Lloyds Banking Group has been in talks to buy digital wallet provider Curve in a USD 162 million deal, aiming to push further into digital payment infrastructure.
Following this announcement, if the negotiation is successfully concluded, a deal could be announced by the end of September 2025.
In addition, officials from Lloyds have reportedly believed that Curve would represent a financially rational asset to own. According to Bloomberg, the deal would see the bank expand its payment infrastructure, amid the overall growing regulatory pressure on Apple to open its payment services to rivals.
More information on Lloyds Banking Group’s strategy to acquire Curve
This initiative comes after Apple’s acceptance of the European Commission’s ruling on competition concerns. The European Commission made commitments offered by Apple legally binding under EU antitrust rules. The commitments addressed the Commission’s concerns regarding Apple’s refusal to grant rivals access to a standard for its NFC technology.
In addition, with the rapid increase of the use of mobile contactless payments in Europe, 2024 saw that payment adoption exceeded 60% for online transactions, as well as 25% for payments in-store. This affects companies like Apple, whose customers only have the option to use Apple Pay, with no way for banks or other wallet providers to compete on expertise, insight, or economics.
At the beginning of July 2025, Thales announced its partnership with digital wallet Curve in order to offer secure and modern payment solutions on iOS for financial institutions. The initiative came as Curve launched Curve Pay on iOS in EEA, becoming a competitor for Apple Pay. Furthermore, the app launched on iOS in May 2025, allowing iPhone users and customers to make contactless payments by double-clicking the side button on their device.
Curve Pay’s launch aimed to support users in the European Economic Area to see and use their money differently, offering a new way of secure spending. The digital wallet also launched on Android, offering universal access to all its users, regardless of device.
