Nubak, which has attracted billions of dollars from foreign investors and given millions of poorer citizens their first bank account, is eyeing opportunities despite its own stock price plummeting during a sell-off in the tech sector. Its shares have slumped by two-thirds this year, taking its market capitalization to about $15bn. There’s going to be a rationalization of some of the fintechs that are in the market, there will probably be some consolidation. Nubank has been at the forefront of a fintech explosion in Latin America. An initial public offering in New York last December valued the group above $40bn, briefly making it the most valuable financial institution on the continent.
Founded in 2013, the app-based provider of credit cards, current accounts and loans has nearly 60mn customers today. Unlike some of its digital peers, Nubank started out in credit rather than payments. It has since built a sizeable pool of retail deposits in Brazil, where the market is highly profitable and heavily concentrated among behemoths such as Itaú Unibanco, Bradesco and Santander. Nubank, which is also present in Mexico and Colombia, has already bought several start-ups over the past couple of years, and has expanded into offering insurance, investments and, just last month, cryptocurrency trading.