Nu Holdings, the parent company of Brazilian digital bank Nubank, reported $1.061 billion in GAAP net income for Q2 2026, marking the first time it has cleared the billion-dollar mark in a single quarter.
That figure represents a 49% year-over-year increase on a currency-neutral basis and a 17% jump from the prior quarter. Shares responded accordingly, climbing roughly 9% in after-hours trading on August 13.
The numbers behind the milestone
Gross revenue came in at approximately $5.9 billion, growing 39% year-over-year on an FX-neutral basis.
Nu’s return on equity hit 33% for the quarter.
The credit portfolio expanded to $39.4 billion, up 37% year-over-year, while deposits reached $45.3 billion, an 18% annual increase. Risk-adjusted net interest margin rose to 12.4%.
139 million customers across three markets
Nu’s total customer base reached 139 million as of July 2026. Brazil remains the core market with roughly 118 million customers. Mexico contributed around 16 million customers, while Colombia crossed the 5 million mark.
What got Nu here
Nubank launched in 2013 with a simple purple credit card and a mission to fight complexity in Brazilian banking. Nu’s pitch was straightforward: no fees, no branches, everything on your phone. The company went public on the NYSE in December 2021 at a valuation that briefly made it the most valuable bank in all of Latin America, surpassing incumbents like Itau Unibanco.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway was an early investor, taking a stake before the IPO.
What this means for the fintech landscape
The 33% return on equity suggests Nu has built genuine operating leverage, where incremental customers and loans drop more revenue to the bottom line without proportional cost increases.
The company has also signaled interest in eventually entering the US market, targeting Latin American communities there. The American banking landscape presents a different set of regulatory and competitive challenges.
One risk worth monitoring is credit quality. A 37% increase in the credit portfolio is aggressive, and while the rising risk-adjusted NIM suggests disciplined underwriting, Latin American economies can be volatile. Any macroeconomic deterioration in Brazil, which still accounts for the vast majority of Nu’s business, could test the portfolio’s resilience.