Lloyds Banking Group has agreed to acquire London-based digital wallet provider Curve, in a deal that underlines the bank’s push to modernize its retail offering and reshape how customers manage everyday payments. The UK’s largest digital bank plans to roll Curve’s technology into its services for 28 million customers, positioning the acquisition as a core part of its ongoing digital transformation strategy. By bringing Curve’s wallet platform in-house, Lloyds is aiming to move faster in a payments landscape that is increasingly shaped by fintech innovation.
Strategic rationale and deal structure
The transaction is reported to be worth around £120 million, roughly $160 million, giving Lloyds a ready-made digital wallet stack rather than building similar capabilities from scratch. The group has said the deal is not expected to have a material impact on its capital position or financial guidance for 2025 and 2026, underscoring that this is a strategic technology play rather than a scale acquisition. Completion is targeted for the first half of 2026, subject to regulatory approval, after which Curve will sit inside the group while continuing to operate its existing app, cards, and rewards for current users.
Customer benefits and new digital features
At the heart of the move is Curve Pay, the company’s core wallet and payment engine, which Lloyds plans to integrate into its mobile banking apps. This will give customers a more seamless digital experience, with richer controls layered directly on top of their existing Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, or Scottish Widows relationships. The bank expects the combined platform to offer a more intuitive way to manage spending, budgets, and payment choices in real time.
Curve’s differentiated product capabilities
Curve’s technology allows users to combine multiple bank cards into a single wallet and decide, even after a purchase, which underlying account should fund the transaction. Its signature “Go Back in Time” feature lets customers reassign past card payments across accounts, while additional tools enable stacking rewards on top of existing card benefits, accessing Pay Later options, and avoiding foreign exchange fees from any card linked in the app. These capabilities, already proven in the standalone Curve product, will now be retooled for Lloyds’ mass-market customer base to provide more personalized and flexible money management.
Curve’s business and technology platform
Founded in 2015, Curve has grown into a recognized fintech brand with more than six million customers globally and a track record of processing billions of pounds in payments annually. Its platform consolidates cards and alternative payment sources into one secure environment, adding real-time spend insights and other money-saving features on top. The company is authorized and regulated in both the UK and the European Economic Area, which gives Lloyds a wallet infrastructure that is already aligned with key regulatory regimes.
Leadership perspectives on the transaction
Jas Singh, CEO of Consumer Relationships at Lloyds Banking Group, framed the acquisition as a “next-generation” step in the bank’s digital evolution, highlighting that Curve’s technology will build on recent upgrades to its mobile app to give customers simpler, more convenient control over their finances. In his view, folding Curve’s wallet into the Lloyds ecosystem will accelerate the rollout of innovative payment tools while keeping the user experience inside a trusted banking brand. For Lloyds, this is as much about speed and differentiation against rivals as it is about adding another product line.
Lloyds Banking Group’s digital ambitions
Curve’s founder and CEO, Shachar Bialick, described the deal as a way to scale the company’s original mission of “simplifying and supercharging” people’s finances, using Lloyds’ distribution to reach tens of millions more users. He argued that combining Curve’s product DNA with Lloyds’ reach will help “raise the bar” for payments in the UK by embedding smarter, more accessible financial tools into mainstream banking. For Lloyds, which already positions itself as the UK’s largest retail and commercial financial services provider and centers its purpose on “Helping Britain Prosper,” the acquisition fits neatly into a broader strategy to deliver market-leading digital experiences while maintaining a responsible, inclusive profile.
The acquisition of Curve signals that Lloyds Banking Group is prepared to buy in best-in-class fintech capabilities to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving payments market. By integrating a feature-rich digital wallet that unifies cards, optimizes payments, and cuts hidden fees, the bank is betting that customers will increasingly expect this level of flexibility as standard in their primary banking app. If regulatory approvals and integration proceed as planned, 2026 could mark a step change in how millions of Lloyds customers experience day-to-day banking and control over their money.