Klarna Kosma, the open banking arm of BNPL giant Klarna, has helped Swedish SMEs receive on average 15% larger loan offers, at a 4% lower interest rate, through a tie-up with Swedish digital lending platform Krea.
Krea offers SMEs a single portal where they can apply for business loans from a network of over 30 banks and lenders who return their best loan offers based on the data provided in the application.
Using Klarna Kosma, SMEs can provide transaction-level data directly from their business bank account to the Krea platform, encouraging lenders to offer larger loans at lower interest rates.
Krea says the facility has lead to a sizeable increase in loan approvals, with more than 20,000 loan offers being submitted to SMEs this year.
Wilko Klaassen, VP for open banking at Klarna Kosma says: “This is a fantastic example of open banking delivering real benefits to small and medium-sized businesses, which are the driving force of growth in many economies. By facilitating greater access to high quality data, Klarna Kosma enables innovative fintechs to provide access to more funding on better terms.”