eToro weighs expansion into banking and payment services

eToro is considering a broader push into financial services, including traditional payments and a possible move into banking, as the trading and investment platform also looks at new acquisitions.

In an interview with the Financial Times (FT), CEO Yoni Assia said the company is working with investment bankers to buy two businesses "soon." According to the report, the targets are wealth-technology companies, with one in the U.S. and another based outside the U.S.

"We are very acquisitive - it is part of the reason why [we listed]", the CEO said. "We have a number of potential deals we are looking at including businesses who would help us grow our wealth offering. We remain committed to growing our global footprint including expanding the U.S. market."

The acquisition plans follow eToro’s April purchase of crypto company Zengo in a $70 million deal. The article said that acquisition was meant to strengthen eToro’s ability to offer products such as tokenized assets, as well as decentralized trading models including prediction markets and perpetuals.

At the time, Assia said: "We believe the future of finance will be [increasingly digital], decentralized and user-controlled, with self-custody playing an important role in that evolution."

Assia also told the FT that he expects more deals across the FinTech sector as companies face funding pressure tied to higher interest rates.

"The key is for diversification into more payments services … and that could see us consider applying for banking licences in the future, or buying a bank", Assia said, adding that the company would focus more on payments than lending.

The potential expansion comes as more FinTechs pursue banking licenses. The FT, as cited in the article, noted that the past several months have brought a wave of applications after the Trump administration relaxed regulations for becoming chartered lenders.

The article said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency received 14 applications de novo charters in 2025, with many of them coming from FinTechs. That total nearly matched the number of applications the regulator had received in the prior four years combined.

This year, Nu received conditional approval to establish a U.S. bank, while Revolut said it plans to launch an American banking operation.

As PYMNTS wrote earlier this year: "A predominant feature of the [current charter wave] is that many applicants are not seeking to become traditional banks", PYMNTS wrote earlier this year. "Instead, they are pursuing licenses that allow them to perform specific financial functions."

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