Nu Holdings: Banking For The Masses (Ticker: NU)

Is the fast growing Latam banking giant cheap again?

Today, Emerging Moats subscribers receive a comprehensive research report on Nu Holdings. Below is my plan for the upcoming release schedule, along with some of my latest newsletters. In the middle of the year, I will produce a (free) guide on what I have covered so far in my first year and my plan for the rest of 2026.

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“Let me now turn to how we’re thinking about 2026. As we enter 2026, we see this as an inflection year, the year we begin transitioning from a Latin American leader to a global digital banking platform. Our priorities are organized around three pillars. First, winning in our core markets…” - David Velez, Q4 2025 Conference Call

My brief experience with legacy banks in Latin America could be a short case study in how to drive someone insane. ATMs that charge ridiculous fees on withdrawals that barely work, have low withdrawal limits, and may not even give you cash but still debit your bank account (yes, this actually happened to me once). Every time you go to one of these branches, there are long lines of customers out the door, wasting their day away, waiting to get fleeced.

Luckily, our friends at Visa and Mastercard allow one to travel without interacting with these borderline criminal institutions, most of the time.

I can’t imagine as a local dealing with Banco Colombia, Santander, or the other stodgy banks on a regular basis. David Velez couldn’t either and decided to change the course of the banking industry in Latin America. Velez, of course, is the founder of Nu Bank (or Nu Holdings, or just Nu).

In 2013, Velez launched Nu Bank as a fee-free credit card available through a mobile app in Brazil. Just over a decade later, Nu Bank has grown to a full-fledged bank with 131 million total customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, with plenty of room to grow within its existing markets and through planned geographical expansion. It has rapidly grown to one of the largest consumer banks in the world and is currently one of the largest companies by market cap in Latin America.

But how? And why is this stock so intriguing to me at Emerging Moats? Today, we put the puzzle pieces together.

Readers of this report may also be interested in a semi-competitor to Nu Bank, MercadoLibre, which I covered four weeks ago.

In this research report, I will be covering:

• Nu Bank’s story and product evolution

• Current market opportunities (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia)

• Uncertain expansion plans

• AI as a superpower?

• Betting on a founder

• My valuation model

• Is there an emerging moat?

• My investment decision

• Portfolio update

Nu Bank’s story and product evolution