By PYMNTS | October 14, 2026
Kraken parent company Payward is expanding its banking efforts by acquiring Finland-based Saldo Bank.
Payward says the deal, announced Wednesday (Oct. 14), marks the next step in the development of Payward Banking, which it calls the “money layer” of the company’s financial infrastructure platform.
“Payward Banking is not a new ambition — it is a business we have been building license by license, market by market,” Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, said in a news release.
“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. We believe whoever owns that relationship earns the right to serve everything around it. We are starting in the EU, and the ambition is global.”
According to the release, Payward Banking has originated upwards of $2 billion in loans and holds “regulated infrastructure” that includes a Federal Reserve limited-purpose master account and an EMI license from the Central Bank of Ireland.
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“An EU banking license extends that stack into Europe’s largest regulated market,” the company said, noting that Saldo serves customers in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany, and holds a passport to do business in the Netherlands.
Combined with Payward’s infrastructure, the acquisition is expected to allow Payward Banking to offer European clients interest on deposits, lending products, and banking-as-a-service capabilities such as passporting, card issuance, and lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the release added.
“Payward has spent years assembling regulated infrastructure across the US and Europe. Saldo Bank’s infrastructure was built to be Europe-wide, enabling innovative banking solutions including embedded services for other FinTechs,” said Jarkko Mäensivu, Saldo Bank’s president.
“Combining these capabilities with our five-market footprint means far more customers can access the full range of what both businesses offer — banking, payments and lending in one place.”
Sethi told CoinDesk last month that the company is focused on its future as a financial infrastructure provider, combining trading, banking, asset management and services for other businesses.
“We’re not a holding company,” the chief executive said. “It’s one platform, one balance sheet, one regulatory stack.”
Also in September, Payward expanded its partnership with Nasdaq, which agreed to invest $100 million in the company. The two entities are also continuing work on the Nasdaq Equity Token (NET) framework as well as a new market surveillance agreement.