ALAT
“Can a legacy Nigerian commercial bank (Wema) use its digital brand to be both a consumer neobank and a BaaS provider to Nigerian fintechs and e-commerce platforms?”
Founded2017
HQLagos, Nigeria
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story
ALAT is the digital banking arm of Wema Bank PLC, a long-established Nigerian commercial bank. Launched in 2017 to capture younger, mobile-first Nigerian consumers, it has expanded from a basic savings/cards app to an embedded-finance ecosystem — opening up wallet APIs to third-party platforms, offering SME loans and BNPL, and embedding insurance via Curacel. The strategic question is whether a legacy bank's digital channel can serve both retail customers AND become a BaaS rail for Nigerian fintechs.
Last 12 months
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Product timeline
0
Partners with Curacel to embed car, device and health insurance into the app· insurance
2017
Wema Bank launches ALAT, marketed as Nigeria's first fully digital bank· banking
2021
ALAT introduces Buy Now Pay Later feature· lending
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by ALAT
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
5 layers disclosed in ALAT’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
ALAT Wallet APIs (self-operated)NIP interbank transfers (self-operated via Wema Bank)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
6 more providers across 4 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.