“Australia’s largest tech company by market capitalization—about $13.5 billion—Afterpay is expanding across the U.S. through deals with retailers including Anthropologie and Free People. Since the Australian market bottomed on March 23, its stock has risen more than ninefold, while 1.6 million new U.S. users started spending through its technology over the past four months.  Afterpay and rivals, including Zip Co., Splitit Payments Ltd. and Sezzle Inc., are targeting a global payments industry valued at $1.9 trillion by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. While their slice of income is tiny compared with the $83.5 billion revenue generated by Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and American Express Co. in 2019, it’s growing fast.”

“Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, and Klarna, a leading global payments and shopping provider, announced today the launch of a new enhanced joint payment solution. All three Klarna shopping methods, Pay Now, Pay Later and Klarna Financing, can now be embedded into merchants’ checkout via a single integration through the Wirecard digital financial commerce platform to boost average order value, conversions and hence fuel growth for merchants.”

“A decline in the use of cash on delivery, pre-paid cards and PostPay services will also be perceived, but the influx and availability of Buy Now, Pay Later services will meet the requirements of consumers who need immediate payment options…The report also predicts that these services will earn nearly 3 percent of global ecommerce spend by 2023; it is clear that at point of sale (POS), more transactions will be digital, which is a reflection of the age in which we are living.”

“Klarna, which lets people buy items online and pay for them over instalments, reported a loss of 1.1 billion Swedish krona ($113 million) on revenues of 7.2 billion krona from January to December 2019.   That puts its accounts in the red for the first time since it was founded in 2005. Klarna had enjoyed the unusual status of being a profitable fintech for years thanks to deals with big-name retailers. Last year, it reported 2018 profits of 161 million krona, which was down from 346 million krona the previous year.”

“Buy-now-pay-later specialist Sezzle Inc. said it surpassed 1 million consumers using its online payment service. Launched in 2016, Sezzle said it had reached 500,000 customers only in August 2019. At the end of the fourth quarter, the company, with corporate headquarters in Australia, said more than 10,000 merchants offer its e-commerce payment service. “One million active users is a huge operational achievement, and a testament to the value our users see in our product,” Paul Paradis, Sezzle chief revenue officer and cofounder, said in a statement. Its U.S. office is in Minneapolis.”

“Installment lender LendUp , which targets customers underserved by the credit system, has hit a milestone of $2 billion financed through the platform. It’s delivered 6.5 million loans since its inception in 2012. LendUp CEO Anu Shultes touts the platform’s ability to reach a consumer base that typically can’t access personal loans from big banks. The company confirmed its loan issuance milestone in late January.”

“We’ll get to how the moment happened in a moment, but what Klarna’s local launch through CBA means for the Australian banking, credit, e-commerce and digital payments markets is pretty big. Bigger than it first sounded too. The launch that will send shudders not just through the CBA’s institutional peers – Westpac will not launch Apple Pay on its main brand until mid-year – but also the bank’s ‘marquee’ credit card partner Mastercard, not to mention local buy-now pay-later unicorn Afterpay and rival Zip.”

“Klarna, the leading global provider of buy now, pay later payment solutions for online and mobile shoppers, today announced it is enhancing its shopping service platform by launching in-store payments for US consumers. With the majority of retail transactions in the US still taking place in-store, and mobile in-store payments projected to reach $223 billion by 2023, Klarna is now partnering with leading US retail brands such as Good American and Planet Blue to offer customers a seamless, personalized and engaging shopping experience, no matter where, when or how they shop.”

“In Apple’s Q4 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook announced that later this year, you’ll be able to buy an iPhone on an Apple Card, pay for it over 24 months with zero interest, get your 3 percent cash back on the purchase, and manage payments in the Wallet app with one fell swoop.”

“It’s called the online installment loan, a form of debt with much longer maturities but often the same sort of crippling, triple-digit interest rates. If the payday loan’s target audience is the nation’s poor, then the installment loan is geared to all those working-class Americans who have seen their wages stagnate and unpaid bills pile up in the years since the Great Recession.”

“Abercrombie & Fitch Co., a leading global specialty retailer of apparel and accessories for men, women and children through three renowned brands, and Klarna today announced A&F Co. customers in the U.S. will now have access to Klarna’s Pay in 4 service when shopping online. This enables customers across A&F Co.’s brands – Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie kids and Hollister Co. – to pay in four installments bi-weekly.”

“Because of this, Molnar was inspired to set up Afterpay, a buy-now-pay-later service that partners with retailers to let consumers to spread their purchases across a series of payments. If you were buying a $100 pair of jeans, for example, you’d be able to split the payment into $25 portions, paid every two weeks.”

“Afterpay, the leader in “Buy Now, Pay Later”, announced today that it has partnered with Ulta Beauty and J.Crew. Launching between Fall 2019 and early 2020, these powerhouse brands join the more than 6,500 active and onboarding U.S. retailers – representing more than 10% of the U.S. fashion and beauty retailers online1. This comes on the heels of a highly successful month of July, during which Afterpay achieved a sales volume run rate2 of over US $1.2 billion from two million+ active U.S. customers. (Active customers are defined as those that have made a purchase from a retail partner using the Afterpay product in the last 12 months).”

“New research launched today by global payments provider Klarna reveals that online SME retailers in the US might be small in size but are increasingly open to new technologies and innovation to help drive growth over the next year. The research – conducted across 100 US SME decision makers at online retailers in 2019 – shows the US’s SMEs understand the need to embrace flexibility and innovation. Over the next 12 months they plan to prioritize investing in flexible payment options (47%) and e-commerce capabilities (45%) to meet consumer demand for a frictionless shopping experience.”

“Klarna, the installment-payment specialist, has released an app that enables consumers to shop a variety of merchants and pay with Klarna without leaving the app. Announced Tuesday, the Klarna app presents the retailer’s site with a footer containing a Pay with Klarna button. When selecting that option, the shopper can pay for purchases in four equal installments with no interest or fees. The app is open to any merchant, not just those already affiliated with Klarna, the company says. These could include retailers without an alternative-payment option or that use a competitor’s program.”

“The deal marks a watershed moment for the consumer finance industry, as the nation’s largest retailer embraces a financing option that is being popularized by consumers who prefer not to put their big-ticket purchases on a credit card. “Affirm is a great financing option for those customers who may prefer a fixed-term loan versus an open-ended revolving credit line to pay for larger baskets,” Walmart spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said in an email. “We want our customers to have choices that best meet their lifestyles.””

“The idea is pretty straightforward: Uplift works with partners like the vacation package sites of United Airlines, Southwest and American Airlines, as well as Allegiant Travel Company and Kayak, to offer financing to travelers, allowing them to pay for their trips in monthly installments. (It has a bank partner for the loans.)”

“Klarna has become one of the first payment service providers to join the Shopify Plus Technology Partner Program. The integration will allow retailers in the U.S., the UK and Germany to implement the Klarna payment suite. The collection of payment methods will give shoppers more freedom and flexibility to choose when and how to pay for a purchase, and Klarna will assume responsibility for managing credit and fraud risks. Additionally, the Shopify Plus Technology Partner Program provides access to APIs, enabling better customization and personalization.”

“Splitit, a competitor to lending companies like Affirm and Klarna, is bringing its point-of-sale financing product to debit card users in the U.S. and Europe, targeting fashion and jewelry websites in particular, like Vestiaire Collective and Philip Stein. Unlike its competitors, however, the company is focused on making the retail industry better for everyone involved — banks, processors, consumers and merchants — rather than displacing credit cards, said Gil Don, CEO of Splitit.”

“Splitit, the leading monthly payment solution, today announced the launch of its debit card installment payment offering in the US and Europe. Using Splitit, consumers are now able to split their purchases of $400 or less into up to three interest-free monthly payments using their existing debit cards.”

“Affirm, Inc., the company founded by entrepreneur Max Levchin to provide fair and honest financial products, today announced Affirm will partner with brands and retailers to offer shoppers a simple, no-interest payment option on purchases of any size via three easy, monthly payments. Now, Affirm’s financial products are available for purchases of any size, marking an expansion for the company. Affirm will continue to offer shoppers the option to buy now and make simple, transparent payments over time for purchases up to thousands of dollars, with terms ranging from 3 to 36 months.”