Buy-now-pay-later giant Klarna has launched a new business division called Klarna Kosma. Klarna Kosma is an application programming interface (API) that other companies can integrate into their apps and services, allowing them to leverage Klarna’s database to access account statements, make payments, access banking information, all in real-time.
Klarna which is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden will be competing with rivals such as Tink with its Klarna Kosma. Tink was acquired last year by payments titan Visa for €1.8 billion or $2.15 billion as of the time of the deal. It will also be in competition with other open banking API companies such as TrueLayer and Plaid which Visa also tried to acquire but didn’t work out.
Apart from offering buy-now-pay-later services, Klarna is also offering a financial product that meets the need of financial companies looking to interact with bank accounts. In a statement, the company’s CTO, Yaron Shaer, said that “With Kosma we are opening up the power of our proprietary Open Banking platform and technology to banks, merchants and fintechs who share our dream of a world where consumers own their data and banks compete for customers by delivering value, not by locking in data.”
Klarna’s API which currently fixes its focus on banks in Europe and America has plans to expand to other markets including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The company already covers 15,000 banks across 24 countries.
Klarna says that it covers 15,000 banks across 24 countries. The API currently mostly focuses on European and American banks so far, but it plans to expand to other markets soon, such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Klarna has been ramping up its services and offerings looking to “take over” and be ahead of the competition. Earlier this year in January, it launched a physical card in the UK for its buy-now-pay-later offering. The company remains one of the most valued private firms in all of Europe.
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Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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