Kraken’s parent company Payward has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Saldo Finance Oy, a Finnish holding company whose subsidiary Saldo Bank is a digitally-focused bank licensed in Lithuania with a European passport across five markets. This acquisition will enable Payward to serve clients in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, and Germany, as well as in the Netherlands, offering consumer loans, SME loans, and credit cards. Kraken is thus following in the footsteps of neobank Revolut, which conquered the European market through the Lithuanian regulator, known for its fintech-friendly ecosystem. This strategy aims to expand Kraken’s banking activities in the largest regulated market in Europe, bypassing the difficulty of obtaining a de novo banking license from the European Central Bank.
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