Nubank agrees to buy Banco Porto Real to add Brazilian licence

Nubank has agreed to acquire Banco Porto Real de Investimentos, adding a Brazilian banking licence to its existing regulatory permissions once the transaction is cleared by Brazil’s Central Bank. The company said the licence would not bring additional capital or liquidity requirements, and that services for its 115mn customers would continue unchanged.

The target is a Rio de Janeiro-based bank founded in 1992 that provides credit to wholesale clients, according to Nubank. The acquisition would fold Banco Porto Real’s banking licence into the group’s existing set of authorisations in Brazil, where Nubank says 31.5mn people now have access to accounts, credit and savings products through its platform.

The deal comes as Nubank builds out its position in its home market. In March 2026, the digital bank joined Febraban, the Brazilian Federation of Banks, shortly after it said it had become Brazil’s largest private financial institution by customer count.

Nubank has also announced R$45bn of investment in Brazil, a figure it said was close to twice the amount invested over the previous two years. The bank has framed the spending as part of a broader effort to increase its share of the domestic financial services market while expanding the range of products used by existing customers.

David Vélez, Nubank’s founder and global chief executive, said Brazil remains central to the group’s strategy. “Brazil is where Nubank was born, grew, and proved that fairer, simpler financial services are possible at scale. Thirteen years later, it remains our main focus, a market where we can still significantly expand our share and continue driving the transformation of the sector,” he said.

Livia Chanes, Nubank’s Latin America chief executive, said the company was seeking a larger role in customers’ financial lives. “Our DNA of innovation remains intact, and we are committed to deepening our relationship with every customer, offering more solutions with the same simplicity that has always defined us,” she said.

Customer relationship data cited by Nubank points to a growing role for the group in Brazil’s retail banking market. According to Bain & Company’s NPS Prism for the fourth quarter of 2025, Nubank is becoming the primary financial institution for many Brazilians and the bank selected by customers to receive salary deposits.

The Brazilian acquisition follows regulatory progress for Nubank outside its core market. This month, the company received final authorisation from Mexican authorities to operate as a bank. Nubank said Nu Mexico has more than 15mn customers, making it the country’s largest digital bank.

Mexico was Nubank’s first market outside Brazil. The company introduced a credit card there in 2020 and later added a savings account, personal loans and secured cards.

Nubank has also been preparing a US expansion. In January 2026, it secured conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form a de novo national bank. Nubank said a full national bank charter would place Nu under a federal framework and support the launch of deposit accounts, credit cards, lending and digital asset custody.

The company is working to establish US hubs in Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern Virginia and North Carolina’s Research Triangle, according to Nubank.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.