Nu Holdings: The Bank That Won’t Take No for an Answer

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Why do people still think opening a bank account requires a branch, a teller, and a 20-minute wait? It’s 2025. If you can’t handle a no-fee digital account on your phone, are you even trying? Nu Holdings (NU) doesn’t ask for permission-it just does it. And now, suddenly, everyone’s talking about it. Great.

With 120 million customers in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, Nu isn’t just a fintech-it’s a full-blown revolution for people who previously thought “banking” meant waiting in line while your coffee went cold. Its stock is up 46% this year, which is impressive, if you ignore the nagging question of why anyone still needs a stock to validate something this obvious.

A Bank That Doesn’t Deserve to Exist

Nubank isn’t a household name in the U.S.? Of course it isn’t. Why would it be? We’re too busy arguing about whether “household” is a noun or a verb. Meanwhile, in Latin America, Nu is politely dismantling the banking industry like someone who finally figured out how to turn off the emergency brake on a rental car and just… drove off.

Here’s the thing: Traditional banks act like they’re doing you a favor by letting you deposit money. Nu acts like it’s doing you a favor by not charging you for it. Customers open accounts in minutes, apply for credit without a branch visit, and generally avoid the kind of nonsense that makes banking feel like a hostile takeover.

  • Start with a free credit card. Simple. No fees. No “special offers” that aren’t traps.
  • Then, because you’re now a functioning adult, they sell you loans, insurance, and investments. Classic upselling-except you’re not annoyed, because you’re not stupid.
  • Revenue? It comes from lending, merchant fees, and commissions. No, it’s not magic. It’s just math. And Nu’s math is better than yours.

With a cost to serve under $1 per month, Nu undercuts everyone while staying profitable. Q2 2025? $3.7 billion in revenue, $637 million in net income, 28% ROE. That’s not just growth-it’s growth with a side of contempt for the competition.

Fixing a Broken System, One Credit Card at a Time

Latin America’s banking problem wasn’t complexity-it was laziness. Millions of people had no access to basic accounts, while banks slapped on fees like they were auctioning off tickets to their own incompetence. Nu flipped the script by doing the obvious: free accounts, no hidden charges, and a mobile app that doesn’t crash when you try to check your balance.

And let’s not pretend this is altruism. For many, Nubank was their first bank. But for Nu, it’s their first market. They’re not stealing customers-they’re creating them. Which is a bit rich, given how bad everyone else was at the job.

Global Ambitions and the Tragedy of Overthinking

CEO David Velez isn’t content with just fixing Latin America. He’s moving the company’s legal base to the U.K. and eyeing the U.S. market. Because why stop at one region when you can annoy regulators in three?

  • Cross-selling: Customers start with a free account, but Nu’s older users are now generating $27/month in revenue. That’s not just growth-it’s a failure of imagination by other banks to realize people might want more than a glorified piggy bank.
  • Lending: $27.3 billion in loans in Q2 2025. Up 40% YoY. Because nothing says “trust us” like letting people borrow money they don’t have-but at least Nu does it efficiently.
  • Investments & Insurance: Nu’s moving into asset management and protection products. Because why should banks stick to one thing when they can keep inventing new ways to take your money?

Expansion isn’t about geography-it’s about monetizing what’s already there. Nu’s runway isn’t just about entering new markets; it’s about making its existing customers suffer less… while paying more.

Investor Takeaway: Growth, But With a Side of Irritation

People talk about Nu because it’s not just another fintech. It’s a company that’s figured out how to scale profitably in a market where everyone else was too busy pretending to be a bank to actually be one. But let’s not act like this is a smooth ride. Consumer lending in emerging markets? It’s like investing in a restaurant that serves food you can’t pronounce-delicious potential, but also a fire hazard.

Credit cycles, regulatory headaches, and the occasional economic hiccup? Of course they exist. But if you’re a growth investor tired of the same old stories, Nu is the kind of company that makes you wonder why anyone ever built a branch. Or a fee schedule. Or a 20-minute wait.

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Just don’t ask me why I’m still writing about this instead of fixing my own checking account. 🚀

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2025-09-16 17:35