Klarna Bank, the Swedish fintech announced Tuesday (August 1) the release of a free peer-to-peer (P2P) payment service dubbed Wavy, which enables people to send and request money in a secure, fast and easy way.
In a press release Klarna said Wavy enables consumers across 31 European markets to transfer money (Euros) and split bills among friends, colleagues and family members. Consumers can connect their bank accounts or credit cards to Wavy and generate a payment link when they want to initiate a transfer. The link, said Klarna, can be shared via existing social media channels or directly to a Wavy user. The recipient of the payment does not have to sign up to Wavy to redeem a payment, they can receive it through a bank account.
“We can offer our users the most accessible peer-to-peer payment service in Europe. Everybody can use Wavy to transact anywhere, at anytime and in real-time. It’s the most natural way to share secure money transfers between friends, colleagues & family. The recipient of the payment receives a payment link via any social media channel and can redeem the payment without having to sign up to the service,” said Lamine Cheloufi, previous co-founder of the Cookies App and now product director at Klarna Payment.
According to the company, requests can be paid using EU-issued credit cards or SOFORT Überweisung and are settled in real time. Klarna, which has more than 60 million consumers, said the P2P payment platform complements its existing product offerings such as direct transfer, pay after delivery and installment plans. “The work of the Cookies team impressed me so much that we wanted to work with them. Since then, within Klarna we have been working to develop a product that truly reflects how people live today and their social interactions. There are no borders in an online context, why should there be in payments? Klarna was founded with the goal to make online payments safe, simple and smooth, Wavy is another step on that journey,” said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, in the same press release.