Brazilian fintech giant Nubank has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national bank. This regulatory step allows the company, which serves over 127 million customers in Latin America, to pursue offering deposits, lending, and digital asset custody services in the United States. The bank must now meet supervisory conditions and secure additional federal approvals before launching.
Nubank has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form a national bank. This move allows the fintech to pursue offering deposits, lending, credit cards, and digital asset custody in the United States.
The approval initiates a bank organization phase requiring further approvals from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve. The company aims to fully capitalize and open the bank within 18 months, subject to regulatory conditions.
“The US bank will be led by co-founder Cristina Junqueira, with former Central Bank of Brazil president Roberto Campos Neto serving as board chair,” stated a company announcement. Nubank operates primarily in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia and has been publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 2021.
The fintech entered the crypto market in 2022 after partnering with Paxos to enable crypto trading within its app. At that time, the company also disclosed plans to allocate about 1% of its net assets to Bitcoin.
In March, Nubank expanded its crypto lineup in Brazil by adding Cardano, Near Protocol, Cosmos, and Algorand. This brought the total number of supported tokens to 20 on its platform.
Nubank’s push for a charter mirrors a broader trend among fintech and crypto firms. Stablecoin issuer Circle and Ripple Labs received conditional approval from the OCC in December to establish U.S. national trust banks.
On January 23, crypto-friendly fintech Revolut disclosed plans to apply for a U.S. banking license. The London-based company was valued at about $75 billion following a share sale in November.
