Klarna, the Swedish payment-services fintech, is working on a new offering that would propel the company into a new sphere of finance and put it in direct competition with traditional banking.
Klarna, whose value more than doubled to $10.7 billion following a round of financing in September, is planning to expand beyond its established business model of point-of-sale lending, according to a report by «Sueddeutsche Zeitung».
According to those plans, the Swedes aim to introduce a current account free of charge for German customers, complete with a free debit card.
Main Account With Klarna
Clients of Klarna already are able to buy products from retailers such as H&M and Zara using their mobile phone apps, with Klarna taking a commission on each transaction. These apps so far needed to be secured with an external bank account, something that the firm wishes to change.
Klarna head Sebastian Siemiatkowski told the German newspaper that the company will bring it all together, as he put it. He wants his clients to use a Klarna current account as their main payments account, which would turn the fintech into a fintech retail-banking provider.
