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Fintech IPOs are back. After pausing its IPO in the spring, Klarna just went public, with shares surging +30% at the open, before closing up +15% on its first day of trading, raising $1.37bn: --Shares priced at $40, above Klarna’s target range of $35 to $37. --The $40 price point values Klarna at some $15 billion, which is a healthy rebound from the $6.7 billion valuation it raised at in 2022, but still substantially below the more than $45 billion valuation it notched in a Softbank-led round in 2021. --Klarna began its U.S. rollout of the Klarna Card in Q2, reporting that 685k Americans have signed up since the July launch. Now, management says it’s rolling the card out to European customers. --Klarna has several key partnerships in the pipeline including Walmart, Nexi, Worldpay and JPMorgan Payments and an expansion of the Company's relationship with eBay.  --Per Q2 results, Klarna grew savings deposits to $14.0bn by June, up nearly 50% from December 2024. By relying on savings deposits, Klarna has kept funding costs in check, at 0.47% of Gross Merchandise Volume.   Overall, Klarna’s IPO marks a positive signal for BNPL players, and for fintech as a whole. BNPL volumes have continued to surge, as consumers embrace the payment product with volumes at Klarna and other public players, such as Affirm, Sezzle and Zip Co, all growing double-digits on a year-over-year basis. 

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🚨 Revolut is reportedly on the hunt for a U.S. bank to Fast-Track an American Licence, after withdrawing its banking charter application in 2021. Why does this matter? Because this isn’t just another neobank trying to dip its toes into the U.S. - this is Revolut, one of the most aggressive global fintechs, with ambitions that go far beyond debit cards and slick mobile UX. And if they pull this off, the consequences could be seismic: ⚠️ Community banks could suddenly face a competitor with global scale , funding and tech speed ⚠️ Big banks might find Revolut eating into high-margin niches (think travel, crypto, FX, high-yield) ⚠️ Fintechs would have to compete with a player that owns the full stack - infrastructure and front end This is why side-core strategies and next-gen infrastructure aren’t optional anymore for U.S. banks. The perimeter is eroding - not just from embedded fintech, but from global challengers with a war chest and no legacy baggage. I said it a month ago: 🧠 “The million dollar question now: When will Revolut finally make (new / renewed) its regulatory U.S. move - community bank acquisition or full charter?” see here https://lnkd.in/eRUiqQZ6). From Europe to Australia to Israel, now the US Revolut isn’t just scaling - it’s embedding and regulating itself into every market it wants to own. So here we are. #BankingAsAService #DigitalBanking #CommunityBanks #Fintech #BankM&A #EmbeddedFinance #USBanking #CoreBanking #Regulation #ModularBanking #AgoraFinancialTechnologies

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