Nubank Review 2026: Latin America's Fintech Giant

Nubank isn't just Brazil's biggest neobank — it's the largest digital bank in the world by customer count. Nu Holdings reported 135.2 million customers as of 31 March 2026 across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, with an activity rate of 83.4%, in its Form 6-K published 14 May 2026. Nubank has achieved something remarkable: making banking accessible to millions who were previously shut out of the financial system.

The Nubank story

Founded in 2013 by David Vélez, Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible, Nubank started with one product: a credit card with no annual fee, managed entirely in an app. In a market where incumbents charged heavily for basic services and account opening could mean a branch visit and a queue, that was enough to build a franchise on.

The big change in Mexico — and why it matters more than any feature

The most consequential Nubank news of 2026 is regulatory, not product.

Nu México received banking licence approval from the CNBV in April 2025 — the first Popular Financial Society (SOFIPO) approved to convert into a bank — received final authorisation to commence operations on 10 July 2026, and began operating as a fully licensed commercial bank on 6 August 2026.

For customers, the practical effect is a step change in protection. Under the SOFIPO regime, deposit cover was capped at roughly US$12,600 per person. As a licensed bank, deposits fall under the IPAB guarantee at roughly US$201,000 — backed by the Mexican federal government. That is an increase of around sixteen times, and it applies to the same money in the same app.

It is a good illustration of a principle worth carrying beyond Nubank: the licence, not the interface, determines what protects your balance. The same argument in general form is in what happens when a neobank fails.

In Brazil, deposits are covered by the Fundo Garantidor de Créditos (FGC) up to R$250,000 per person per institution or financial conglomerate, aggregated across all institutions in the same group.

Key features

No-fee credit card — still the core product, with no annual fee, real-time notifications and algorithmic limit management. Worth noting that Brazil's revolving credit card rates are among the highest in the world across the whole market; a fee-free card is not a cheap card if you carry a balance on it.

Digital savings — Nubank's headline savings product pays a percentage of the CDI, Brazil's interbank benchmark rate, which tracks the central bank's policy rate. Because that policy rate moves substantially, the yield moves with it. We are deliberately not printing a percentage: any figure quoted here would be wrong within a quarter. Check the current CDI and the percentage of it being offered at the time you deposit.

Credit scoring on alternative data — Nubank's underwriting extends credit to applicants without conventional credit histories, which in a market with a large informal economy is a real expansion of access rather than a marketing line. It is also the source of the company's main risk: a model that prices thin-file borrowers well in a benign cycle has to be proved through a bad one.

Personal loans — decisions in minutes rather than days, priced off that same model.

The impact

Nubank forced Itaú, Bradesco and Banco do Brasil to modernise at a pace they would not otherwise have chosen, and the beneficiaries include people who never opened a Nubank account. Fee structures, app quality and account-opening friction across Brazilian retail banking all moved.

The limitations, and the availability question

• You need to be local. Brazil requires a CPF, Mexico a local tax identity, and each requires a local address and phone. Non-residents cannot open an account, and no third party can arrange it lawfully.

• It is a consumer bank first. Complex business banking, wealth management and large mortgages remain the incumbents' territory.

• Credit performance is the thing to watch, not customer growth. A lender that grew through an expansionary period is judged in the next downturn.

• Scale strains service. At this customer count, app-only support is a recurring complaint even where the product itself is good.

The verdict

Nubank is the strongest example anywhere of a digital bank winning an emerging market on distribution and underwriting rather than on price alone, and the Mexican licence conversion has just moved it from "fintech with a large customer base" to "licensed bank in two of Latin America's three largest economies".

If you live in Brazil, Mexico or Colombia it is a serious primary-account option — and the reason is now the licence as much as the app. If you live elsewhere, you cannot open one; the comparable options are in the best neobanks of 2026, and the protection check that applies everywhere is in the neobank safety guide.

This is general information, not financial advice.