Klarna launches US savings accounts at 3.28% as the buy-now-pay-later company tries to become a bank

Klarna is launching high-yield savings accounts in the United States with an annual percentage yield starting at 3.28%. The accounts are FDIC-insured through a partnership with WebBank and are designed to let existing Klarna spending customers hold savings within the same platform.

“The average American earns less than 0.5% on their savings, not because better options don’t exist, but because their bank hasn’t had to compete,” CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in a statement.

The competitive landscape

The 3.28% rate is competitive but not market-leading. Marcus by Goldman Sachs currently pays 3.4%, and SoFi Technologies offers up to 3.8% for six months.

Klarna’s pitch is not the rate itself but the integration. The company wants users who already make purchases through its buy-now-pay-later service to consolidate their spending and saving in one app, the same flywheel strategy that Revolut and other neobanks have pursued in Europe.

Klarna’s financials

Revenue in Q1 2026 rose to $1 billion, up 44% year on year, driven by rising interest income, growing debit card sign-ups, and fee income from partnerships. The company went public in 2025 after years of valuation volatility that saw it drop from a $46 billion peak to $6.7 billion before recovering.

The savings product represents a strategic shift from lending to deposits. For Klarna, gathering deposits is cheaper than borrowing on wholesale markets to fund its loan book, and it creates a stickier relationship with customers who might otherwise use the app only for checkout.

What this does not change

Klarna is not a US bank. The savings accounts are offered through WebBank, a Utah-chartered FDIC-insured institution that serves as the bank-of-record for multiple fintechs. Klarna does not hold a US banking licence itself, and the regulatory structure means customer deposits are held at WebBank, not at Klarna.

The 3.28% APY is a starting rate, not a guaranteed rate. It can change at any time. High-yield savings rates across the market are tied to the Federal Reserve’s policy rate, and if the Fed cuts rates, yields across the board will fall. Klarna has not disclosed minimum deposit requirements, maximum balances, or whether the rate applies to all balance tiers.

The product is a logical next step for a company trying to move beyond buy-now-pay-later. Whether American consumers want their savings account and their instalment loan provider to be the same app is the open question Klarna is now testing.