Lloyds Banking Group is in advanced talks to acquire Curve, the British digital wallet start-up, in a move that would deepen the bank’s presence in consumer payments and take on tech giants like Apple and Google.
According to City sources, the UK’s largest high street lender could announce a deal as soon as September, with a potential price tag of up to £120 million. The talks are said to be at an advanced stage, with Curve being advised by investment bank KBW, part of Stifel Financial Group.
If completed, the deal would represent a strategic bet by Lloyds on the future of digital wallets, amid growing regulatory pressure on Apple to open its payment systems to rivals. In March, the Financial Conduct Authority, Payment Systems Regulator and Competition and Markets Authority began examining competition concerns around Apple and Google’s dominance in mobile payments.
Founded in 2016 by former Israeli special forces soldier Shachar Bialick, Curve initially launched as a smart card and app that consolidates all of a user’s debit and credit cards into one wallet. The company has since evolved into a broader digital payments platform, often positioned as a direct challenger to Apple Pay.
Curve raised £133 million in its Series C round last year, backed by notable investors including IDC Ventures, Outward VC, Cercano Management (linked to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen), and Britannia. It also raised a further £40 million in 2023, while restructuring its workforce and pausing its US expansion.
Despite having raised more than £200 million in total equity, Curve’s current valuation may fall short of its previous fundraising benchmark. A sale price of £100–£120 million would suggest a down round, reflecting challenging conditions in the fintech funding landscape.
Sources say Lloyds, under CEO Charlie Nunn, sees Curve as both a strategic and financially rational acquisition. The bank is reportedly keen to reduce consumer reliance on Apple Pay, which charges fees for in-app and tap-to-pay transactions. Owning Curve would give Lloyds a greater stake in the digital wallet space and strengthen its payments infrastructure capabilities.
Lloyds already holds investments in several fintechs, including banking-as-a-service platform ThoughtMachine, and has made digital transformation a key pillar of its strategy.
The potential acquisition also aligns with broader government efforts to support the UK’s fintech ecosystem. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announce a “concierge service” to connect fintech start-ups with institutional capital, bolstering the sector’s scale-up prospects.
Curve is chaired by Lord Fink, the former CEO of Man Group and a prominent tech investor. Upon taking the role in January, he praised Curve’s evolution from a card aggregator into a full digital wallet, calling it “a transformative financial management experience”.
In earlier statements, Curve’s backers have pointed to its ability to “intercept the transaction” and enhance the user experience through features such as Double Dip Rewards and reduced foreign transaction fees—all without requiring users to change their existing payment cards.
A Lloyds-Curve deal would be one of the most high-profile fintech acquisitions by a UK high street bank in recent years and could trigger further interest in the consolidation of the digital payments space.
Neither Lloyds, Curve, nor their advisors responded to requests for comment at the time of writing. However, if the deal proceeds, it could mark a major milestone for both organisations—and a potentially significant challenge to the tech giants’ hold on mobile payments in the UK.
