Nubank to Challenge US and Asian Banks With Lean Digital Model

Nubank’s effort to get a banking license in the United States is part of a global expansion planned by the digital bank, Bloomberg reported Thursday (Feb. 5).

The company’s 2024 investment in digital banking group Tyme Group, which operates TymeBank in South Africa and GoTyme in the Philippines, was part of an effort to learn more about Asian markets, Nubank founder and CEO David Vélez said in the report.

Currently, Nubank serves more than 127 million customers in its core markets of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, according to the report. It is one of Brazil’s most valuable companies.

The bank’s business model is based on self-service and having no branches, so it operates with a workforce that is 10% the size of the largest local banks, the report said.

While Nubank aims to gain a banking license in the U.S. and build its business there itself, it may consider acquisitions and partnerships to move into other markets, Vélez told Bloomberg.

When Nubank received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a new national bank in the U.S., the company said in a press release that a national bank charter will facilitate the launch of deposit accounts, credit cards, lending and digital asset custody in the U.S.

Nubank is now in the bank organization phase, which requires it to satisfy specific OCC conditions and secure pending approvals from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve. Regulatory requirements dictate that the company must fully capitalize the institution within 12 months and open the bank within 18 months.

“This approval isn’t just an expansion of our operation; it’s an opportunity to prove our thesis that a digital-first, customer-centric model is the future of financial services globally,” Vélez said in a Jan. 29 press release.

When Nubank led Tyme’s $250 million Series D funding round in December 2024, Vélez said the investment was part of his company’s belief that digitally native companies are the future of financial services.

“We are excited to work with Tyme to share many of our learnings of scaling this model to hundreds of millions of customers,” Vélez said.