Nubank has entered into an agreement to acquire Banco Porto Real de Investimentos S/A, a bank that focuses on extending credit to wholesale clients.
The transaction, which is subject to approval by Brazil's Central Bank, is intended to bring Nubank into line with Joint Resolution No. 17, issued jointly by the Central Bank and the National Monetary Council (CMN), which sets out rules governing the naming of financial institutions.
Licence structure and regulatory context
Once completed, Banco Porto Real's banking licence will be added to the existing set of licences under which Nubank already operates in Brazil: a Payment Institution licence, a Credit, Financing and Investment Company (Sociedade de Crédito, Financiamento e Investimento) licence, and a Securities Brokerage Company (Sociedade Corretora de Títulos e Valores Mobiliários) licence. Obligations previously undertaken by Banco Porto Real will continue to be met in line with the terms of the acquisition agreement.
The addition of the new licence to the prudential conglomerate of Nu Pagamentos S.A. – Instituição de Pagamento does not trigger additional capital or liquidity requirements, according to the company. For Nubank's 115 million customers in Brazil, the app, products, services, brand, and institutional name remain unchanged.
Scale of Nubank's Brazilian operations
Nubank has described Brazil as its founding and primary market, one it entered 13 years ago and where it continues to expand its customer base. In March 2026, the company joined Febraban, the Brazilian Federation of Banks, shortly after becoming the country's largest private financial institution by number of customers. Nubank has also announced BRL 45 billion (approximately USD 8.9 billion) in planned investment in the domestic market for 2026, close to double the amount committed over the previous two years.
The company has reported one of the lowest complaint ratios among Brazil's largest financial institutions, as measured by the Central Bank, and has received the Reclame Aqui award for nine consecutive years, an industry recognition tied to customer service performance.
Market impact
According to Nubank, 31.5 million people, equivalent to roughly one in five adults in Brazil, have gained access to a bank account, credit or savings products through the institution. The company has also been cited as the financial institution most frequently chosen by Brazilians to concentrate salary payments and other financial products, based on Bain & Company's NPS Prism survey for the fourth quarter of 2025.
The acquisition reflects a broader pattern among large digital banks operating in Brazil, where regulatory requirements around institutional naming and licensing are prompting adjustments to corporate structures as customer bases and product ranges expand. The outcome of the Central Bank's review of the transaction will determine the timeline for integration of Banco Porto Real's licence into Nubank's existing regulatory framework.
