Klarna Sees Future as Neobank as Growth Accelerates

Klarna’s third-quarter earnings update Tuesday (Nov. 18), its first earnings report as a publicly listed company, detailed a strategic transformation that seeks to push the brand beyond payments and into the competitive arena of full-scale digital banking.

CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski framed the opportunity as technological and behavioral, describing how trust, rather than data, will determine winners in financial services and consumer technology.

“Trust is the new oil,” he told investors on an earnings call Tuesday morning.

Klarna has 114 million active consumers, up 32% from a year ago, and 850,000 merchants, up 38% during the same period, where a trailing 12-month GMV base at $118 billion was up 23% from 2024’s levels, according to an earnings presentation.

This flow feeds revenue expansion. Klarna reported that average revenue per active consumer is $28, rising to $90 among users who leverage the in-app shopping features and to $130 among Klarna Card users, per the presentation. The company sees this suite as the foundation for its neobank model, with app penetration already at 76% of its user base and approximately 49 million monthly active users engaging within the product environment.

Fair financing grew 139% year over year, supported by an increase in merchants offering it from 79,000 to 151,000.

BNPL as Healthier Credit

Siemiatkowski said during the call that buy now, pay later (BNPL) is a healthier form of lending than traditional revolving credit, adding that Klarna’s average outstanding balance is $88 compared with the $6,500 balance tied to credit cards.

Charge-off rates stood at 0.4%, according to the presentation.

“GMV grew to $32.7 billion, and the U.S. grew 43% year over year,” Siemiatkowski said during the call. “Consequently, revenue grew to $903 million, and in the U.S., we saw revenue growth of 51%.”

The Klarna Card now counts 3.2 million global active users and 1.4 million in the U.S., supported by messaging that reintroduces debit-or-credit control at checkout, he said.

Klarna also highlighted the strength of repeat transactions, pointing to app usage and card adoption. The company detailed in the presentation that the trailing 12-month purchase frequency on the Klarna Card stands at 125 transactions.

Siemiatkowski contrasted rapid underwriting adjustments to macro shifts with traditional lenders that may take years to refresh loan books, saying that Klarna can re-underwrite more than half of its balance sheet in roughly 60 days.

The company’s goal is to be “available everywhere Visa is” while building fuller banking capabilities on top of transaction-driven acquisition and loyalty, he said.

“A lot of you will be familiar with buy now, pay later, but we do offer a number of other services like searching for products at the right price, making sure that it’s easy to pay your bills and manage your finances, to show you where your packages are in real time so you can go and pick them up, and give you control and insights of your spending habits,” he said during the call. “…In addition to that, we offer cash back and other features as well.”

Artificial intelligence is a core element of Klarna’s operating model. Siemiatkowski said the company views digital financial assistants as inevitable and expects AI to eliminate switching friction across finance and technology.

Revenue growth in the fourth quarter is projected to be more than 30%, according to the presentation. Klarna’s results came on a day when markets swooned, particularly AI-related stocks, and Klarna shares were down about 8% in early trading Tuesday.

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