Finance
Bad Loans Pile Up at Nubank, Latin America’s New No. 1 Bank
- Second-quarter profits doubled from year ago on lending surge
- Some analysts questioning high defaults, lower provisions
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In just a little over a decade, Nu Holdings Ltd. has gone from an obscure fintech startup in Sao Paulo to the most valuable bank in all of Latin America. It’s been a dizzying ascent, powered by a business model that Brazil’s uber-conservative banking titans never had much of a stomach for: lending to low-income families.
Growth keeps coming at a breakneck pace — some 60% of all Brazilian adults now have Nubank’s app on their phone — and investors keep frantically bidding the stock higher. It’s up 36% over the past month, 109% over the past year and 214% in the past two years.