Beike Finance and XP Surge as FinTech IPO Index Heads Up 0.5%

The platforms held sway this past week, gaining some ground ahead of earnings due through the next several days.

And as a result, the FinTech IPO Index was up 0.5% across the past five trading sessions.

As for the platforms themselves, Beike Finance gained 17.5%, followed by XP, which rose 14.5%.

Shares of dLocal were up 5.2%. The company said that it has received a license to operate as a payments provider in Brazil by the central bank.  

The company said in the announcement that by becoming a “payments transactions initiator,” it has access Brazil’s new Open Banking Initiative as well as initiating third-party Pix payments. dLocal has also become “an authorized eFX provider,” which in turn means that it can perform a wide range of cross-border currency operations, without restrictions on transaction amounts.

“We consider compliance and regulations a key competitive advantage, and we welcome the increased level of scrutiny that it brings,” the company said in its announcement. 

OppFi shares gained 1%. The company said this past week that it has increased its existing revolving credit facility with affiliates of Atalaya Capital Management to $250 million, up from a previous $200 million. The increased facility, the company said, will fund receivables growth.

Nubank stock was up 3%. In partnership with Hopper, the company  is enabling a travel portal within Nubank’s Shopping platform. The portal is to launch next year, according to the announcement and marks Nubank’s foray into the travel space as customers search for travel-related deals.

Nubank Gains Ground Across Latin America

Separately, Nubank said that it has surpassed 80 million customers in Brazil, as of this month. All told, factoring in Mexico and Colombia, the company has reached 85 million customers across Latin America. 

Nubank said that the current tally represents a doubling of its roster in roughly two years.

Brazil’s central bank has also estimated that Nubank is the fourth-largest financial institution in the country in number of customers. Nubank also noted in its release that in terms of international expansion, Mexico, its first market outside of its domestic operations, has seen success. Cuenta Nu, the local digital account in Mexico, has attracted over 1 million people just one month after its official release, per the latest data.

“The launch of a digital account is also in the company’s 2023 road map for Colombia,” Nubank said.

Robinhood, Bloomberg reported, has appointed a new chief executive to run its U.K. entity, as the company broadens its international effort. Jordan Dane Sinclair had been named and approved by the regulator to act as Robinhood UK Ltd.’s chief executive. Shares in Robinhood sank 2.9% through the week.

As reported here, there’s growing competition in the U.K. for these platforms. In one example, stock-trading app Public.com is reportedly set to launch in Great Britain. Robinhood had already tried to launch in the country, including last year’s plan to acquire crypto trading firm Ziglu.