Saldo Bank

Saldo Bank (Saldo Bank UAB) is a digital specialized bank headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, holding a specialized bank license issued by the European Central Bank and supervised by the Bank of Lithuania; it offers consumer loans, SME loans, credit cards and term deposits in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany, and provides embedded lending services to other fintech companies. In October 2026 Payward PaywardPayward (Payward, Inc.) is the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, founded in July 2011 by Jesse Powell and others and incorporated in Wyoming, United States. Its flagship is Kraken, and its other businesses include the futures brokerage NinjaTrader, the tokenized equities platform xStocks and the index company CF Benchmarks; it serves more than 190 jurisdictions and has been led since October 2024 by co-CEOs Arjun Sethi and Dave Ripley.Open the full entry, the parent of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken KrakenKraken is a digital-asset trading platform founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell and Thanh Luu and launched for trading in 2013. As Payward’s flagship brand, it has expanded into spot and derivatives trading, equities, tokenized assets, custody and payments through jurisdiction-specific entities.Open the full entry, signed an agreement to acquire its Finnish holding company Saldo Finance Oy, with the deal expected to close in 2027.

Contents11 sections

Key facts

2006Beginnings

Saldo describes itself on its website as “founded in 2006,” has long offered automated online lending, and says it was one of the first lenders to use “open banking” data in lending.⁠[1][2][1]

November 13, 2019Saldo Bank UAB Is Registered

In 2019 Saldo made a strategic turn toward becoming an international digital bank; on November 13 that year Saldo Bank UAB was registered in Vilnius, Lithuania (registration number 305334925).⁠[3][4]

October 26, 2021Specialized Bank License Granted

On October 26, 2021, Saldo Bank UAB was granted Specialized Bank License No. 8 by the European Central Bank.⁠[4][3]

2023Banking Operations Begin

Saldo Bank began operating in 2023: early in the year it launched term deposits and consumer loans in Lithuania and offered term deposits in the German market; that year it also completed notification of its banking license to Finland and in early October began banking operations there, with a 24-month term deposit paying up to 4.00% as its first product. Then-CEO Jarkko Mäensivu said the company wanted to intensify interest rate competition among banks for deposits; at the end of August 2023 the company had more than 50 employees.⁠[4][3][3][3][3][3][3]

2024Credit Card Launched in Finland

In 2024 Saldo Bank launched a credit card product in Finland.⁠[4]

2025First Profitable Year

In 2025 Saldo Bank’s loan book reached nearly €124 million, up 19% year on year; total revenue was €28 million, up 24%; operating profit was €10 million, up 43%; and net profit was about €1 million, its first full year of positive results. At year-end it had total assets of €162.908 million and 86 employees. That year it obtained passporting authorizations for lending in Germany and for lending and deposits in the Netherlands, and launched a collateralized SME loan in Finland.⁠[4][4][4][4][4][4][4][4][4][4]

During the reporting period Sigitas Skuodas became CEO, while outgoing CEO Jarkko Mäensivu became President and Advisor to the Management Board.⁠[4][4]

January 2026 – June 2026Embedded Lending Partnership and Half-Year Results

In early 2026 Saldo Bank rolled out its first B2B embedded lending partnership with Finland’s Vauraus, with a similar partnership pending in Germany. As of June 30, 2026, it had total assets of €196.887 million and retail deposits of €169.414 million, and recorded a net loss of €545,000 for the first half.⁠[4][4][5][5][5]

October 14, 2026Payward Signs Acquisition Agreement

On October 14, 2026, Payward announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Finnish holding company Saldo Finance Oy and with it its subsidiary Saldo Bank UAB. Terms were not disclosed; the deal is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals and is expected to close in 2027. As of October 2026, the transaction had not been completed.⁠[6][7][8]

Payward said the acquisition was intended to obtain an EU banking license and extend Payward Banking, which already holds a Federal Reserve limited-purpose master account and an e-money institution license from the Central Bank of Ireland, into Europe; after closing, Payward Banking expected, subject to regulatory approvals, to offer European clients interest on deposits, lending products and banking-as-a-service capabilities such as passporting, card issuance and SME lending. Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said a regulated EU bank would let Payward serve European clients as a “primary financial institution”; Saldo Bank President Mäensivu said a banking license is only as valuable as what is built on top of it.⁠[6][6][6][6][6][6]

Business and Organization

Saldo Bank has a branch in Helsinki, Finland, provides services in Sweden and Germany without a branch, and holds a passport to operate in the Netherlands. Retail term deposits are available in all its markets; consumer loans are offered in Lithuania, Finland and Sweden, and SME loans in Lithuania and Finland; its credit card is live in Finland and expected to launch in Sweden in 2027; it also provides embedded lending to fintech companies in Finland and Germany and has full SEPA payments access. At the end of September 2026 Saldo Bank had more than 90 employees.⁠[1][4][7][7][7][7][7]

Saldo Bank’s parent company is Saldo Finance Oy, registered in Helsinki. As of 2026, Sigitas Skuodas was CEO and chairman of the management board.⁠[4][4][5][4]

Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts

Saldo Bank: Official website: https://www.saldo.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2][1]

LinkedIn LinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/saldobank (opens in a new window)⁠[2]