Klarna unveils dedicated Open Banking business unit

Stockholm-based Klarna has launched a sub-brand and business unit, called Klarna Kosma, following the “rapid growth” of its Open Banking platform.

The buy now, pay later provider said that Kosma provides secure access to 15,000 banks in 24 countries around the world through a single API, enabling banks, merchants and fintechs to create new apps and services.

Klarna has more than doubled the number of connected banks in the past year, while Kosma currently processes close to a billion information requests to bank accounts each year.

Yaron Shaer, CTO at Klarna, said: “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 entered the Open Banking arena with its acquisition of German direct bank-to-bank payment services company SOFORT in 2014.

Since then, the firm said it has expanded into 24 markets and begun to use Open Banking to “power” other in-house services.

Wilko Klaassen, VP, Klarna Kosma, said the demand for Open Banking services from financial institutions and fintech start-ups has reached “a tipping point” over the past year, “which is why we have built a dedicated business unit which brings together engineering, product management, sales and marketing all together in the same team to focus on this $15 billion, fast-growing market”.

In February this year, Klarna expanded into Canada, opening its first North American product development and tech hub in Toronto.