Klarna has evolved from a European clone of PayPal Holdings Inc. to the biggest provider of short-term “buy now, pay later” consumer loans, with more than 100 million active customers, and is now planning to offer a full suite of banking services. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski’s goal is to create a worldwide lender, with every Klarna user carrying a card, and he predicts he’ll reach 10 million cardholders within a year. Seeking to raise at least $1 billion, the listing would have cemented Siemiatkowski’s status as a billionaire, at least on paper. But as the clock ticked down to the debut, President Donald Trump announced his plans for stiff tariffs, sending global markets into a tailspin. Two days later, Siemiatkowski put his plans on hold. But now he’s back, planning to complete the listing as soon as September, and he’s got a new pitch: building a global digital bank. The company plans to offer more customers debit cards—starting in the US this summer and across Europe this fall—and ultimately provide a full suite of banking services. Siemiatkowski has about 1 million cardholders today and predicts he’ll reach 10 million within a year. But his real goal is to create a worldwide lender, with every Klarna user carrying a card. The average American already has four credit cards, making it tough to get them to cram another one into their wallet. But Siemiatkowski says many people feel cards are “rigged against them” due to their high costs and opaque charges. These people—his target customers, he says—have resisted getting credit cards, but many of them would like a low- or no-fee card and occasional financing at better rates than most bank-issued plastic. The aim is to replicate Klarna’s business in Sweden, where it has had a banking license since 2017 and 80% of the adult population are customers. At home and in a few other European countries where its Swedish license allows it to operate, the company has amassed $9.5 billion in consumer deposits—about as much as larger community banks in the US—which it uses to fund its credit offerings. And on July 30, Klarna said UK regulators had granted it an electronic money institution license, a first step toward full banking permission, which will let it offer debit cards and savings accounts to its 11 million British users. While other digital banks woo newcomers with crypto or stock trading or even free Tinder Plus subscriptions, Klarna offers shopping deals and loyalty perks. And he says Klarna will be able to sign up banking customers with a gentle nudge after they shop on its app or website. “It’s a slow-burn relationship,” he says. Klarna’s 100 million users generate scads of consumer data, and the 724,000 merchants the company works with provide a consistent revenue stream, more than $1.8 billion in annual fees—three-quarters of its sales. But some critics worry about its loan business, where losses crept up at the start of this year financial assistant to assess spending patterns and suggest ways customers can save money and time—“to make you less worried about your finances,” he says. “That is the ultimate purpose of banking”