Fiserv: Fiserv Teams With Klarna to Offer Installments Through Clover Devices

In a dual announcement, Fiserv Inc. and Klarna AB said late Tuesday they plan to collaborate on offering Klarna's installment-credit service through Fiserv's popular Clover point-of-sale devices, starting with more than 100,000 U.S. merchant locations. An expansion of the rollout to more merchants is planned for early next year, the parties said. The move represents a significant push into in-store traffic for Klarna, a major e-commerce player, and an important new option for Clover, the companies said, though the merchant brands the initiative is starting with could not be immediately determined. Plans call for e-commerce collaboration as well as deployment to geographies beyond the United States, the parties said, without adding further details. A Fiserv spokesperson did not immediately respond to queries from Digital Transactions News . Shoppers will be alerted to the new option by the appearance of the Klarna logo on the Clover screens, the companies said. "Clover is excited to join forces with Klarna to leverage our strong presence across U.S. services, and retail, to power and engage consumers at key moments-before, during, and after checkout," Jennifer LaClair, head of merchant solutions at Fiserv, said in a statement. The collaboration has the potential to pay off for both companies, some observers say, particularly as many consumers seek out buy now, pay later options to ease the load on their wallets. "People's budgets are far tighter, and if they can spread the load across two to three months, it makes sense," notes Cliff Gray, principal at Gray Consulting, a payments consultancy. For Klarna in particular, the deal with Fiserv could represent a major distribution coup, he adds. But for both companies, he sees the collaboration as "the right product at the right time" as many consumers juggle competing claims on their financial resources. Stockholm-based Klarna's offerings range from debit card payments to installment payments, which it says are "interest-free." Debit cards, though, account for 25% of its global transactions, the company says. With the Fiserv collaboration, the company is "bringing Klarna to Main Street," said Klarna chief commercial officer David Sykes, in a statement. The deal with Fiserv is only Klarna's latest move to expand its North American business. Last month, it announced it would be the exclusive provider of installment loans for Walmart customers in the United States, through a collaboration with OnePay, a digital-wallet provider. Clover, which Fiserv took over with its $22-billion deal for First Data Corp. in 2019, has been a star product for the company for years. The device accounted for $310 billion in annualized payments volume last year, up 14% from 2023, and generated $2.7 billion in revenue for the company in the fourth quarter, a 29% rise year-over-year. With the addition of the Klarna traffic, "I imagine it's a nice revenue stream for Fiserv," notes Gray.