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The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | May 27th

By Gaia Lamperti

May 27, 2022

  • BNPL
  • central banks
  • Europe
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The Weekly Wrap

The Weekly Wrap is published every Friday and recaps the week’s main stories and deals, as well as upcoming events and announcements. For Premium subscribers only.

The Big Story

Swedish BNPL company Klarna will lay off around 10% of its workforce, as the company announced in a pre-recorded video message to staff, ahead of  “a likely recession”.

“When we set our business plans for 2022 in the autumn of last year, it was a very different world than the one we are in today,” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the company CEO, said. He mentioned as factors behind this decision the war in Ukraine, reduced consumer spending, inflation, a volatile stock market and a likely recession.

“Based on this, the senior leadership at Klarna has made some tough decisions. Some of the toughest we’ve ever had to take. Together, we have re-evaluated the organisation to ensure that we can continue to deliver on our ambitious goals,” he added. Klarna currently has some 7,000 employees, suggesting that around 700 members of staff will be fired.

In the meantime, the tech startup is looking to raise up to 10 billion krona ($1 m) in a new financing round, but the Wall Street Journal reported that the new round could see its valuation brought from $46bn to $30bn.

Deals of the week

  • Viola Credit closes $700 million for its Alternative Lending Income Funds
  • SpotOn raises $300 million in Series F funding; transaction values company at $3.6 billion
  • Clear Street closes $165 million Series B funding round to improve access to Capital Market
  • Caribou raises $115 million in Series C funding, valuing the company at $1.1b
  • PayEngine announced securing $10 million in Series A funding round
  • Untapped Global raises $10.3 million pre-seed round to build a transparent investment platform
  • TransferMate announced a $70 million funding round bringing the company valuation to $1b

Be on the lookout for

“Challenging conversations” that the Bank of England is expecting to have with banks about their operational resilience, as a senior official has warned. UK banks have been given a three-year deadline to build up their resilience to major disruptions to their business operations, with a keen focus on technology as both an enabler and a risk factor.

“Many firms have further work to do to set impact tolerances to safety and soundness and financial stability. And it is important that boards and senior management engage closely on operational resilience to ensure this work gets done,” commented Duncan Mackinnon, executive director for supervisory risk at the central bank. 

Events & Appointments

  • The FinTech Europe Summit, a virtual expo and summit held on 31st May, is an inspiring platform to build connections, educate and explore new business opportunities. A packed day of demos, keynotes, live podcasts, and networking, showcasing the latest in FinTech. IBSi’s Robin Amlot and Gaia Lamperti will be moderating!
  • IBS Intelligence is a proud research partner for Money 20/20 Europe happening June 7th – 9th at the Rai Amsterdam. This is your chance to be part of FinTech’s beating heart! Attending the show doesn’t just guarantee exposure, connections and growth, it makes you an integral part of the frontiers of FinTech.

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