Klarna has hired Michael Rouse, a former American Express executive, as its chief commercial officer. He will oversee new business development, revenue management and global partnerships and solutions. The hiring of Rouse is a reflection of Klarna’s global ambition and dedication to consumer loyalty as it prepares to enter the U.S. market.
“We’re gearing up to become the world’s favorite way to buy. That’s no small feat and with his relentless focus on providing world-class consumer experience Michael Rouse is the perfect addition to the team that will guide us there,” says Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO and co- founder of Klarna.
Klarna is the only company worldwide to achieve the same mobile conversion rates that retailers typically see online. Providing an ideal consumer experience has proven to be the secret to that success. On top of that, a unique integrated payments model enables Klarna to customize real-time dynamic credit offerings for its consumers. For every single transaction this becomes even more powerful, as data used to power its risk algorithm allows Klarna to apply additional solutions such as product targeting offers that drive ROI for retailers – all with the lowest fraud rates across any network.
“As we see the convergence of online and offline, mobile is at the center. Klarna understands this and can leverage data from more than 35 million consumers’ daily spending habits to create meaningful solutions that deliver a simple buying experience for consumers and unprecedented conversation rates for retailers,” said Rouse. “Klarna is the most exciting company in payments and I’m thrilled to join this team.”
During the past seven years, Rouse has been at American Express, where he held executive positions within global sales, business development and marketing. He started as head of sales for the EMEA region at American Express Corporate Services, moved on to vice president and general manager of enterprise partnerships and Latin American businesses within the same division, and, most recently, was head of the company’s flagship loyalty program, Membership Rewards, pioneering and developing partnerships with the likes of Uber, AirBnB, Amazon and Ticketmaster.
Klarna was founded in Stockholm in 2005 with the idea of simplifying buying. We do this by letting the consumer receive the goods first and pay afterwards, while we assume the credit and fraud risks for the merchants. Today, Klarna is one of Europe’s fastest growing companies.
In 2014 we joined forces with SOFORT and formed Klarna Group, the leading European alternative payment provider. Klarna Group has more than 1200 employees and is active on 18 markets. We serve 35 million consumers and work with 50 000 merchants. Our goal is to become the world’s favorite way to buy.