By Stuart Condie 

SYDNEY--Splitit Payments Ltd. will focus on the buy-now-pay-later growth markets of North America and the U.K. in an effort to gain a larger foothold in the burgeoning industry, Interim Chief Executive Jon Harper said.

Mr. Harper, who replaced Brad Paterson in August, on Friday said Splitit had a differentiated product to other players in the market but needed to narrow its geographic focus.

Splitit, which offers consumers interest-free installment payments using the untapped credit on their existing card accounts, competes with rivals including Afterpay Ltd., Affirm Holdings Inc., Klarna Holding AB and PayPal Holdings Inc. in the installment payments space.

"We need to bring a greater sense of urgency to capitalize on this opportunity from a sales perspective," Mr. Harper said in a speech to be delivered at the company's annual general meeting.

He said Splitit would remain open to opportunities in other markets such as its existing agreement with Google Japan, but will focus on what he called the untapped potential in key growth markets.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com