Nubank Colombia Rises To Fifth-Largest Bank In 18 Months

(MENAFN- The Rio Times) Key Points - David Vélez, founder of Nu Holdings, was named Colombia's Entrepreneur of the Year as Nubank reached the fifth position in savings deposits with COP$5.6 trillion ($1.3 billion) and 5.75% market share - the only digital-only bank in the country's top ten, achieved in just 18 months of savings operations. - Nu Holdings closed 2025 with 131 million customers globally, net income of $2.82 billion (+51% YoY), Q4 revenue of $4.9 billion, and conditional OCC approval for a U.S. national bank charter - transforming from a Latin American fintech into a global digital banking platform. - In his acceptance speech, Vélez attacked Colombia's usury rate cap as a policy that excludes 65% of Colombians from formal credit, pushing 11 million people into illegal gota-a-gota lending at rates averaging 380% annually - calling it "a tragedy of public policy that should outrage us all." How Nubank Colombia Broke Into the Top Five

The numbers tell a story of speed that has no precedent in Colombian banking. According to Superintendencia Financiera data accessed by Bloomberg Línea, Nubank Colombia reached COP$5.6 trillion in savings account balances by February 11, 2026 - a 5.75% market share that places it behind only Bancolombia (44.6%), Davivienda, BBVA Colombia, and Banco Caja Social. It is the only institution in the top ten without a single physical branch. The neobanco entered the top ten in 2025, and within months had leapfrogged banks with decades of history. Four million Colombians - one in ten adults - now hold a Nu account, with coverage in all 32 departments and over 95% of municipalities. This is part of The Rio Times' comprehensive coverage of Latin American financial markets and economic developments.

The impact extends beyond deposits. Nubank captured 8% of Colombia's credit card market in early 2026 - the fastest-growing issuer in the country - and within six months of launching certificates of deposit became the second-largest CDT issuer for individual clients, with 10% of that market. Gabriel Santos, president of Colombia Fintech, told Bloomberg Línea that Nubank had effectively captured both the savings and the loyalty of Colombians through products designed for people who previously had no access to formal banking.

Vélez's Speech: The Usury Rate Paradox

Accepting the Entrepreneur of the Year award from Bogotá mayor Carlos Fernando Galán, Vélez used his platform for a pointed critique of Colombian financial regulation. The usury rate cap - designed to protect vulnerable borrowers from predatory interest - has instead locked 65% of Colombians out of formal credit entirely, he argued. More than 11 million people are forced into the gota-a-gota system, where illegal lenders charge an average of 380% annually to individuals and 666% to businesses - more than 23 times the legal usury ceiling. These borrowers have no contracts, no regulatory protection, and face threats and violence for non-payment.

The broader argument was philosophical: what critics attribute to capitalism's failures are almost always failures of insufficient capitalism - regulatory capture, protectionism that shields incumbents at consumers' expense, and markets that are not free enough. Vélez was careful to acknowledge government's essential role in rule of law, property rights, contract enforcement, education, and infrastructure. But value creation, innovation, and employment, he insisted, come from millions of individual decisions to build, compete, and serve - not from decrees or subsidies.

From São Paulo to the OCC: The Global Platform

The Colombia story is one chapter in a much larger transformation. Nu Holdings closed 2025 with 131 million customers across Brazil (112 million), Mexico (13 million), and Colombia (4 million), reporting full-year net income of $2.82 billion - a 51% increase over 2024. Fourth-quarter revenue hit $4.9 billion, up 45% year-on-year and beating analyst forecasts by 29%. The total credit portfolio reached $32.7 billion, deposits grew 29% to $41.9 billion, and return on equity hit 33%. In Brazil, Nubank is now the second-largest financial institution by number of customers, behind only state-owned Caixa, with 62% of adults holding at least one Nu product and 85% of users active monthly.

The strategic pivot toward the United States marks 2026 as what management calls an inflection year. Nu filed for a national bank charter in September 2025 and received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in January 2026 - opening the path to becoming the first major Latin American-born digital bank in the U.S. market. The company's AI-driven credit underwriting model, nuFormer, is being deployed across lending in Brazil and credit cards in Mexico after producing the largest quarterly gain in credit card market share in ten quarters. For Colombia, Vélez promised long-term ambition: instant payments, digital CDTs, and scaled credit are all in the pipeline, backed by a platform generating nearly $5 billion per quarter.

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