Klarna Applies for U.S. Bank Charter in Utah
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- Klarna applied to federal and state regulators to establish Klarna Bank USA, a proposed FDIC-backed institution chartered in Utah and led by Gary Harding, former CEO of Milestone Bank and Prime Alliance Bank.
- CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski called the charter "the natural next step," saying it would give customers tools to "borrow responsibly and build financial confidence" while bringing greater competition to U.S. financial services.
- The charter would let Klarna bring banking operations in-house — funding loans with customer deposits instead of more expensive wholesale financing, and directly offering checking accounts and credit cards rather than routing through partners like WebBank.
- Last month Klarna launched high-yield savings accounts to U.S. customers, though those deposits are currently held by partner WebBank — a limitation the charter would eliminate.
- The move reflects a wider trend: fintech provider Mercury won conditional approval for its own bank charter in April, joining a wave of fintech and crypto firms pursuing entry to the traditional banking system.
- Klarna, which went public last September at $40 per share, is now trading at roughly half its IPO price — adding a financial incentive to the strategic case for vertical integration.
Why it matters: Owning a charter replaces Klarna's reliance on banking partners like WebBank with direct deposit funding — cheaper capital that can be redeployed into credit products and checking accounts at scale. With shares trading near $20 versus the $40 IPO, the charter serves as both a structural expansion and a narrative catalyst investors have been waiting on.
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