Payward, the company behind crypto exchange Kraken, has signed a binding agreement to acquire Saldo Finance Oy, the Finnish financial holding that owns Lithuania-based Saldo Bank. The deal, signed on Wednesday, gives Payward a European banking license and extends its reach into deposits and lending across the continent.
Saldo Bank is active in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany, and holds an additional approval to operate in the Dutch market. The transaction still requires sign-off from regulatory authorities and is expected to close in 2027. The companies have not disclosed the purchase price.
For Payward, which operates the infrastructure behind Kraken, the acquisition fills a gap in its European footprint. The company already holds an e-money license from the Irish central bank and has limited access to the Federal Reserve's payment system in the United States. Its banking arm, Payward Banking, has issued loans totaling more than 2 billion US dollars. A European banking license would allow the group to offer regulated deposit and lending products directly to customers across multiple EU and EEA markets, rather than relying solely on e-money permissions.
Embedded lending as a selling point
Saldo Bank brings more than a license. In Germany and Finland, it already runs Embedded Lending services that let fintech companies integrate credit offers directly into their own platforms, a capability that complements Payward's existing retail and institutional infrastructure.
Jarkko Mäensivu, President of Saldo Bank, framed the deal as a combination of regulatory reach and technical design. "A banking license is only worth as much as what you build on top of it. Payward has spent years building regulated infrastructure in the US and in Europe. Saldo Bank's infrastructure was designed to be pan-European from the start and enables innovative banking solutions, such as embedded services for other fintechs," he said. "Combining these capabilities with our presence in five markets, significantly more customers will be able to use the full range of both companies' offerings: banking, payments and credit, all from one source."
The acquisition fits a broader pattern among large crypto firms seeking direct access to banking rails rather than depending on third-party partners, a strategy that becomes more pressing as regulatory scrutiny of crypto-bank relationships continues across the EU. By owning a licensed bank with an established presence in five markets, Payward would be positioned to offer deposit-taking, lending and payment services under a single regulatory umbrella, reducing its reliance on partner banks and e-money arrangements.
With the deal not expected to close until 2027, the practical integration of Kraken's crypto services with Saldo Bank's banking infrastructure remains some way off. Approval from European regulators will determine whether Payward's ambitions to combine banking, payments and crypto trading under one roof move forward as planned.
