4 million for late returns; and N10 million for anti-money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism and countering proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPT) imposed on the bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The Nigerian Exchange Limited also levied an N2.7 million fine on the bank for report filing violation.
“The Directors think that the financial statements of the Bank comply with the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020 and all relevant CBN circulars, except for the contraventions below which attracted penalties during the year ended 31 December 2023,” the bank stated.