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Sebastian Siemiatkowski

CEO & Co-Founder, Klarna

Search every verified Sebastian Siemiatkowski interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO and co-founder of Klarna, discussed the company's second-quarter 2026 results during an earnings call on August 13, 2026. He reported that Klarna delivered results above the high end of guidance for the second consecutive quarter, with volume up 18%, revenue up 27%, and transaction margin dollars up 42%. He attributed part of the growth to stronger performance in the U.S., while noting that comparisons were affected by slower growth in the first half of 2025 and FX rebalancing. He also stated that the company had adjusted its annual volume outlook to reflect softer-than-expected German consumer demand and changes in foreign exchange. In response to analyst questions, Siemiatkowski addressed planned leadership departures, including a CFO search described as "neuron based," and explained that fluctuations in deposit funding were seasonal, with growth typically slowing in the first half and accelerating toward peak season. In an earlier appearance from 2023, Siemiatkowski discussed Klarna's founding story, including bringing on engineers who coded the initial system in four months and the early decision to give up 37% of the company, as well as broader advice on aligning expectations in business partnerships.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“There are two big things really. One is the currency effect, which you have to live with when you have too many currencies under the hood. That's one. And then the other thing is that we see, primarily in Europe, and I should say above all in Germany, which is still our largest market when it comes to volumes, that there is a fairly weak so-called consumer sentiment or retail consumer sentiment. There are some of the”

“We have a combination of, on one hand, we have seen a strong increase in the card. We have also seen that we benefit from a number of large merchants that went live in Q3, Q4 last year, which is still coming up to a 12-month cycle. And then generally, a good month. So it's a combination of those things, and above all, a US that is still growing very, very strongly.”

“What we did, we launched an AI customer service bot. It took about 700 the equivalent of 700 agents jobs but since we're outsourcing those nobody lost their job they just went and did other jobs for other companies but it reduced and had a significant impact on our cost base and it helped resolve the most simplistic errands at a higher quality that consumer appreciated. Since then we have increased that and it's now ”

“I am as I believe a lot of others as well very much in favor for free capitalism for you know having as less rules as possible but I also think most people would agree with me that anarchy isn't great that in all business there's value to having some rules of you know how we interact and I think that what was wise about that suggestion is it recognizes that in some markets sometimes some rules may be helpful. I think”

“First and foremost, we do not offer revolving. We think revolving is a bad concept. It's confusing. It's difficult for people to understand how long will it take and people tend to pay off for a much longer period of time. So, we only do fixed-term installments. The other one is we try to make sure that our interest is fair and that it's well priced compared to any other alternatives that consumers may have for finan”

“Many people told us that it's so difficult to become a bank. It's so hard being regulated and all these things. So, for a while, we were cautious about it as well. But we got our first banking like license after about 5 years of existing back in 2010. And to us we only saw advantages. It created clarity on how to operate and run our product in a compliant ways. It gave us access to things like deposits that allows us”

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