Klarna's Cuts Raise Bankers' Perennial Staffing Questions

How many employees does a financial firm need to operate efficiently? It’s a question banks have grappled with for years. With a business model that extracts much of its revenue passively from net interest income, finance executives frequently debate how big a workforce they need to keep the lights on and the balance sheet turning.

Last week, neobank Klarna Bank AB suggested it could continue on its growth trajectory with half its current workforce. The bank, founded in 2005 as a pioneer in the Buy Now Pay Later market, grew headcount to a peak of 5,800 at the beginning of 2022 but has since cut back. “Not only can we do more with less, but we can do much more with less. Internally, we speak directionally about 2,000 [employees],” Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Siemiatkowski told the Financial Times.