Payward Plans to Acquire EU-Regulated Saldo Bank
Payward plans to acquire Saldo Bank, which is regulated by the EU.
According to the Financial Times, Payward (parent company of Kraken) plans to acquire Saldo Bank, regulated by the EU, with the transaction expected to be completed by 2027.
The goal of this acquisition is to obtain a full banking license as part of its ten-year global licensing initiative.
This will make Kraken the first major cryptocurrency exchange to have full banking status, enabling deeper integration with traditional finance (deposits, payments, custody) under the MiCA framework, surpassing its existing licenses in Ireland and Cyprus.
This move is also related to the company's broader regulatory expansion ahead of a potential IPO in the U.S.
Saldo Bank is a Finnish fintech bank headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, established in 2006, and is a subsidiary of Finland's Saldo Finance.
Its core value lies in holding a specialized banking license issued by the European Central Bank in October 2021, regulated by the Bank of Lithuania, allowing it to offer deposit and loan services across the EU.
Operationally, Saldo Bank focuses on automated lending solutions, providing loans to consumers and SMEs through its proprietary credit scoring system, while also offering term deposits and credit card services. Currently, its operations cover Lithuania, Finland, and Sweden.
Who is buying: Payward acquires EU banking license and lending capabilities through the acquisition. Who is selling: Saldo Finance sells its banking subsidiary. Event-driven: The crypto platform seeks integration with traditional financial licenses. Capital flows towards banking business expansion and license acquisition. Beneficiaries are crypto platforms that can offer deposits and loans; those under pressure are other trading platforms reliant on external banking partners.
Source: Public information
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Payward previously held an Irish electronic money institution license, a Cyprus MiFID license, and is applying for a national trust bank charter in the U.S. while having obtained a limited-purpose master account from the Federal Reserve. Historically, the company has expanded its financial infrastructure by gradually acquiring licenses rather than establishing banking operations all at once.
In terms of capital path, the company directly acquires lending and payment capabilities by purchasing Saldo Bank, which already holds a specialized banking license from the European Central Bank. The transaction is expected to be completed in 2027 and requires regulatory approval. Resources will shift from trading operations to deposits, loans, and card services, allowing customers to hold cash, crypto, and credit products within a single system. The motivation is to reduce reliance on external banks and strengthen regulatory standing ahead of a potential U.S. IPO.
Similar cases include other crypto platforms entering traditional financial services through acquisitions or license applications. The industry is currently in an expansion phase, with major trading platforms transitioning from pure trading to integrated financial services, concentrating capital towards licensed entities that can offer deposits and loans.
Essentially, this reflects regulatory changes and restructuring of the industry chain. A full banking license allows platforms to directly accept deposits and issue loans, changing the previous structure that relied on external banking partners. The mechanism involves acquiring existing licensed banks to bypass the time costs of applying for a license from scratch, enabling crypto platforms to gain product capabilities similar to traditional banks under the MiCA framework, reshaping the industry chain path from trading to financial services.
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