Is Buy Now, Pay Later Dead on Arrival?
Hey Payments Fanatic!
Klarna just hit a massive regulatory speed bump that could force a total rethink of what BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) payments really are.
Two consumers in the Netherlands who used Klarna’s “Pay Later” service were told they owed nothing, because the Nordic payment company failed to comply with credit regulations.
According to the Financial Complaints Institute (Kifid in Dutch), BNPL is considered a loan, which means creditworthiness checks are mandatory, and clear consumer information is required.
Since Klarna couldn’t prove it met those requirements, the credit agreements were voided entirely, and payment obligations disappeared retroactively.
This strikes at the heart of the BNPL myth: the idea that you can provide credit without being a 'creditor.'
If regulators and courts start treating BNPL as full consumer credit, the implications are massive: Higher compliance costs, stricter onboarding flows, pressure on business models tied to late fees & collections.
Kifid is just getting started, with more reviews already in the pipeline.
This ruling forces a fundamental rethink of the BNPL unit economics. If regulators treat them like banks, they’ll eventually have to act like banks, and we may see these FinTechs forced into mergers or pivots to survive the overhead of traditional lending.
The payments world doesn't slow down. 👇 Back on Monday!
Cheers,
Q&A
📰 Why it’s time to rethink your APM strategy: A conversation with Checkout.com’s Manika Singh. In this conversation, Arthur Bedel is joined by Manika Singh, VP of Product at Checkout.com, to explore how payments are becoming a critical growth lever at checkout, and why merchants may need to rethink their strategies in a global, performance-driven environment.
NEWS
🇺🇸 Issued by U.S. Bank on the Mastercard network, Amazon has introduced new Prime Business and Amazon Business credit cards. Designed for small businesses, the cards offer cashback rewards, flexible credit terms, and integrated spend management tools to simplify purchasing and improve cash flow.
🇬🇧 TaxHeaven partners with Yapily to make Making Tax Digital simple and accessible for sole traders and landlords. Powered by Yapily's open banking infrastructure, users can securely connect their bank accounts and automatically sync transactions into the platform, with no manual data entry, no CSV uploads, and no chasing paper receipts.
🇦🇺 Airwallex strengthens Australian leadership. Airwallex has appointed Elana Rubin as independent chair of its Australian board and added Sir Bill English as a non-executive director. The appointments strengthen governance as the company continues expanding its financial infrastructure across Australia and New Zealand.
🇳🇱 Klarna has been ordered by the Dutch complaints body Kifid to cancel repayment obligations for two customers, citing serious violations of consumer credit regulations. The rulings found Klarna failed to properly assess creditworthiness, leading to the annulment of the agreements.
🇰🇪 Safaricom unveils AI-powered My OneApp, merging M-PESA and MySafaricom under one roof. Using AI-driven personalisation, the platform adapts based on transaction frequency, preferred contacts, recurring payments, and commonly used services.
🇳🇬 Flutterwave secures Nigerian banking license to accelerate payment efficiency. This license enables the company to hold funds and deposits directly, strengthening its financial infrastructure across its largest market and enabling more efficient financial services and settlement flows for consumers, businesses, and enterprises.
🇺🇸 Chime has launched Chime Prime, a new rewards program offering up to 5% cash back in select spending categories for customers who meet direct deposit thresholds. The move reflects a shift toward more traditional banking incentives as Chime competes with established players in the rewards space.
🇺🇸 a16z Crypto leads $10M seed round in Better Money Company. The Better Money Company is building a stablecoin clearinghouse to solve fragmentation across chains, issuers, and platforms, aiming to make all stablecoins function seamlessly at par like traditional money.
🇺🇸 Cash App launches ‘pay later’ feature for P2P pay transfers. The feature allows eligible users to pay for their everyday transfers over an extended period of time. Owen Jennings said Cash App’s new feature has strong built-in protections that are designed to steer users away from financial trouble, like getting stuck in what he called debt spirals.
🌏 Bitget to issue a Visa crypto card for spending across APAC. Bitget, in partnership with Visa and DCS, launched the Bitget Card across selected markets in APAC, extending crypto out of exchanges into everyday spending and marking another step toward a more unified financial experience where digital assets work quietly in the background of daily life.
🇬🇧 Wirex and Ultra Stellar launch native payment infrastructure on Stellar. The partnership is designed to support both existing users and the next generation of financial applications, including those powered by AI. Keep reading
🇬🇧 London FinTechs Yaspa and Paysecure partner to offer true payments intelligence to the payments sector. Leveraging Paysecure’s AI-powered routing and deep transaction insights and Yaspa’s Intelligent Payments, operators will be able to reduce fraud while smoothing the payment journey for users through one platform to retain and grow their customer base.
🌎 Adyen expands international partnership with adidas. Adyen is expanding its Adyen Giving donation feature globally with adidas, enabling customers to support charities like UNHCR and Special Olympics at checkout. The initiative builds on strong adoption, with over $1 million already raised in North America, and is now scaling across Europe and Latin America.
🇺🇸 Linux Foundation is launching the x402 Foundation and welcoming the contribution of the x402 Protocol. The new Foundation will serve as the neutral home for x402, enabling AI agents, APIs, and apps to transact value as seamlessly as they exchange data.
🇺🇸 Visa unveils new services to modernize dispute resolution process. The expanded suite of dispute resolution services is being designed to help merchants and financial institutions cut administrative costs, reduce fraud-related losses, and redirect those resources toward growth, innovation, and customer experience.
🇱🇺 Luxembourg to phase out Payconiq by the end of September and shift to Wero. Users will need to download the Wero app and complete an onboarding process to link their bank account before they can make or receive payments. The transfer from one system to another will not be automatic.
🇫🇷 Kulipa raises $6.2m for a stablecoin-native card-issuing infrastructure platform. The platform enables partners to launch payment programmes funded directly from stablecoin balances, supporting both rapid pre-funded deployments and deeper wallet-native integrations.
🇹🇿 Vodacom Tanzania modernises M-Pesa with $28m infrastructure upgrade. By strengthening the technological core of M-Pesa, the company is reinforcing its role as a trusted enabler of financial inclusion and economic participation. Keep reading
ant your message in front of 100.000+ FinTech fanatics, founders, investors, and operators?
Shoot me a message on LinkedIn or send me an e-mail.
Comments ()