Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Saldo Bank, a digital lender licensed in Lithuania, giving the company a route to offering interest on deposits and loans to customers across the European Union. Payward announced the deal on Oct. 14.
The acquisition is structured through the purchase of Saldo Finance Oy, a Finnish holding company that owns Saldo Bank UAB. Payward did not disclose the purchase price. The company said it expects the transaction to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.
What Saldo Bank adds
Saldo Bank operates in four markets: Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany. It also holds passporting access into the Netherlands. The bank serves retail clients and small businesses.
Its product lineup includes term deposits in all four markets, consumer loans in Lithuania, Finland and Sweden, and business loans in Lithuania and Finland. Its credit card product is already live in Finland, with Sweden scheduled for 2027.
Separate from its direct customer business, Saldo also provides lending infrastructure to fintech partners in Finland and Germany.
How Payward plans to use the bank
Once the deal closes, Payward said it expects to use the bank to pay interest on deposits, expand its lending business, including credit cards, and sell banking-as-a-service tools to other companies. Those tools would include card issuance and access to SEPA payments. The company said all of those plans remain subject to regulatory sign-off.
「A banking license is only as valuable as what you build on top of it,」 Saldo Bank President Jarkko Mäensivu said in the release.
Part of a broader licensing strategy
The bank would add to a growing set of regulated licenses already held by Payward. In March, Kraken's banking arm received a limited-purpose Federal Reserve master account. Payward also holds an electronic money institution license from the Central Bank of Ireland and says it has originated more than $2 billion in loans.
Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in the announcement that the company has been building its banking business "license by license" and that "we are starting in the EU, and the ambition is global."
On the same day, Sethi also shared a line on X from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, as debate continued over yield on stablecoin and crypto balances: 「if you want to be a bank, become a bank.」
Payward said work on integrating Saldo and securing regulatory approval is already underway.