As buy now, pay later becomes a common consumer practice, Klarna has its sights set on expanding its services beyond online commerce. Hear from Klarna’s CMO about how its payment platform has turned into a growth partner for merchants and retailers.

The Nordic region has taken to subscription streaming services at some of the fastest rates in Western Europe, and indeed the world. Thanks to the local appetite for foreign content, and these services’ appetite for subscribers, the audience there will keep expanding for the foreseeable future.

Netflix’s gaming investments set it apart from streaming competitors: The company acquired a Finnish mobile games studio that it has worked with in the past.

Tink’s partnership should be well received by PostNord Strålfors’s clients if demand for digital B2B payments in the Nordics mirrors US trends—Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments will soon overtake historic leaders checks and cash to have the largest market share of B2B payments, per our forecasts. Visa closed a deal last week to acquire Tink for $2 billion, per a press release.

Snapchat is a particularly good choice for marketers in most of the Nordics, as penetration is higher there than anywhere else in Europe. Snapchat Lenses have worked well for consumer and lifestyle brands such as Gucci, which used augmented reality (AR) technology to let Snapchat users try on Gucci shoes virtually.

Google’s EU antitrust woes multiply: Sweden’s PriceRunner sues Google for skewing search results toward its own shopping service. The move could prompt more legal action from European shopping services.

In late 2021, HBO Max had operations in Andorra, the Nordics, and Spain. It’s moving into additional markets in 2022, including the Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Poland. However, HBO Max won’t launch in several markets—Austria, Germany, Italy, Ireland, and the UK—until 2025 at the earliest due to HBO’s pre-existing contracts with Sky that prevent it from doing so.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) report exploring six central bank digital currency (CBDC) case studies shows there’s no “one size fits all” that works in every market.

Ecommerce participation is most popular in Northeast Asia, North America, and in the Nordic countries. Indonesia has also embraced the channel with gusto, far more than its neighbors. The same can be said of the UK, although in some respects the UK has more in common with North America and the Nordics than it does with its continental European peers.

The network partnered with acquirer and paytech Worldline to expand UnionPay acceptance in the Nordic region and forged similar deals with Fiserv and Stripe to grow elsewhere. Last year, UnionPay said its global acceptance network has extended to 180 countries and regions and that as many as 55 million merchants worldwide accept UnionPay cards.

Sustainability is a hot topic, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, most ecommerce buyers, sellers, and logistics firms are taking steps to be more eco-friendly. But commitment and progress are patchy.

In China, ecommerce sales will make up a substantial share of 2022's total retail sales at 46.3%, while the UK and South Korea will round out the top 3, with 36.3% and 32.2% ecommerce shares, respectively.

And, when looking at penetration rates, the Nordic countries and the UK rank among the global top 10, far exceeding the continental laggards. Although the region trails North America in nearly every metric, it is worth noting that Western Europe exceeds the international averages in most respects. Just 24.0% of the world’s population will be sub OTT users in 2022.

Revisiting what we saw in the crystal ball: We made five predictions last year about what would happen in fintech. Today, we look at three we got right.