Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Business and President of the Board of Trade has commented on Zilch’s agreement to acquire AB Fjord Bank. The agreement represents a significant milestone in the company’s international growth and European expansion.
Announced earlier this month and subject to regulatory approval, the transaction will provide Zilch with a European banking licence, enabling the business to accelerate the rollout of its consumer payments and intelligent commerce platform across Europe. As part of the acquisition, Zilch will establish Lithuania as its European headquarters.
“Congratulations to the Zilch leadership team, led by CEO and Co-Founder Philip Belamant, on the agreement to acquire AB Fjord Bank. This is a strong start to 2026 and highlights the global momentum behind UK FinTech.
Founded in the UK and now serving more than 5 million customers, Zilch has delivered meaningful impact at home while helping position the UK as a world-leading FinTech hub, including through its work co-founding the Unicorn Council for UK FinTech alongside other UK fast growing champions like Revolut and Monzo. All this is underpinned by the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, through which we’re committed to making the UK the location of choice for FinTech firms to grow and sell their services to the world.”
– Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Business and Trade and President of the Board of Trade
The comment highlights Zilch’s position as one of the UK’s leading FinTech success stories and underlines the importance of UK-founded companies scaling globally while maintaining strong roots at home.
Read the full press release here.