# Payward Signs Agreement to Acquire Lithuania-Licensed Saldo Bank

By John Kim

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/31798
Published: 2026-10-14T12:43:02.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-14T12:43:02.000Z
Section: Business

> The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. Payward Banking would gain a route to offer deposits, lending and other services across four EU markets.

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, signed an agreement to acquire Finnish holding company Saldo Finance Oy, which owns Lithuania-licensed Saldo Bank UAB, expanding its planned European banking services.

The transaction is expected to close in 2027, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Saldo Bank operates in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany. It offers retail term deposits in Germany, and its banking authorization is passported into the Netherlands.

The acquisition would enable Payward Banking to offer services including interest on deposits, lending and banking-as-a-service. Those services could include card issuance and lending to small and midsize businesses.

The deal follows Payward’s expansion into traditional financial services. In August, the company launched a multi-asset debit card in the United States through Kraken’s Krak payment app. Customers can use it to spend crypto and fiat and earn up to 2% cashback in dollars or Bitcoin (BTC).