SÃO PAULO, July 16, 2026, 07:09 BRT
Nu Holdings Ltd. put Livia Chanes in charge of its Latin American operations on Wednesday as Mexico’s funding base now carries more group weight than its customer count. A calculation from rounded first-quarter disclosures puts Mexico at an estimated 14% of group deposits, against about 11% of customers.
That gap matters because Nu Mexico reached break-even, where revenue covers costs, in the first quarter and won final approval last week to operate as a bank. The license can widen its credit, payments and savings offer. Investors now need returns from the balance sheet, not just more customer additions.
Nu shares closed Wednesday at $13.88, down 0.79%, about 27% below their 52-week high of $18.98. NYSE core trading had not begun at publication time.
Chanes will remain CEO of Nubank Brazil. Mexico country manager Armando Herrera and Colombia country manager Marcela Torres will report to her while keeping local operating autonomy. “Unifying the region under Livia’s leadership is a natural next step,” founder and global CEO David Vélez said. Chanes added: “This exchange accelerates innovation in every direction.” Nu International
The brief is uneven. Brazil accounts for about 85% of customers, while Colombia remains at an earlier stage. Mexico sits between them, but its funding share is already larger than its customer share.
| Market | Customers | Estimated share of group* | Latest operating marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | More than 115 million | About 85% | Chanes remains CEO; R$45 billion planned through 2026 |
| Mexico | More than 15 million | About 11% | First-quarter break-even; final bank authorization |
| Colombia | About 5 million | About 4% | More than 11 trillion pesos of deposits; $130 million planned for 2026 |
Shares use a rounded group total of more than 135 million. Country counts and percentages are approximate.
Mexico’s balance-sheet mix is the sharper investor signal.
| First-quarter measure | Mexico | Nu group | Mexico’s estimated position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customers | More than 15 million | More than 135 million | About 11% of group |
| Deposits | More than $5.9 billion | $42.4 billion | About 14% of group |
| Deposits per customer | About $393 | About $314 | Roughly 25% above group average |
Per-customer figures are estimates derived from rounded disclosures. They do not adjust for product mix, deposit pricing, customer activity or country economics.
At face value, Mexico holds about one-quarter more deposits per customer than Nu’s group average. That does not show profitability; the ratio says nothing about the cost of those deposits or losses on loans funded with them. It does suggest the unit has built a funding pool large enough for monetization to become the main test.
A securities filing gives Nu Mexico 30 calendar days to complete the conversion and permits a broader range of credit, payment and savings products. Nu projects $4.2 billion of investment in Mexico through 2030. “Mexico is a key market for Nubank,” Vélez said when setting out the plan. The capital commitment raises the bar for loan growth and fee income.
Brazil remains Chanes’s benchmark. Nu said the business added more than 50 million customers under her leadership and now serves 115 million, while the company plans R$45 billion, or $8.2 billion, of investment through 2026. The new structure is meant to move products and operating lessons across borders faster.
Colombia offers a smaller test: 5 million customers, more than 11 trillion Colombian pesos in deposits and $130 million of planned investment this year. Wednesday’s announcement gave no break-even milestone for the unit.
But the regional push could erode returns if credit expands faster than loss absorption. The share of group loans 15 to 90 days past due rose 0.89 percentage point to 5.0% in the first quarter, credit-loss allowances climbed 33% from the prior quarter to $1.79 billion, and risk-adjusted net interest margin, the lending spread after credit losses, fell 1 percentage point to 9.5%. Nu said seasonality drove most early delinquencies, with some coming from deliberate expansion into higher-risk borrowers.
Chanes’s investor test is therefore narrow: lift Mexico’s revenue per customer from a stronger funding base and prove that Brazil’s playbook can travel without giving back margin. At Nu’s present scale, customer growth alone will not settle the case.
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