Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has increased its holding in Swedish payments firm Klarna to 5.5% through an additional investment of $200m.
The bank previously invested $100m in the buy-now-pay-later firm and owned a 1.8% stake.
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Klarna has now rolled out its services in Australia and New Zealand with CBA’s backing.
CBA CEO Matt Comyn said: “Our partnership with Klarna will further enhance the customer experience in our leading banking app and address the rapidly growing demand among consumers for new payment options.
“In particular, it allows us to build on our leading technology to deliver the very best payment services for our customers and merchants in Australia, on platforms which are safe, secure, and easy to use.”
CBA will not only own 50% of Klarna’s operations in Australia and New Zealand but also have the right to expand its partnership into Indonesia.
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By GlobalDataKlarna Group CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said: “This is an exciting day for Klarna, CBA and Australia as a whole.
“We have already developed a strong working relationship with CBA and we look forward to providing even more opportunities together for our customers in the coming months and years.”
Founded 15 years ago, Klarna has a user base of 85 million and is supported by 20,000 merchants.
In its funding round last year, the fintech firm reached a valuation of $5.5bn.
