Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski likened his buy-now-pay-later company to American Express at a Bernstein investor conference, casting both as customer-focused lifestyle brands rather than banks and citing Amex's climb against Visa and Mastercard in the 1990s and 2000s. Where Amex leaned on travel and dining, Klarna is growing through fashion and beauty merchants like Macy's, Sephora, and newly Ulta, where purchases run a smaller $100 to $200 but happen more often, a base he says it can expand into bigger-ticket financing and everyday spend like groceries. He argued Klarna's 120M users are a marketing draw for merchants the way Amex's base is, and brushed off worries that agentic commerce could sideline payment brands, saying customer preference will hold.
