Christoffer Rutgersson is a seasoned fintech leader who previously co-founded the payment startup Bambora, helping steer the company to a €1.5 billion exit. In October 2022, he took the helm as CEO of Qliro, the Nordic fintech.
Founded in 2014, Qliro specialises in providing flexible payment solutions, including Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, to e-commerce merchants and consumers across the Nordics. With a strong focus on natively embedding BNPL into merchant checkout flows, Qliro aims to become the undisputed local market leader in the Nordics over the coming years. Earlier this year, we named Qliro as PPRO’s exclusive BNPL provider across Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.
We spoke with Rutgersson to get his perspective on the evolution of consumer payment preferences, the shift towards embedded payment experiences and the impact of tightening regulations on the industry’s future.
Q: The Nordics have been at the forefront of BNPL adoption. How have consumer expectations evolved, and what’s driving the next phase of growth?
CR: The Nordics have long treated BNPL as a default part of the checkout, not an addition on top. Sweden in particular has among the highest BNPL adoption in e-commerce anywhere in the world.
What’s shifted is what consumers now expect: it’s less about deferring payment and more about control, transparency and staying within one trusted relationship rather than being routed to a separate app or provider.
The next phase of growth is less about adoption for the first time, since that’s largely done, and more about deepening usage: merchants and PSPs winning on the experience around BNPL (speed, clarity, service after purchase) rather than the mechanic of “Buy Now, Pay Later” itself.
Q: BNPL is increasingly being embedded within banks, digital wallets and broader payment experiences rather than existing as a standalone product. How do you see this changing the market?
CR: This is the direction we’re building towards ourselves. As BNPL stops being a standalone destination and becomes one flexible option inside a merchant’s or PSP’s existing flow, the providers that win will be the ones who can plug in natively rather than pull the consumer out to a separate environment.
That’s part of the logic behind our exclusive partnership with PPRO as the only BNPL provider in its network across Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. Rather than redirecting consumers to a competing platform, Qliro returns them to the same merchant, strengthening that relationship at every step. Embedding BNPL well means the payment method disappears into the journey instead of interrupting it.
Q: As regulation evolves across Europe, how is the BNPL industry balancing innovation with responsible lending and consumer protection?
CR: Regulation is tightening across Europe, and the Nordics are a good example: Sweden’s implementation of the revised EU Consumer Credit Directive, effective November 2026, explicitly brings retail credit providers that charge no interest, Qliro included, more clearly into scope, following earlier steps the government has taken on excessive consumer debt.
We don’t see this as a headwind to innovation so much as a filter for it: affordability checks, clear disclosure and responsible underwriting aren’t at odds with a good BNPL experience; they’re what makes it sustainable for merchants and trustworthy for consumers over the long term. Providers that treat compliance as a design constraint from the start, rather than a retrofit, will be the ones still standing as the rules mature.
Q: Beyond improving affordability for consumers, what role can BNPL play in helping merchants increase conversion, basket values and customer loyalty?
CR: Merchants that offer BNPL see higher conversion rates and larger order values, but the bigger opportunity is loyalty. Because a BNPL flow that is well integrated keeps the consumer inside the merchant’s own environment rather than exporting them elsewhere, every repayment and app interaction becomes another touchpoint the merchant owns, not the BNPL provider.
Done right, BNPL becomes a retention tool as much as a checkout feature: it’s an ongoing relationship with the shopper, not a single financing decision made once.
Q: Looking ahead, what trends do you think will define the future and success of BNPL across Europe over the next five years?
CR: There are three things from where we sit: consolidation around a smaller number of trusted providers that are licensed locally, as regulation raises the bar to compete; deeper embedding into banks, wallets and PSP platforms rather than standalone BNPL apps; and increasing competition on what happens after checkout, including servicing, transparency and the consumer relationship, rather than on the financing mechanic alone.
Qliro’s own ambition is to become the local market leader in the Nordics within three to five years, and we think the winners across Europe more broadly will be the providers who combine strong local market knowledge with that kind of embedded distribution built merchant first.