Monzo’s voluntary gambling block is now extended to all payments facilitated by Sofort, Klarna’s direct bank-to-bank payments service 

Klarna joins the call on all banks and Open Banking providers to adopt the update, alongside Monzo and TrueLayer, to help protect hundreds of thousands of UK consumers

London, 28 April 2022 – Klarna, a leading global retail bank, payments and shopping service that helps consumers save time and money, be informed and in control of their finances, today announced it is enabling banks to extend voluntary gambling blocks to open banking-driven payments powered by its subsidiary, SOFORT, helping protect hundreds of thousands of UK consumers. 

UK challenger bank, Monzo, was the first bank to introduce a gambling block in 2018, following demand from customers who wanted help controlling their use of gambling sites.  Since then most UK banks have followed Monzo’s lead. However, while gambling blocks are effective for payments made by card, open banking powered payments are often not covered. Today, Klarna’s subsidiary SOFORT became the first provider to integrate the UK’s first Open Banking powered gambling block, developed by Monzo and Truelayer last year, who made the update code public. This will allow Monzo to extend their gambling block to all Klarna-powered, immediate bank-to-bank payments for Monzo’s UK customers. Currently 400,000 Monzo customers have activated the gambling block.   

Klarna Kosma, is one of the largest open banking aggregators in the world, providing connectivity to 15,000 banks worldwide. The network powers SOFORT, one of Klarna’s direct bank-to-bank payment methods, which is used by 75,000 merchants across Europe, including some online gambling and gaming sites. Importantly, only immediate payments are allowed to online gambling and gaming sites; none of Klarna’s BNPL or other credit products can be used on gambling or gaming sites. 

With the update Klarna has announced today, banks connected to SOFORT will be able to identify a payment request from a gambling or gaming company and, if there is a gambling block in place, block that payment, protecting their customers. The update code is available for banks and Open Banking providers to use, and the fix is quick, simple and easy to build. 

Alex Marsh, Head of Klarna UK comments, “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. 

Notes to editors

• Monzo has published the technical specifications to implement the gambling block here. 
• Klarna’s subsidiary, SOFORT, provides immediate, bank-to-bank payments services to a range of merchants, including online gambling sites. 
• Klarna’s credit products, including Buy Now Pay Later services, are NOT available for use on gambling sites of any kind. 

About Klarna

Since 2005 Klarna has been on a mission to revolutionize the retail banking industry. With over 147 million global active users and 2 million transactions per day, Klarna is meeting the changing demands of consumers by saving them time and money while helping them be informed and in control of their personal finances. Over 400,000 global retail partners, including H&M, Saks, Sephora, Macys, IKEA, Expedia Group, and Nike have integrated Klarna's innovative technology to deliver a seamless shopping experience online and in-store. With over 5,000 employees, Klarna is active in 45 markets and is one of the most highly-valued private fintechs globally, with a valuation of $45.6 billion. For more information, visit Klarna.com

About SOFORT

SOFORT is a fully-owned subsidiary of Klarna, and Europe’s market leader for online banking-based payment methods with more than 15 years experience in the market. SOFORT has a bank coverage of 99% in 13 markets thus enables transactions with almost every bank and gives access to more than 350M users in Europe. Our products help a constantly growing number of partners worldwide to accelerate their businesses and offer the best payment solutions to customers. Using SOFORT is easy, safe and intuitive for partners and customers. Our full stack payment solution can be customized for individual retailers and can also be integrated via PSPs. In Germany SOFORT is among the top 3 payment methods with an awareness of 94% among consumers. Learn more on SOFORT.com