Fidelity Bank PLC
“Can a mid-tier Nigerian commercial bank become the SME embedded-finance rail for West Africa while extending cross-border reach through UK and PAPSS corridors?”
Founded1988
HQLagos, Nigeria
IndustryBank / National
The story
Founded 1988 as a merchant bank, converted to commercial banking in 1999 and became a universal bank in 2001. Since 2022 has aggressively positioned around embedded finance — partnering with OnePipe to relaunch PayGate as PayGatePlus, an embedded finance stack offering virtual accounts, BNPL, direct debit and BVN validation to non-bank businesses. Expanded internationally in 2023 via acquisition of Union Bank UK for cross-border reach, and doubled down on Africa-wide payments through Mastercard Cross Border Services (Fidelity Send) and PAPSS.
Product timeline
1988
Founded as Fidelity Union Merchant Bank Limited· banking
1999
Converted to commercial banking· pivot
2001
Became a universal bank· banking
2022
Launched PayGatePlus with OnePipe as embedded finance platform· lending
2023
Completed acquisition of 100% equity stake in Union Bank UK· acquisition
2024
Launched Fidelity Send with Mastercard Cross Border Services for remittances· banking
2024
Onboarded PAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System)· banking
2025
Officially launched PAPSS in Nigeria after N46B in pre-launch transactions· banking
Acquisitions
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by Fidelity Bank PLC
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
6 layers disclosed in Fidelity Bank PLC’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Fidelity PayGate (self-operated)PayGatePlus (self-operated, powered by OnePipe)Virtus (self-operated)PayDirect (self-operated)E-BillsPay (self-operated)Fidelity PayWithTransfer (self-operated)OnePipeInterswitchNIBSS
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
20 more providers across 5 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.