Commonwealth Bank of Australia has made an additional $200 million in Klarna AB, a fintech that provides installment financing for retail customers. It officially launched its shopping app Thursday. 

CBA had previously invested $100 million in Klarna, and the new investment raises its stake in Klarna from 1.8% to 5.5%. CBA said the two companies will jointly own  Klarna's Australian and New Zealand business, and CBA will have the right to partner with Klarna in Indonesia. 

Klarna will be available via the CommBank mobile app, which has 7 million digitally active customers and 5.6 million customers that use the app daily. Klarna has more than 85 million customers that purchase through 200,000 merchants worldwide. 

"Our partnership with Klarna will further enhance the customer experience in our leading banking app and address the rapidly growing the demand among customers for new payment options," Matt Comyn, CEO of CBA said in a company release. "In particular it allows us to build on our leading technology to deliver the very best payment services for our customers and merchants in Australia, on platforms which are safe, secure and easy to use."

Klarna allows users to make online purchases with retail partners in four monthly installments with no fees or interest charges when they pay on time.

Cover image: Commonwealth Bank

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