The news: Affirm will buy German-based Ratepay from Nexi, per a news release.

Ratepay is a white-label buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider for online stores based in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Why this matters: Affirm finally has a foothold in the EU market. 

Affirm is the largest BNPL provider  in the US; we forecast it will own 32.4% of all US BNPL sales in 2026.

But Affirm will be moving off its home turf and onto Klarna’s. The Swedish-based fintech has had nearly two decades to develop deep relationships with EU consumers. Many other providers have also had much more time to develop their customer relationships—including PayPal, AfterPay, and Scalapay.

Affirm will have to either make inroads with net new BNPL users or convert loyal customers who have been using other providers potentially for years.

Recommendations for BNPL providers: European consumers approach BNPL differently from their US counterparts. They don’t have the same expectations for rich rewards attached to their credit cards, making spending through interest-free BNPL providers more attractive at baseline. 

While installment providers have struggled to compete against US issuers on rewards, they can in the EU. Even modest cash-back rewards could move the needle for EU consumers considering BNPL.

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