Swedish payment and shopping service provider Klarna’s total revenue for the second quarter was 5.5 billion Swedish krona (€464.6m), up 17 percent year-on-year, with a loss of SEK 0.9 billion (€76.0m), compared to SEK -3.8 billion a year earlier. “A year ago, we promised to become profitable again, and already we can proudly say that we had our first month with positive numbers in Q2 2023,” said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna. “We are achieving our ambitious goals ahead of schedule.” Credit losses, which amounted to approximately SEK 1 billion (€84.5m) in Q2, are also declining. The corresponding figure last year was SEK 1.7 billion (€143.6m), and on an annualized basis, they declined by 41 percent. However, they increased slightly compared to Q1 of this year.
Klarna says more than 500,000 merchants and 150 million consumers worldwide now use its payment service. The company continues to be successful in all markets in which it operates. In particular, its strong presence in the US in recent years continued to generate gross profit. In May, Klarna launched a partnership with Airbnb in the US and Canada. Guests can now apply to pay for stays in four interest-free installments over six weeks, and for bookings over $500, guests in the US can apply to pay monthly. More markets will be added throughout the year, the company said.
Klarna is also investing to accelerate customer value through AI. As Europe’s first AI-powered bank, Klarna is pushing forward with its mission to revolutionize retail banking by focusing on customer value rather than customer revenue. Dozens of initiatives across everything from analytics to marketing to customer interaction are already having a demonstrable impact on performance and improving the customer experience for Klarna’s global customers. A recently implemented solution within customer service has made resolving merchant disputes more efficient for customers, saving more than 60,000 hours annually, according to the company. AI improvements have contributed to further significant improvements in cost performance, with total cost of ownership before credit losses down 24 percent year-on-year.
