Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, agreed to acquire Saldo Finance Oy, the Finnish holding company of Lithuania-licensed Saldo Bank. The price was not disclosed. The transaction requires regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in 2027.
Saldo Bank provides term deposits and lending across several European markets. It serves customers in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany, and has passporting rights for the Netherlands. Its products include consumer and small-business credit, embedded lending for fintech companies and a credit card available in Finland.
A REGULATED BANKING PLATFORM
Payward plans to use the acquisition to broaden its European offering beyond digital-asset trading. The group said a regulated banking platform would support deposit remuneration, credit products and card issuance. It also intends to make parts of the infrastructure available to third parties seeking to provide financial services without their own banking licence.
The planned combination would place conventional bank products and crypto services within a single Payward ecosystem. The company’s stated aim is to let customers hold and move different types of assets while accessing related financial products. Saldo’s European permissions would give the buyer an established regulated base for that expansion, subject to supervisory consent.
APPROVALS SET THE TIMETABLE
The Financial Times described the agreement as the first acquisition of a European bank by a digital-asset company. Cinco Días separately reported the agreement and Payward’s plan to develop its banking division in Europe. Saldo’s existing business gives the transaction relevance across deposits, lending, cards and embedded finance rather than crypto trading alone.
The next milestone is the regulatory review ahead of the expected 2027 completion. Until approvals are secured, Saldo Bank remains under its existing ownership and the planned product integration is conditional. Supervisory decisions and any further disclosure of transaction terms will determine the timing and eventual scope of Payward’s European banking expansion.