Report: Nubank Considers Moving Legal Base to UK

Nubank — the digital challenger bank that recently became the most valuable bank in Latin America — reportedly is considering moving its legal base to the United Kingdom.

The bank’s holding company, Nu Holdings, has been working with the British government to make the move, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (Nov. 20), citing unnamed sources.

The holding company, which is currently based in the Cayman Islands and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, would keep its corporate headquarters in Brazil even if it moves its legal domicile to the U.K., according to the report.

A spokesperson for Nu Holdings said in the report that the company “continuously reviews its corporate legal structure” and has not made a decision on a move.

“At this time, no decision has been made regarding the redomiciliation of Nu Holdings Ltd. or any other legal entities within our group,” the spokesperson said, per the report. “As a publicly traded company, we are committed to transparency and will follow standard communication protocols if and when any such decisions are made.”

This report follows new partnerships and products involving Nubank in recent months.

Nasdaq said in September that it agreed to provide its AxiomSL regulatory reporting tool to Nubank in a move reflecting rising demand in Latin America for third-party FinTech solutions.

“The agreement extends Nasdaq’s existing partnership with Nubank, which includes providing the technology that underpins the bank’s treasury function — managing its fixed income and money market operations — and now the bank’s regulatory reporting obligations in Colombia,” Nasdaq said in a Sept. 23 press release.

In June, Nubank acquired data intelligence company Hyperplane, saying the move will accelerate the bank’s artificial intelligence (AI)-first strategy and enable it to offer its customers smarter, fairer and more personalized financial products and services.

“Nubank’s mission since its founding is to fight complexity and empower fanatical customers,” David Vélez, founder and CEO of Nubank, said in a June 26 press release.

The bank said in May that it became the first digital banking platform outside of Asia to gain more than 100 million customers. At the time, Nubank had about 92 million customers in Brazil, 7 million in Mexico and 1 million in Colombia.