Klarna’s chief executive officer is worried that the collapse of FTX.com may encourage finance sector regulation that will make it harder for fintech firms to compete against traditional lenders.
(Bloomberg) — Klarna’s chief executive officer is worried that the collapse of FTX.com may encourage finance sector regulation that will make it harder for fintech firms to compete against traditional lenders.
Describing the blowup as “fairly scary,” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, who has previously criticized the crypto industry, said he’s more worried “the traditional bank industry will take this opportunity to again regulate this industry to the disadvantage of consumers.”
“We need more competition in banking industry, we need good consumer protection laws but that don’t stifle competition,” he said on Bloomberg Television Monday. “I’m a little bit concerned that these debacles that we’ve seen will again inhibit that and continuously prolong the overly large profitability that we’ve seen in the banking industry.”
His comments show how the bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s digital-asset exchange is reverberating through the wider world of finance, even as any market contagion remains restricted to the world of crypto.
Siemiatkowski also said consumers were increasingly buying cheaper goods as the economic turmoil hits consumer confidence. He was speaking after Klarna rolled out a price comparison tool in the UK, part of a push to supply the fintech with additional revenue streams.
–With assistance from Agatha Cantrill.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
