Swedish BNPL giant Klarna will continue to reduce its workforce as it flags a move towards more aggressive use of AI.

The FinTech, which has cut its workforce from 5000 to 3800 over the past year, is expecting more dramatic reductions, with chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski signalling AI could help to halve its workforce.

Klarna says changes to its workforce can so far largely be attributed to natural attrition, including due to resignations, sickness, or retirement, but the bank believes AI will have a role in the next cutback.

According to its interim report, the FinTech registered a revenue growth of 27 per cent in the first half of 2024, as it saw first half adjusted profits of $66 million, a sharp rise compared to adjusted loss of $45 million in the same period last year.

Siemiatkoski identified AI as the moving force towards the rise.

"Our AI assistant now performs the work of 700 employees, reducing the average resolution time from 11 minutes to just two, while maintaining the same customer satisfaction scores as human agents,” he continued.

The chief exec added the AI assistant has a powerful role for its customer service arm, helping to further improve their shopping experience.

In an interview with the Financial Times (FT) Siemiatkowski said: "Not only can we do more with less, but we can do much more with less. Internally, we speak directionally about 2,000 employees. We don’t want to put a specific deadline on that."

Klarna said it has also benefited from its push into the US market, which drove a 93 per cent year-over-year rise in gross profit in the country. According to its report, the company has become a partner of choice for one in four of the top 100 merchants in the US.

In July, the FT reported that Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley were in the race to advise for Klarna’s long-awaited US initial public offering, which could take place as early as the first half of 2025.

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