SÃfO PAULO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2026--
Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NU) ("Nu" or the "Company"), one of the largest digital financial services platforms in the world, today released its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, prepared in accordance with IFRS, as well as complementary managerial(1) results. The financial statements and earnings presentation are available on the Company's Investor Relations website at www.investors.nu, along with details of the earnings conference call to be held today at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time / 7:00 p.m. Brasília time.
"Our AI transformation is a core priority of Nu. We are not adding AI to banking, we are rebuilding banking around AI. NuFormer, our proprietary set of foundation models, is in production today for credit card in Brazil and Mexico, and for unsecured lending in Brazil. Our AI Private Banker functionalities already serve more than 15 million monthly active users. These capabilities have been a meaningful driver of the significant expansion of our credit portfolio over the last twelve months, enabling us to grow limits with resilience, not just speed. In Mexico, the same earnings-generating formula that built Brazil has reached its inflection point. We have achieved break-even and become the third largest financial institution in the market, reaching 15 million customers. All of this comes on top of another strong quarter, with more than 135 million customers, revenues surpassing $5 billion for the first time, net income of $871 million, and ROE of 29%.", says David Vélez, founder and CEO of Nubank.
Q1'26 Results Snapshot
Below are the Q1'26 performance highlights of Nu Holdings Ltd. Unless otherwise noted, all the growth rates presented herein are on an FX neutral basis $(FXN)$(2) :
Operating Highlights:
-- Customer growth - Nu added approximately 4 million customers in Q1'26,
reaching a total of over 135 million customers globally by March 2026.
This expansion strengthens Nu's position as one of the world's largest
and fastest-growing digital financial services platforms. In Brazil, Nu
surpassed 115 million customers and solidified its position as the
largest private financial institution in the country. In Mexico, Nu
surpassed 15 million customers, becoming the third largest financial
institution in the market. In Colombia, Nu delivered another solid
quarter of net additions and is approaching 5 million customers.
-- Engagement and activity rates - Monthly Average Revenue per Active
Customer (ARPAC) reached approximately $16 in Q1'26, growing sequentially
quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) once again and continuing its upward
trajectory. Monthly activity rate3 held at 83% despite typical
first-quarter seasonality, and expanded sequentially in Brazil, where Nu
is approaching 100 million active customers.
-- Low-cost operating platform - Efficiency Ratio improved to 17.6% in
Q1'26 from 19.9% in Q4'25, driven by ARPAC outperformance and continued
portfolio growth. As communicated during the Q4 call, the full-year
efficiency ratio is expected to land roughly in line with where it ended
2025, as return-to-office costs scale and the Company continues to invest
in international expansion and AI infrastructure.
-- Asset Quality - Nu's leading indicator, the 15-90 NPL ratio, increased
to 5.0% in Q1'26, up 89 basis points (bps) from Q4'25, consistent with
its typical first-quarter seasonal pattern and broadly in line with the
seasonal moves observed in 2024 and 2025. 90+ NPLs continued to ease,
declining 10 bps to 6.5% this quarter, well below the 7.0% peak reached
in Q3'24. The vast majority of this move came from seasonality, the
historical pattern of early-stage delinquencies peaking in Q1. The next
contributor was intentional expansions into higher-risk segments, where
improved risk models have given Nu the confidence to extend credit
profitably. Product mix and other minor effects explain the small
remainder.
Financial Highlights:
-- Revenue, Net Interest Income (NII) and Risk-adjusted NIM - Nu's Q1'26
revenues surpassed $5 billion for the first time, driven by the continued
strengthening of engagement and monetization across the platform. NII
reached a record $3.25 billion in the quarter, up 12%
quarter-over-quarter (QoQ). Net Interest Margin expanded to 21.1%,
reflecting the credit portfolio growing faster than liabilities. Credit
Loss Allowances closed at $1.79 billion, up 33% QoQ, driven by three
dynamics: seasonality, portfolio growth, and product mix. As a result,
Risk-adjusted NIM came in at 9.5%, down 100 basis points sequentially
from 10.5% in Q4'25.
-- Profitability - Nu's gross profit reached $1.88 billion in Q1'26, up
27% YoY. The gross profit mix reflected the elevated credit loss
allowances in the quarter, which reduced credit's relative contribution
and brought float to 41% of the total. Beneath that quarterly effect, a
multi-quarter trend of genuine diversification continues, with credit,
float, and fee businesses scaling and balancing each other. Net Income
reached $871 million in the quarter, up 41% YoY, compounding at more than
80% YoY since 2022. ROE closed the quarter at 29%.
-- Balance Sheet and Funding - Total deposits reached $42.4 billion this
quarter, up 22% YoY. The cost of deposits closed at 88% of interbank
rates, slightly higher sequentially. Total credit portfolio expanded 40%
YoY and 7% QoQ to $37.2 billion, with credit cards at $24.3 billion,
unsecured lending at nearly $10 billion, and secured lending at $3
billion. The Loan-to-Deposit Ratio $(LDR)$, reached 58.3% in Q1'26, up from
49.1% in Q4'25 and 48.5% in Q1'25, reflecting the continued expansion of
Nu's credit franchise.
Business highlights:
-- Deepening Leadership in Core Markets: In Brazil, Nu surpassed 115
million customers, and is the largest private financial institution in
the country, with activity rates expanding sequentially and approaching
100 million active customers. Nu's share of Brazil's addressable profit
pool -- which exceeds $100 billion in annual gross profit -- stands at
roughly 7%, underscoring the significant runway for continued share gains
across core banking categories. In Mexico, Nu crossed 15 million
customers and became the third largest financial institution in the
market, with the same earnings-generating formula now unfolding: the
customer base has grown roughly seven times in four years, ARPAC has
nearly doubled, the efficiency ratio has improved by 78 percentage points,
and the business reached break-even in Q1'26. In Colombia, Nu continued
to add customers and is approaching 5 million.
-- AI Transformation as a Core Priority: Nu's AI Transformation advanced
across three phases. In AI Assistance, now largely complete, AI is
driving productivity gains across the company, with engineering
throughput up 50% YoY, weekly token consumption nearly ten times higher
than at the start of the year, and testing cycles 90% faster. In Workflow
Reinvention, customer journeys are being rebuilt end-to-end, with new
AI-native experiences expected to reach customers during 2026. In the
AI-Native phase, Nu's AI Private Banker functionalities -- financial
insights, payments, credit advice, and debt resolution -- are now serving
more than 15 million monthly active users. NuFormer, Nu's proprietary set
of foundation models, is in production today for credit card decisioning
in Brazil and Mexico, and for unsecured lending in Brazil, with real-time
AI valuation now pricing and approving every personal loan request
individually based on its predicted NPV in under a second. These
capabilities have been a meaningful driver of the significant expansion
in Nu's credit portfolio over the last twelve months, enabling the
franchise to grow limits with resilience, not just speed.
-- Structural Advantages Powering the Transformation: Nu's AI
Transformation is anchored by three structural advantages: first-party
data at scale from 135 million transacting customers generating one of
the largest and most differentiated financial datasets in the world; a
proprietary cloud-native technology stack with core banking systems built
internally and data unified across the company; and a world-class talent
base of ten thousand employees from more than 50 nationalities across six
countries.
-- Disciplined Expansion into the United States: Nu is extending its model
to the United States through a measured, capital-efficient approach
designed to protect the core business while testing the long-term
opportunity in a new market. Our maximum investment is expected to remain
below 100 basis points on the consolidated efficiency ratio in each of
2026 and 2027, fully contained within the 20% efficiency ratio range
communicated for the year and without affecting Nu's long-term efficiency
trajectory. Any incremental investment beyond this initial phase will be
contingent on clear evidence of product-market fit and a credible path to
profitable scalability -- the same disciplined approach Nu has applied in
Mexico and Colombia.
____________________
(1) In the fourth quarter of 2025, Nubank introduced its Managerial P&L,
representing an evolution in our disclosure framework to better explain value
creation across an increasingly multi-product, multi-segment, and
multi-country platform. The Managerial P&L is a structural, complementary
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