Kraken Parent Payward Signs Deal to Buy Lithuania's Saldo Bank

Payward, the parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Saldo Finance Oy, a Finnish holding company whose subsidiary, Saldo Bank UAB, is a digital-first specialized bank licensed in Lithuania, the company said in a release dated Oct. 14 (source 1). The Bank of Lithuania's register lists Saldo Bank UAB as a specialised bank holding a specialised bank licence valid from Oct. 26, 2021 (source 2).

The deal is signed, not closed. "The transaction is expected to close in 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals," Payward said (source 1). The release does not give a price or any other terms.

What Payward is buying is a license. "An EU banking license extends that stack into Europe's largest regulated market," the release says, adding that Saldo brings "a footprint across four operating markets plus a passport into the Netherlands" (source 1). The four operating markets named are Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany.

Saldo already runs deposit and lending businesses. Payward says Saldo holds retail term deposits in every market, consumer lending in Lithuania, Finland and Sweden, and SME lending in Lithuania and Finland (source 1). Its credit card launched in Finland and is expected to launch in Sweden in 2027, and it runs embedded lending partnerships in Finland and Germany (source 1).

Payward lists what it expects to offer once the deal closes: interest on deposits, secured and unsecured SME loans, consumer lending, credit cards, and banking-as-a-service including card issuance and "full SEPA payments access" (source 1). Each of those is framed as expected and "subject to regulatory approvals."

The bank sits on top of licenses Payward already holds. The release cites a Federal Reserve limited-purpose master account in the U.S., an EMI license from the Central Bank of Ireland, and "over $2 billion in loans" originated (source 1).

Co-CEO Arjun Sethi framed the purchase as a fight for the primary account. "A regulated EU bank is the piece that lets us serve European clients the way a primary financial institution should: one place to hold assets, move them freely, and put them to work," he said. "We are starting in the EU, and the ambition is global" (source 1).

Saldo's president, Jarkko Mäensivu, pointed to the platform. "A banking license is only as valuable as what you build on top of it," he said, adding that Saldo's infrastructure "was built to be Europe-wide" (source 1).

The objection is the calendar. Payward says closing depends on regulatory approvals, and under EU bank rules a buyer of a qualifying holding must first notify the bank's national supervisor, after which the ECB checks that the requirements are met (source 3). Payward puts closing in 2027. Until then, Kraken's European customers get nothing new from this deal, and Payward says only that integration work and the approval process "are underway" (source 1).

There is also a lot the release leaves out. It gives no purchase price, no Saldo balance sheet, no deposit or loan totals, and no customer count.

The wording on yield is worth reading closely. Payward describes deposit interest as "real yield on assets held in the system" (source 1). Payward frames that yield as interest on bank deposits, subject to regulatory approvals, rather than as a crypto rewards product (source 1). How supervisors treat it is the line to watch as approvals move.

Sources

1. Payward, "Payward to acquire Saldo Bank: Building the EU Layer of Payward Banking," press release, Oct. 14, 2026. https://www.payward.com/press-release/payward-acquires-saldo-bank (accessed 9:19 a.m. ET)
2. Bank of Lithuania, Financial market participants register, "Saldo Bank UAB." https://www.lb.lt/en/sfi-financial-market-participants/saldo-bank-uab (accessed 9:21 a.m. ET)
3. European Central Bank Banking Supervision, "What is a qualifying holding?" https://www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu/about/banking-supervision-explained/html/qh.en.html (accessed 9:21 a.m. ET)

Holding the Corner.

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