Today, digital payment services and virtual banks compete with traditional banks in all areas, including payment, money transfer, and lending.
According to Jason Goldberg, an analyst at JPMorgan, the strongest competition between virtual and brick-and-mortar banks is in the payments category, where fintech startups pose a severe threat to traditional banking.
On the other hand, cooperation between traditional banks and fintech startups has increased significantly since the latter are much more dynamic and flexible in building and launching new technologies faster than cumbersome banks with complex hierarchy, lengthy decision making and overall resistance to change.
In October 2017, McKinsey published a study where it described the threats to the financial sector from fintech startups.
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Stockholm, Klarna is estimated at $3.5 billion, which makes it the most expensive fintech startup in Europe.
The British money transfer service was launched in January 2011 by Cristo Kärmann and Taavet Hinricus.
