On October 14, 2026, Kraken parent Payward said it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Saldo Finance Oy, the Finnish holding company that owns Lithuania-licensed Saldo Bank UAB. The announcement did not state a publication time or purchase price. Payward expects the transaction to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.
The agreement gives Payward a route to licensed deposit, lending, card and payment services in the European Union if regulators approve the transfer. Saldo Bank is a specialized bank with operations in four markets and passporting into the Netherlands. Its existing products include retail term deposits, consumer and small-business loans, a credit card and embedded lending for other fintech companies.
Payward says the bank would become part of a regulated infrastructure stack that already includes an electronic money institution license from the Central Bank of Ireland and a limited-purpose Federal Reserve master account in the United States. The company also says it has originated more than $2 billion in loans.
What Payward is buying
The target is Saldo Finance Oy, not just the Lithuanian banking subsidiary. Saldo Finance is based in Finland, while Saldo Bank UAB holds the specialized banking license in Lithuania. Payward describes the bank as digital first and says its license supports passporting across five European markets.
Saldo Bank currently takes retail term deposits in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany. It offers consumer loans in Lithuania, Finland and Sweden. Its small-business lending is live in Lithuania and Finland. The bank also runs embedded lending partnerships in Finland and Germany, allowing fintech companies to use Saldo’s lending infrastructure for their own customers.
A Saldo credit card is already available in Finland. The company expects to launch the card in Sweden in 2027. Payward also points to Saldo’s banking-as-a-service capabilities, including card issuance, small-business lending, embedded lending and passporting.
Those operating products matter because Payward is buying an active banking platform rather than a license alone. Saldo President Jarkko Mäensivu said the bank’s infrastructure was built for use across Europe and includes embedded services for fintech partners. He described the combined offer as banking, payments and lending in one place.
What could change for European customers
Payward expects the acquisition to support interest-bearing deposits after closing. The company says those products would build on the term deposits Saldo already offers in four markets. It also expects to add secured and unsecured small-business loans, consumer lending and credit cards, all subject to regulatory approval.
The proposed structure would put cash services beside Payward’s existing digital-asset products. Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said a regulated EU bank would let the company give European clients one place to hold assets, move them and put them to work. The release identifies trading, staking, wealth management and treasury services as products that can sit on top of that banking relationship.
For customers, the immediate practical point is that nothing in the announcement makes a new deposit or credit product available today. The expected offerings depend on the acquisition closing and on the relevant approvals. Eligibility may also differ by market because Saldo’s current deposit, consumer lending and small-business lending footprints are not identical.
The second practical change concerns payment and product infrastructure. Payward says Saldo would add full access to the Single Euro Payments Area, card issuance and embedded lending capabilities. That could let Payward move euro payments and issue products through infrastructure it controls, while giving fintech partners access to services built on the combined platform. The release does not provide a launch schedule for those partner services.
Saldo’s current business separates direct customer products from infrastructure used by partners. Retail customers hold term deposits and can access lending where those products are live. Fintech partners in Finland and Germany use the bank’s embedded lending infrastructure for their own customers. Payward says the acquisition would carry both models into the combined group: direct deposit and credit products for eligible customers, plus banking services for companies building on Payward.
The card rollout shows why market-level detail matters. Saldo has launched its card in Finland and expects Sweden to follow in 2027. That timetable does not establish when a Payward-branded card could launch, or whether the existing Saldo card will be extended to the other licensed markets. The announcement gives no equivalent rollout dates for consumer loans, small-business loans or embedded services.
Payward’s stated product stack also extends beyond payments. The company places trading, staking, wealth management and treasury services above the banking layer. A completed acquisition would therefore connect regulated cash accounts and credit products with services already associated with Payward’s digital-asset businesses. The announcement does not describe account protections, collateral rules, rates or product terms for that combined system.
The regulatory path to 2027
The transaction remains an agreement rather than a completed acquisition. Payward says integration work and the regulatory approval process are underway. It has not named the authorities reviewing the transaction, listed interim deadlines or given a more specific closing date than 2027.
The bank license is one layer in Payward’s wider European structure. Its Irish electronic money institution license covers another regulated function, while Saldo would add banking capabilities such as deposits and lending. Payward presents the acquisition as an extension of infrastructure assembled market by market rather than a standalone product launch.
The five-market description also needs a distinction. Saldo currently operates in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany, with passporting into the Netherlands. The announcement does not say that every product is available in every market. It specifies four deposit markets, three consumer lending markets and two small-business lending markets.
The next dated milestone is the expected closing in 2027. Until Payward identifies the required approvals and publishes market-level product plans, the open question is which deposit, credit, card and payment services will become available first, and in which European jurisdictions.
