Klarna is branching out the AI-powered global payments network to add new retail banking services. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski joins Asking for a Trend to discuss the move and his vision for the future of the company.

"Back in the days when you used to use a card from a bank, you would press one for debit and two for credit. And then banks stopped doing that because people weren't building as big balances and weren't revolving as much, and that meant lower revenue and profit for banks. But it's a healthier credit product. It's a healthier product to choose on a transactional basis, whether to use debit and credit. And so now, having also availability to clone a balance where you can use that money to spend online is an important part of the debit side of our business," Siemiatkowski explains.

He notes that Klarna is a fully licensed bank in Europe, and 30% of its $100 billion volume per year is already debit. Klarna has the long-term goal of disrupting big banks and sees the US as a great opportunity as payment fees are "substantially higher" than in Europe. In a competitive market, Siemiatkowski wants Klarna to "bring back services that really serve the customer to save them time, save them money." As part of this vision, the company will also get detailed data on consumer transactions, which it will in turn use to provide relevant advice and insights.

Watch the video above to hear what Siemiatkowski says about a potential Klarna IPO.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Asking for a Trend.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl