Klarna adds open banking gambling block to offering
Swedish firm bolts on Monzo and Truelayer technology to ramp up protection measures for consumers
Payments firm Klarna has extended voluntary gambling blocks on open banking payments in the latest move to provide greater protection for customers.
Klarna has become the first provider to integrate the open banking-powered gambling block software that was developed by Monzo and Truelayer in 2021.
Since 2018, Monzo customers have been able to request a block on gambling transactions which are non-reversible for 48 hours.
However, these blocks only worked on card payments using merchant category codes, allowing a loophole for open banking payments.
The software was made public, allowing Klarna to provide its open banking subsidiary Sofort to block gambling transactions.
The update will allow banks connected to Sofort to identify payment requests from gambling companies and therefore block the payment.
Klarna’s open banking network includes 15,000 worldwide banks and 75,000 merchants across Europe, including gambling operators.
Alex Marsh, Klarna UK head, said: “We’re calling on banks and other open banking infrastructure providers to make this relatively small update which could help protect hundreds of thousands of UK consumers.
“Open banking has huge potential to increase competition and reduce costs, and as adoption grows, the industry must move quickly to make changes which can further improve the lives of UK consumers,” he added.