Global: Klarna launches Klarna Kosma as an open banking platform

In 2021, Visa surprised the European fintech industry by announcing that it would acquire Tink for 1.800 million euros. Klarna now it wants to compete directly with Tink with a new business unit that has its own brand: klarna kosma.

As Tink by, Klarna offers an open banking application programming interface (API) with klarna kosma. Tink by and Klarna they are also based in Stockholm, Sweden. There are other open banking API companies, such as TrueLayer y Tartan. And it’s been a competitive space since Visa also tried to acquire Plaid, but that deal fell through.

With this new strategy, Klarna it essentially says that it is open for business. If you are building a financial product and need to interact with bank accounts, you have one more option.

klarna kosma it is an API that other companies can integrate into their applications and services. These companies can take advantage of the API of klarna kosma to access account statements, initiate payments, obtain banking information and update this information periodically.

Klarna is best known for its ‘buy now, pay later’ products (BNPL). In some countries, Klarna It allows you to connect to the bank account to offer information about expenses and establish a kind of credit score before allowing customers to buy something in several installments. With this move, Klarna you’re opening up your in-house product to other customers.

“With klarna kosma, we are unlocking the power of our proprietary Open Banking technology and platform 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 locking up data . ”, said the CTO of klarna kosma Yaron Shaer.

In Europe, banks and financial institutions have to offer open banking interfaces due to the EU PSD2 Payment Services Directive. But there is no single standard. Open banking APIs do the heavy lifting for the business.

Klarna it says it covers 15,000 banks in 24 countries. The API currently targets mainly European and US banks so far, but plans to expand to other markets soon, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

In addition to the Account Information Service (AIS), customers of klarna kosma they can also programmatically initiate payments with supported banks. That has always been the long-term promise of open banking. If payment initiation takes off, it could replace card payments or e-wallets like PayPal. They haven’t gotten to that point yet, but Klarna you definitely want to have a product ready if the goals are achieved.