The numbers around the buy now, pay later (BNPL) market are impressive — it is a market estimated to be worth more than $5bn and predicted to grow by 26% to 2030. It is also a market with a sting in its tail, as Klarna, one of the leading BNPL fintechs, learned when its valuation plummeted from $46bn to $6.7bn in its latest fundraising round.
An e-commerce payment method whereby consumers can delay payments or divide them into instalments and be in immediate receipt of goods suits consumers hit by the cost-of-living crisis. The market has expanded and so too have defaults, drawing the attention of financial regulators.
