Klarna enters cryptocurrency market with Safello’s partnership

By Megha Bhattacharya

Global payments provider Klarna has teamed up with Swedish cryptocurrency broker Safello for bringing its open banking service on the latter’s platform for cryptocurrency trading. Safello has rolled out Klarna Open Banking with an aim to strengthen its market position and enhance its range of payment options. The partnership will enable around 180,000 Safello users to directly purchase cryptocurrencies from their bank account, using Klarna’s secure payment solution.

Safello is an online cryptocurrency brokerage. Regulated as a financial institution with Finansinspektionen (Swedish FSA), Safello offers a way to buy and sell crypto, in seamless transactions. Partners integrate Safello’s brokerage solution to their web and mobile applications.

“This is a match made in heaven. Klarna shares our vision of offering a superior user experience without compromising security and compliance. Besides, open banking is an exceptionally exciting area that will play a key role in our future plans,” says Frank Schuil, CEO of Safello.

Recently, Klarna announced a collaboration with Ingenico, a part of Worldline, in a bid to make Klarna’s online payment solution accessible to European merchants. The collaboration is expected to boost Klarna’s potential merchant base and consumer brand. The expansion builds on an initial successful rollout in the Nordics, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

“For over 15 years, Klarna has developed a mature and secure financial ecosystem that opens up a range of opportunities for increased innovation and competition. Safello is a textbook example of consumer-centric innovators who can leverage the strength of our developer-friendly open banking infrastructure and we are very much looking forward to the partnership,” says Philippe Rousseau, Senior Commercial Manager at Klarna.

The FinTech also launched consumer bank accounts in Germany in a bid to provide users with more control over their finances. Klarna’s new development is expected to allow customers to track, categorise and analyse their everyday spending using the company application. Klarna stated that the consumer bank accounts will comprise a Visa debit card, which can be connected to both Google Pay and Apple Pay.