Nubank (NYSE: NU) is marking an important milestone in Colombia: it now claims to serve around 4 million customers, which is roughly said to be the equivalent of 1 in every 1o adults in the South American nation. The overall result now reinforces the role of the Colombian operation within the Fintech firm’s global focus and trajectory, which has been investing in the diversification of the local portfolio, with various technology advancements and ongoing product development initiatives that aim to “address that market, mainly in credit offering.”
Marcela Torres, Country Manager of Nu Colombia, highlights that this is a very significant number, particularly when considered “within the company’s global operations.”
In the latest episode of Nu Videocast, Marcela explains the “reasons behind the operation’s accelerated performance.”
The first is a top-notch team. Allied to this are advanced technology and a value proposition that found “adherence in the Colombian market, especially in the face of high concentration and the fees charged by large banks.”
There, only 35% of the population has “access to formal credit.”
Apart from the similarities, Colombia also has “peculiarities that the Nubank team pays attention to.”
The nation operates, for instance, with the so-called “usury rate,” a cap on interest rates — currently around 25% — that “limits the capability of financial institutions to price in the additional risk of serving consumers with little or no credit history,” notes Marcela.
As a result of this, many of these clients end up excluded “from the formal system, despite the original intention of the policy.”
The executive summarizes this effect by stating that “it is a well-intentioned policy, but in practice, it ends up excluding precisely those it intended to protect.”
Nu Colombia has been working consistently in order to show regulators that this makes the market less competitive and “pushes” the population toward informal creditors.
In a market that homogeneous and fairly restrictive, Nubank’s product portfolio in Colombia is expanding, designed “to increase credit access and serve the population excluded from the financial system.”
In addition to Moradita, a card with no fees, the institution offers NuControl, created specifically to increase the “capacity for inclusion in a market limited by the interest rate ceiling.”
Marcela explains that it was necessary to innovate to “reach this model that would be advantageous for the business” and for customers:
They noted that the team has “designed with the global teams a card that has a small fee — much lower than the market average — and that allows them to include not only 15% of people but reach 40%”.
Morada Abre Caminos was reportedly developed for consumers without a credit history, who, “through gamification, learn to control their finances while building this financial relationship with Nu and creating paths for credit expansion.”
Nu Colombia also introduced, in 2025, two lines of loans for their clients:
Préstamo Ligero, with a lower-value credit line, and Préstamo Personal Nu, which “caters to higher values and longer payment terms.”
In addition to having consolidated its digital account among “the five largest deposit bases in the country in one year since its launch.”
In conclusion, Marcela has noted that the Colombian operation also starts to meaningfully impact the global strategy, exporting more “agile collaboration practices, a culture of experimentation, and models that can guide Nubank’s entry into countries with similar market structures.”