UPDATE 1-Sweden's Trustly reports 42% annual revenue growth ahead of potential IPO

Adds details, comments from CEO interview

By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM, March 16 (Reuters) - Swedish payments firm Trustly on Tuesday reported a 42% growth in revenue in 2020, helped by a surge in digital transactions during the pandemic.

The company is planning a second-quarter flotation that could value it at up to 9 billion euros ($11 billion), people close to the matter had earlier told Reuters. nL1N2JX0K4

Net revenue for the year rose to 1.97 billion Swedish crowns ($231.85 million) while processed transaction volumes rose 43% to 190.1 billion.

Founded in 2008 and majority owned by Nordic Capital, Trustly counts PayPal PYPL.O, TransferWise and Facebook among its customers. Trustly allows customers to pay for purchases directly through their bank accounts, bypassing the need for a debit card or a mobile wallet..

"It's really starting to pick up steam in the U.S. and it's really driven by consumers increasingly moving toward debit-based payment solutions," Chief Executive Officer Oscar Berglund told Reuters.

The company grew three-fold in the United States in the last three months and its Swedish peer, "buy now, pay later" firm Klarna, has also seen rapid growth there.

Trustly, which is present in 30 countries, also plans to expand to further markets later this year, Berglund said. He said there has been no decision on doing an IPO and declined to elaborate further.

($1 = 8.5141 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; editing by Colm Fulton)

((supantha.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; +46 70 721 1004; Reuters Messaging: supantha.mukherjee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))