James Reynolds Baiden was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fidelity Bank from 1^st January 2023 to succeed Edward Effah who completed his tenure on 31^st December 2022.

Jim Baiden, as he is widely known, is a consummate Banking Professional who garnered more than 35 years-experience working in the Banking & Finance Industry right from his first job at National Investment Bank in the early ‘80s until his retirement in 2018 as the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Ghana.

In October 1998 Jim Baiden teamed up with Edward Effah to co-found Fidelity Discount House and subsequently served as the General Manager & Executive Director from inception in 1998 to 2006.

In October 2006 Jim Baiden came together with Edward Effah and Thomas Svanikier, a key shareholder to develop the transitional framework that culminated in the transformation and founding of Fidelity Bank, a wholly owned Private Sector Bank.

Jim was subsequently appointed the first Deputy Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited.

In June 2016 after 10 years of impeccable service to the Bank as the Deputy Managing and working with a world class Management team that transformed Fidelity into a Top5 bank in Ghana, Jim was appointed the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank. Jim maintained the reputation of the Bank as an outstanding Ghanaian success story and led the Management team to continue growing the Balance Sheet and Profitability of the Bank during his tenure. During the Banking crisis in 2017, Jim then the Managing Director of the Bank, came in for special mention in many fora for his leadership role in building a strong bank that was not indicted by the happenings in the banking industry that led to the collapse of 9 banks.

In October 2018, Jim retired as an Executive Director and Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, having served Fidelity for a total of 20 years. After a 3-year cooling-off period, Jim was re-appointed to the Board of Fidelity Bank in November 2021.

At the 4^th Ghana CEOs Summit in March 2019, Jim Baiden was inducted into the Ghana Banking Hall of Fame in recognition of his immense contribution to the development of Banking in Ghana.

During his active working days, Jim gained extensive international experience as an alumnus of Gerrard & National, a City of London based Discount House. He also attended the Darden School of Management, University of Virginia, USA, specialising in “Managing Critical Resources.”

Jim holds a Master’s Degree in Banking & Finance from the Finafrica Foundation, Milan, Italy and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with Statistics from the University of Ghana, Legon.

Jim is married to Joyce and they have 3 adult children. It is not a secret that Jim is passionate about the things of God and serves as the Chairman of the Action Chapel Scholarship Foundation. In many circles Jim is known as the “TrueBlue” because of his die-hard support of Chelsea Football Club.