The Sweden-based payments company hopes the British government ‘follows the lead of Singapore’ in easing the burden of red tape on the industry. He wants rules that allow customers to ‘shift banks in the click of a button’. Allowing innovation in finance would help Klarna and other financial technology companies grab business from traditional credit cards. Klarna enables consumers to ‘buy now and pay later’ in interest-free instalments for items they buy online from retailers including Asos, Decathlon, and Lululemon.
Klarna has more than 90 million users and over 14 million customers worldwide and offices in London and Manchester. It’s considering a listing in the UK capital in the next year or two (2022-2023). Britain’s departure from the European Union has created an ‘amazing opportunity’ for London to be at the center of banking and fintech for the future, as Klarna’s CEO said in an interview.
Klarna also plans to apply for a British banking license within the three-year post-Brexit grace period which expires in April 2022, so that it can start taking deposits in Britain. The company is leaning toward a listing in New York but may pick London, the CEO said in an interview published by Quartz earlier this week.
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