Finance Monthly - November 2021 Edition

8 Finance Monthly. THE MONTHLY ROUND-UP News You Can’ t Af ford to Mi ss The Mon t h l y Round -Up customers — often peo- ple who are young or on lower incomes — to spend money on items they can- not realistically afford. In the UK, the government has introduced proposals to regulate the industry in order to protect consum- ers from potential finan- cial harm. Two of the world’s largest private FinTech compa- nies, Stripe and Klarna, are teaming up on “buy now, pay later”. Stripe, which supports businesses in accepting online payments, said it had agreed to a strategic partnership with Klarna to offer its “buy now, pay later” payment method to Stripe’s merchants. Koen Koppen, Klarna’s chief technology officer, said: “Together with Stripe, we will be a true growth part- ner for our retailers of all sizes, allowing them to maximise their entrepre- neurial success through our joint services.” Stripe says that the agree- ment will make it easier for retailers to add Klarna as a payment option on their website. Klarna usu- ally partners with retail- ers directly to embed its checkout button on their sites. However, the agree- ment with Stripe could give Klarna a much wider client reach. The Swedish FinTech generates reve- nue through deals with re- tailers, which pay it a small cut on each transaction processed via its platform. According to Stripe, early results reveal that mer- chants experienced a 27% increase in sales on average after integrating with Klarna. The average order value, meanwhile, increased by 41%. Critics of “buy now, pay later” platforms have ac- cused companies such as Klarna of encouraging Klarna and Stripe Partner Up on “Buy Now, Pay Later” As Competition Heats Up