Consumers increasingly value flexibility, a dynamic that has helped buy now, pay later products become a fixture in retail payments. A new feature from Klarna and Walmart-backed fintech OnePay adds a new wrinkle to the model.
The companies are teaming up to let OnePay customers convert debit card purchases into installment loans after a transaction has been completed. For example, a consumer who buys a new TV and later faces an unexpected medical expense could use the OnePay app to turn that transaction into a four-payment BNPL loan.
“Post-pay installment plans are nothing revolutionary, they’ve been a part of the card landscape for a while now,” said Ben Danner, Senior Credit and Commercial Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research. “But we do know that cardholders seek flexibility in how they are able to pay, and this OnePay and Klarna partnership really captures the fervor around BNPL by offering it to customers after payment.”
“We’ve seen a lot of the big BNPL vendors getting into the territory of digital banking—offering debit cards and new ways to pay—and this partnership is an extension of that experience,” he said.
Exemplifying the Trend
Klarna illustrates the broader evolution underway in the sector. The company, which built its reputation as a BNPL provider, has since launched a debit card, applied for a U.S. bank charter, and expanded into peer-to-peer payments in Europe.
More broadly, Klarna has dipped its toes in a range of emerging payments, from agentic commerce integrations to plans for a proprietary stablecoin. This expansionary approach is not relegated to BNPL firms. Many leading fintechs have moved well beyond their anchor offerings. PayPal, for instance, has recently roll out products spanning cross-border payments, agentic shopping, and tax filing.
Playing to Strengths
Although open banking has yet to receive formal regulatory blessing in the U.S., the growing breadth of fintech portfolios suggests the model continues to thrive. Third-party financial services providers form key components of open banking infrastructure, and their growth is beginning to have downstream effects on traditional banks.
Consumers have become accustomed to fintech services that are purpose-built for digital use and generally easier to access than legacy alternatives. As more fintechs offer banking services, the traditional bank relationship anchored in the demand deposit account has come under pressure.
As fintechs continue to band together and broaden their offerings, financial institutions will need to play to their core strengths if they hope to maintain customer relationships.
