Kraken owner Payward is buying Finnish holding company Saldo Finance, owner of Lithuanian bank Saldo Bank. The deal gives Payward an EU banking license with passporting in five markets, offering customers interest on deposits and loans in one system.
Payward, the company behind crypto exchange Kraken, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Saldo Finance Oy, a Finnish holding company whose subsidiary Saldo Bank UAB is a digital-first specialized bank licensed in Lithuania. A banking license issued in one EU country can, under EU rules, be "passported" to apply in other EU/EEA countries without the company having to apply for a new license in each market. The acquisition was announced on October 14 and is expected to close in 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.
Payward describes the bank purchase as the next step in a strategy it has pursued for years, gradually acquiring regulated permissions across markets. The company already holds a limited-purpose master account with the US Federal Reserve, an EMI license (e-money institution) from the Central Bank of Ireland, and has originated over $2 billion in loans. An EU banking license extends that infrastructure into the EU's regulated market.
Saldo Bank currently operates in four markets – Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany – with passporting also into the Netherlands. The bank currently offers deposit products in all these markets, consumer lending in Lithuania, Finland and Sweden, and SME lending in Lithuania and Finland. Its credit card has launched in Finland and is expected to launch in Sweden in 2027. Saldo Bank also runs embedded lending partnerships with other fintech companies in Finland and Germany, where these use Saldo's lending infrastructure for their own customers.
According to Payward, once completed and approved by regulators, the acquisition is expected to make it possible to offer European customers interest on deposits, as well as secured and unsecured SME loans, consumer loans and credit cards – products Saldo has already developed and is scaling further. Payward also plans to offer banking-as-a-service to other companies: passporting, card issuance and SME lending, plus full access to the European SEPA payment system and lending infrastructure other fintechs can develop further on.
"A banking license is only as valuable as what you build on top of it. Payward has spent years assembling regulated infrastructure across the US and Europe. Saldo Bank's infrastructure was built to cover the whole of Europe, including embedded banking services for other fintechs. Combining these capabilities with our five-market footprint means far more customers can access the full range of what both businesses offer – banking, payments and lending in one place," says Jarkko Mäensivu, President of Saldo Bank.
Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, says the banking business is not a new ambition, but something the company has assembled license by license, market by market over time.
"A regulated EU bank is the piece that lets us serve European clients the way a primary financial institution should: one place to hold assets, move them freely, and put them to work. We believe whoever owns that relationship earns the right to serve everything around it. We are starting in the EU, and the ambition is global," says Sethi.
Sources: Payward
You have read what you can read for free. With an account you get unlimited access to all news and articles on kaupr.io — and become part of the network of investors, professionals and builders following onchain finance.
