Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Saldo Finance Oy, a Finnish holding company whose subsidiary Saldo Bank is a specialized bank licensed in Lithuania. Saldo Bank holds passporting rights across five European markets. The transaction is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. If completed, it would mark the first acquisition of an EU bank by a crypto exchange.
The deal completes Payward’s EU licensing stack. The group already holds an electronic money institution license from the Central Bank of Ireland, a MiCA crypto asset service provider authorization through the same regulator, and a MiFID license through Cyprus. The bank adds a CRD credit institution, the one license type that allows deposit taking and lending. In the US, Kraken Financial operates as a Wyoming special purpose depository institution and received a limited purpose Federal Reserve master account in March. That entity still cannot lend customers’ fiat deposits and carries no FDIC insurance. The EU bank brings both, if the acquisition gets a green light.
The approval is not the Bank of Lithuania’s to give. Under the Single Supervisory Mechanism, acquisitions of qualifying holdings in any euro area credit institution are decided by the European Central Bank (ECB), with the national authority conducting the assessment and submitting a proposal. The criteria include the acquirer’s reputation, its financial soundness, the bank’s ability to continue meeting prudential requirements, and money laundering risk. That last criterion does not leave room for discretion.
The ECB has already signaled where it stands on the broader question. In its April opinion supporting centralized ESMA supervision of crypto firms, the central bank wrote “indirect or direct
exposures stem from banks offering banking services to CASPs, which deposit their client funds with banks, because shocks can be transmitted to banks that receive material amounts of deposits from CASPs.” This deal asks the ECB to approve the exchange owning the bank.
Article continues …
Want the full story? Pro subscribers get complete articles, exclusive industry analysis, and early access to legislative updates that keep you ahead of the competition. Join the professionals who are choosing deeper insights over surface level news.
