After touting a recession-proof business model, the BNPL firm slashed 19% of its workforce and will restructure to the tune of $39M.

Ingenico and Splitit are focused on cutting customer friction to grow their in-store BNPL presence.

How do Klarna’s BNPL product features measure up to customer demand? We show how new features can balance these demands against the competing interests of shareholders and regulators.

We expect buy now, pay later (BNPL) users and payment value to continue growing in the coming years, despite a perfect storm of rising investor and regulatory scrutiny, increasing competition, and worsening economic conditions.

Embedded-finance-driven business lending is expected to grow sixfold in the next five years.

As the online BNPL space saturates, Afterpay and Klarna are turning to in-store partners to fuel growth.

In the US, 55.1% of Gen Z digital buyers ages 14 and older will use a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service at least once this year. That figure drops to 48.6% for millennial digital buyers and becomes progressively smaller among older generations.

BNPL providers are in the eye of a perfect storm, as investor and regulatory scrutiny, increasing competition, and the prospect of recession put them at risk. But it’s still early days—and we see foresee a long growth runway. Read on to learn how retailers and providers can navigate the current landscape to their maximum benefit.

Klarna is the most popular buy now, pay later (BNPL) service in the US, with 34.8 million users ages 14 and older. Afterpay takes the No. 2 spot with 20.0 million, and Affirm comes in third with 14.0 million.

With more than 6 in 10 smartphone users adopting mobile peer-to-peer payments in the US across multiple apps, providers are looking to widen their addressable base, mitigate pain points, and drive engagement.

Increasing digitization among the 32 million US small businesses is changing the competitive landscape and forcing banks, acquirers, and fintechs to invest in next-generation features. These features range from payments and value-added services to outreach.

The two firms can help each other relieve competitive pressures in their respective industries.

BNPL providers should prepare now for potential regulatory changes affecting credit reporting, customer creditworthiness, late fees, and more.

Afterpay’s deal with EyeBuyDirect and Sezzle’s tie-up with WellNow Urgent Care reflect BNPL’s push to diversify beyond retail.

On today's episode, we discuss how Apple's new Tap to Pay feature will disrupt the payments world. Then for "In Other News," we talk about the impact of American Express' new checking account and what will happen now that buy now, pay later firm Afterpay is integrated with Block (formerly Square). Tune in to the discussion with VP of content and head of financial services Daniel Van Dyke and our analyst Jaime Toplin.

Payments Ecosystem: This year will reveal how providers must adapt to lasting pandemic-driven digitization across payments channels, ranging from in-store retail to B2B ecommerce.

Smaller banks are cool toward BNPL: A survey finds that most have scant to zero interest in entering buy now, pay later (BNPL). Those that expressed interest want to partner instead of going solo.

The firm closed the acquisition and made it available to online merchants in Australia and the US.