Nu Mexico, Nubank’s subsidiary, celebrates its fourth year of operation in the country, as well as the three years since the launch of its first product in the Mexican market, the “moradita” credit card (as it’s affectionately called by customers and brand lovers).
2022, the year of Nu’s consolidation in Mexico
“Behind this fourth anniversary is the story of a great mission: to empower Mexicans to take back control of their financial lives. While we are still at the beginning of this journey, 3.2 million Mexicans are already part of the purple revolution. We have achieved this thanks to the fanatical love of our customers, which is reflected on our NPS of ~90 points, well above the industry average,” says Iván Canales, Nu Mexico’s General Manager.
Nu is already the largest SOFIPO (Popular Financial Institution, in Spanish) in Mexico, as well as the fifth-largest issuer of credit cards in the country. According to the latest available data from August 2022, Nu’s market share of new cards issued was close to 29%, and has already reached 5% of share in terms of credit card purchase volume. According to a report by Nau Securities based on market data from Condusef, Nu Mexico has an estimated 2.5% share of outstanding credit card balances when including also all relevant non-bank players such as retailers and digital finance companies.
In December 2022, Nu announced that it received regulatory approval from CNBV (the country’s National Banking and Securities Commission) to migrate its entire operation to its SOFIPO and thus be able to expand its product portfolio beyond the credit card, into deposit accounts and other financial services. With this regulatory framework, the company began operating under the SOFIPO Nu México Financiera, and began the gradual launch of its digital account, Cuenta Nu, and debit card. Cuenta Nu is 100% digital, simple, and secure and, like the credit card, will be fully managed through Nu’s app, in addition to combining one of the most attractive yields in the market with liquidity 24/7. Nu is currently implementing the beta phase of Cuenta Nu’s launch plan.
“We are very excited about our second product in Mexico, Cuenta Nu, which continues to evolve based on feedback from our beta customers. This is a very important step for us to keep consolidating our presence in Mexico. We are very close to launching Cuenta Nu for the entire Mexican market and are very excited to think about the potential impact this product can have on people’s financial lives,” added Canales.
Along with the migration to the SOFIPO, in December 2022 Nu announced a capitalization of US$330 million, which will foster the expansion of the company’s product portfolio and allow greater penetration in different market segments. Combined with other equity and debt capitalizations made to date, Nu’s total investment in the Mexican market is over US$1.3 billion. With this, Nubank is already one of the largest foreign investors in Mexico, and Nu Mexico is one of the best-capitalized financial institutions in the country.
4 years contributing to financial inclusion in Mexico
For Nu Mexico, financial inclusion is extremely relevant – both in terms of access, education, protection, and security, as well as the quality of financial products it offers. The company is already present in 9 out of 10 municipalities in the country (82% of priority rural municipalities) and Nu provided 45% of its customers with their first credit card. Additionally, customers say that Nu had a positive impact on their life (93%), on someone around them (80%), and on their homes (43%). Furthermore, 74% of customers say their financial stress has improved since they got a Nu credit card.
The 24/7 humanized customer service continues to be one of Nu Mexico’s main differentials. The company recently ranked first in KPMG’s Customer Experience Study, ahead of companies like Nike and Amazon.
“At Nu Mexico, we work every day towards financial inclusion and access to more and better financial products; more human, simple, and transparent products, always created hand in hand with our customers and reinforcing education about how to use them. For us, it will always be essential to place our customers at the center of all decisions,” concluded Canales.
