Klarna Appoints General Manager for ANZ

Buy Now, Pay Later is no longer a stranger in retail. They’re popping up everywhere, and what started out as a small bundle of players has turned into an Olympic-size playing field.

Ereira’s new role, which begins February 3, includes the launch and expanding further growth in Australia, as well as lead the company’s daily operations and expansion across the region. Ereira has more than 20 years experience in managing roles with The Walt Disney Company, Sheridan, eWave and Temando.

“Klarna has a proven track record of shaking up the payments industry and has established a global brand that’s redefining the way we experience shopping,” Ereira explains. “It’s incredibly exciting to be joining such a disruptive and high-growth company which continues to build superior relationships with their
consumers and which retailers can only benefit from. I look forward to helping introduce Klarna’s innovative new shopping solutions in Australia and building on the company’s fantastic global growth and forward momentum.”

This comes as Klarna announces its exclusive partnership with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. This partnership will launch Klarna in both Australia and New Zealand. As part of the company’s recent $460M equity raise, Klarna was confirmed as the ‘largest private fintech in Europe’ and as ‘one of the largest private fintechs globally’.

In 2017, Klarna was granted a full banking license in Europe to ‘broaden its product portfolio’. Klarna partners with over 190,000 merchants in the UK, North America and Europe including H&M, Michael Kors, Wayfair, Adidas, IKEA, Expedia Group, Sephora, Samsung, Microsoft, ASOS, Peloton, Boohoo, Levi’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Nike.

The company’s underlying sales volume amounted to USD 29 billion in 2018 and has added 26m new consumers in the past year.

“We’re absolutely delighted that Fran will join Klarna and help accelerate our global journey to offer consumers more transparent, flexible and intuitive retail services centred around their needs,” explains Sebastian Siemiatkwosk, CEO of Klarna. “The combination of her strategic leadership and operational experience in the fast-growing digital and payments sector in Australia will be a huge asset to our global team. As Klarna continues to grow rapidly across markets, we are excited to bring new innovative services to Australian consumers and add real value to all our merchant partners to further help unlock potential so they can compete effectively.”

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