The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has approved a limited purpose account for Wyoming-based Payward Financial, doing business as Kraken Financial, under the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ Account Access Guidelines. Kraken Financial is chartered as a State of Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) and is treated as a Tier 3 entity under the Guidelines. The approval is for an initial term of one year and includes restrictions and limitations tailored to Kraken Financial’s business model and risk profile to mitigate risks identified in the Guidelines. The Kansas City Fed reiterated that each Reserve Bank is responsible for its own account decisions based on the particular facts and circumstances and a risk-based assessment, and that it does not disclose details of account holders’ access to Federal Reserve services due to the confidentiality of applicant business information. More broadly, Reserve Banks apply the same set of standards to all requests for accounts and access to Federal Reserve services, including a legal eligibility requirement. The release also noted that the Federal Reserve Board of Governors requested public input on 19 December regarding the potential creation of a payments account.
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City 2026-03-04
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City approves a one year limited purpose Federal Reserve account for Kraken Financial under the Account Access Guidelines
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City approved a limited purpose account for Kraken Financial, a Wyoming-based Special Purpose Depository Institution, under the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ Account Access Guidelines. The one-year approval includes restrictions aligned with Kraken Financial’s business model and risk profile. The Kansas City Fed emphasized that Reserve Banks independently assess account requests based on risk and confidentiality, applying uniform standards across all applications.