“Can a small Lithuanian specialised bank become the EU banking-licence and deposit-funding backbone for a UK BNPL unicorn (Zilch)?”
Fjord Bank is a Lithuanian specialised bank founded in 2017 and launched operationally in 2020, focused on digital consumer lending (loans €600–€30,000) and deposit-taking. It expanded across the EU from 2022 and reached ~$120M in assets. Opera divested its stake in 2024, and in January 2026 UK BNPL unicorn Zilch agreed to acquire Fjord Bank, which will give Zilch a full EU banking licence and deposit-funded lending capability from its new Baltic base.
Fjord Bank discloses Fjord Bank AB (in-house) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Fjord Bank does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Fjord Bank AB (in-house).
Fjord Bank's lending and capital products are provided by Fjord Bank AB (in-house).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Fjord Bank's stack: Banking / BaaS (Fjord Bank AB (in-house)); Lending (Fjord Bank AB (in-house), Consumer loans (€600–€30,000, terms up to 10 years), Car loans, Home improvement loans and 3 others).
Fjord Bank is founded in 2017 and headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Fjord Bank and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.