Nubank is preparing to enter the United States banking market after receiving conditional authorisation earlier this year, as the Brazil-founded digital lender expands outside Latin America.

Chief executive David Vélez said the regulatory environment under Donald Trump has created more room for new entrants, AFP reported.

The company, founded in 2013 in São Paulo, serves 131mn customers across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia and reported revenue of $16.3bn in 2025.

“For a long time the United States was closed to granting new banking licenses. That changed with the Trump administration. We can reach many consumers who are currently underserved financially. Our operational cost advantage - because we are 100% digital - gives us an interesting opportunity,” Vélez said.

Vélez said digital banking will continue expanding globally. “The digital banking model is the winning model for digitizing 90% of the world's population. Our cost to serve a customer is 4% or 5% of the cost of a traditional bank. In the future some traditional banks will have transformed and will still be around, and others won't.”

He said branch services will decline but remain in some cases. “There will always be some space for them, but much smaller. 90% to 95% of global financial services can be digitized.”

The company also sees artificial intelligence playing a larger role. “They eventually become digital too. We have 90-year-old customers. They don't give us quality metrics as high as those of 25-year-olds, but they can use the product quite well. AI allows much more specific personalization.”

Vélez said regulation and oversight will remain necessary. “The biggest challenge is data control and respecting user data. What AI executes must be based on existing regulation. For example, if an algorithm gives financial advice to a client, it must comply with the same regulation that already requires a human to give correct advice.”

Commenting on Brazil’s financial system under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vélez said regulatory continuity has supported the sector.

“One thing Brazil has done very well is that financial regulation has been surprisingly consistent across administrations. Competent players in the financial industry have made money in Brazil.”