Breaking: Fidelity Bank restores transfers to OPay, Moniepoint, and Palmpay

Fidelity Bank has restored transfers to neobanks OPay, Palmpay, Kuda, and Moniepoint a few weeks after it blocked them due to rising fraud and customer verification concerns.

Fidelity Bank has reinstated customer transfers to neobanks like OPay, Moniepoint, Palmpay, and Kuda, sources at the neobanks have confirmed. TechCabal reported that the bank blocked customer transfers to the affected neobanks two weeks ago over rising fraud and customer verification concerns.

“We have been in talks with them [Fidelity], so we knew when they were going to restore us,” a source at one of the affected neobanks told TechCabal. The reinstatement of transfers comes after a regulator, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), expressed its displeasure with Fidelity Bank’s decision to block transfers to these banks, one source close to the matter said.

Several customers first noticed that these neobanks were no longer listed on the Fidelity Bank app’s list of approved financial institutions. OPay denied being affected by the restrictions, despite customer complaints. A source at Moniepoint confirmed the restriction while Sofia Zab, Palmpay’s Chief Marketing Officer, told TechCabal that the neobank’s removal was not due to any perceived issues with PalmPay but due to a necessary system upgrade on Fidelity Bank’s side.

Neobanks have become increasingly popular and helpful after a policy-driven cash crunch, making them a payment choice. Almost instant transaction speeds and lower fees make these neobanks darlings to merchants and vendors in the country, helping them receive customer payments and scaling their businesses. Blocking transfers to these neobanks meant Fidelity Bank lost revenue from transaction fees.