Nu Holdings printed its first billion-plus quarterly profit in the same season Mexico authorized a full bank charter, and that pairing is the investment debate. The Cayman holding company behind Nubank is no longer a growth story waiting for earnings. It is a scaled digital bank asking the market to pay a premium for a credit engine that is still leaning into a riskier unsecured mix. Net income reached $1.1 billion. That print arrived as the Mexican franchise went live as a licensed bank with a customer base already measured in the mid-teens of millions.
The move under the hood is mix, not just scale. Net interest margin reached 22.9%. Risk-adjusted NIM then jumped to 12.4% after cost of credit eased. Those lifts came from unsecured lending growth and an intentional push into higher-return segments that management had already flagged. Early delinquencies improved on the usual second-quarter seasonal pattern. Late-stage ninety-plus NPLs still rose to 6.9%. Shareholders have to decide whether that lag is calendar or the first receipt on a riskier book.
Gross revenue approached $5.9 billion while monthly average revenue per active customer moved near $17. At a mid-September close of $13.65 the equity sits well below its fifty-two-week high and still trades at a wide premium to Itau and Bradesco on book. That premium only holds if Mexico monetizes like an earlier Brazil and the unsecured book does not leak. Does the next year of risk-adjusted margin and Mexican product depth justify the multiple, or does the late-stage delinquency print start to catch the early-stage improvement?