Investment Platform eToro Weighs Expansion Into Banking Sector

eToro could become the latest in a string of FinTechs entering the banking space.

The trading and investment platform is considering multiple acquisitions, and also planning an expansion into traditional payment services that could involve a banking license application, CEO Yoni Assia said in an interview with the Financial Times (FT) Monday (June 20).

The company is working with investment bankers to purchase two businesses “soon,” Assia said, adding that the firms in question were wealth-technology businesses, 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.”

This follows eToro’s acquisition of crypto company Zengo in April, a $70 million deal designed to strengthen the company’s ability to offer things like tokenized assets and rising decentralized trading models like prediction markets and perpetuals.

“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 said at the time.

He told the FT he expects further deals in the FinTech space as that sector deals with a funding strain brought on by 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.

As the FT notes, the past several months have seen a wave of FinTechs apply for banking licenses, after the Trump administration relaxed regulations for becoming chartered lenders.

In 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency received 14 applications de novo charters, many of them from FinTechs. That number nearly equaled the total applications the regulator received in the prior four years combined.

This year has already seen the Latin American financial services giant Nu get conditional approval to establish a U.S. bank. U.K.-based digital lender Revolut also plans to launch an American banking operation.

“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.”