Nu Holdings' 2025 Review: From Fintech Disruptor to Emerging Banking Powerhouse

Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU) entered 2025 as one of the most closely watched fintech stocks worldwide. It exits the year looking less like a disruptor and more like a fully scaled banking franchise.

While the headlines often focus on customer growth and stock performance, the real story of 2025 was quieter. Nu didn't just grow. It strengthened its profitability, expanded its credit engine, deepened customer monetization, and laid the groundwork for international expansion.

Here's what investors should take away from Nu's 2025 performance.

Image source: Getty Images.

Profitability moved to the center

For years, skeptics questioned whether digital banks could scale profitably. In 2025, Nu answered that question decisively. In the second quarter, Nu generated $3.7 billion in revenue, up roughly 40% year over year (currency-neutral), and posted $637 million in net income, translating to a 28% annualized return on equity (ROE). By the third quarter, profitability continued to climb, with revenue reaching about $4.2 billion and net income approaching $783 million, pushing annualized ROE to a record 31%.

Those are not start-up numbers. Those are large-bank numbers, and in many cases, superior ones. The key takeaway for investors is simple: Nu's digital business model is no longer just efficient; it's now a competitive advantage. It's structurally profitable at scale.

Nubank scaled its lending operations

Lending remains Nu's most powerful profit engine. In 2025, the company's loan book expanded to over $27 billion in Q2 and climbed above $30 billion by Q3, representing more than 40% year-over-year growth on a currency-neutral basis.

Rapid credit expansion always raises concerns about asset quality. But 2025 showed measured discipline. Early delinquency ratios hovered around 4% to 5%, while 90+ day delinquencies in Brazil were roughly in the mid single digits -- manageable levels given the company's exposure to unsecured consumer lending.

This balance between growth and risk management is critical. Large digital banks don't rely on reckless lending but repeatable underwriting discipline to build long-term scale. For investors, Nu demonstrated that it can expand credit while keeping risk within reason, at least for now.

Deepening customer relationships

Nu continued to aggressively grow its user base in 2025, reaching 127 million by the third quarter. Activity rates remained high, with over 80% of customers actively engaged. But the bigger shift this year was strategic. Management signaled that future growth -- particularly in Brazil -- would come less from adding users and more from deepening relationships.

That shift is already visible in the numbers. Average revenue per active customer (ARPAC) climbed to $13 per month, while mature customer cohorts generated nearly $27 per month. That gap highlights the opportunity still embedded in the base.

In other words, Nu's empire is not just expanding outward. It's increasing inward by extracting more value per customer as product adoption widens across loans, insurance, investments, and payments. That's the difference between a fast-growing fintech and a durable financial platform.

Strategic moves toward global scale

Last year also brought tangible signs of international ambition. Nu explored shifting its legal domicile to the United Kingdom, a move that could improve access to global capital markets and regulatory flexibility. It also continued preparing for a possible U.S. presence, including steps toward regulatory approval.

Beyond Western markets, Nu's earlier investment in Tyme Group -- a digital bank operating in South Africa and the Philippines -- reflects a broader emerging-market thesis. Rather than rushing into saturated developed markets, Nu appears focused on underbanked regions where its model has already proven effective. These steps are deliberate, not flashy. But they signal long-term intent.

What does it mean for investors?

This past year saw Nu Holdings transition from high-growth disruptor to emerging banking powerhouse. Profitability strengthened. Lending expanded without collapsing asset quality. Customer monetization improved. International ambitions moved from concept to concrete steps.

Risks remain. Consumer credit in emerging markets can turn quickly. Regulatory oversight will intensify as Nu becomes more systemically important. But if execution continues at this pace, Nu is no longer just a fintech success story. It is quietly building the financial infrastructure of Latin America and positioning itself for broader global relevance.

For long-term investors, 2025 signals the beginning of a larger ambition for the company, one that they should monitor in 2026 and beyond.

Lawrence Nga has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Nu Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.