Santander launches a buy now, pay later service

Santander, a Spanish bank, is introducing its own “buy now, pay later” service in Europe in an attempt to fight off fintech competitors.

The lender announced on Wednesday that Zinia, an app that allows buyers to split purchases into monthly instalments with no interest, will be rolled out throughout its countries this year, beginning with the Netherlands.

According to Santander, the technology underlying Zinia has been active in Germany for the past year, with more than 2 million consumers.

Santander’s Openbank online banking division’s CEO, Ezequiel Szafir, stated the corporation wants to become a leader in the buy now, pay later industry.

He noted “the security and trust provided by a large financial group” as a major differentiator between Santander’s offering and that of other BNPL providers like Klarna and Afterpay.