(Bloomberg) — Swedish lender SEB AB signed up its first customer for a new banking-as-a-service platform that allows companies to offer financial services under their own brand without becoming banks themselves.
The offering comes as traditional banks like SEB are increasingly looking to diversify their revenue sources away from retail products like credit cards and consumer loans amid the disruption caused by buy-now-pay-later providers such as Klarna Bank AB and Revolut Ltd.
With its new BaaS offering, SEBx, the Swedish bank says it is looking to establish itself as a leader in the so-called embedded finance market, which is expected to reach $7 trillion by the end of the decade, according to an emailed statement.
“SEBx is built on top of SEB’s banking license, which allows us to be a complete provider of financial services,” said Christoffer Malmer, who runs the new unit at SEB.
The first client on SEB’s cloud-based platform is Humla, a fintech startup that is part of the Axel Johnson Group. Humla says it will work with SEBx to enhance its payment and loyalty offerings within the retail space.
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