- Nubank opened its office in Mexico in May 2019, the first outside Brazil;
- The fintech announced the first product to the Mexican market, a credit card, in August; but it was still in beta phase.
Brazilian decacorn Nubank has officially launched its first product in the Mexican market this Tuesday, 3rd – an international credit card with no yearly fee – the same product that made Nubank so popular in its hometown.
“The wait is over: today everyone can apply for the Nu credit card in a matter of minutes and from the palm of their hand,” the fintech published today in a blogpost. Although Nubank had already announced its first product for the Mexican market in August, the credit card was then in beta phase, and customers had to request it through a waiting list.
After receiving 30,000 requests in the country, now the Nu credit card is available to all Mexicans over 18 years of age. The strategy of running this waiting list for credit cards’ requests allowed the company to control the growth of its customer base in the country.
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As for the process to get one, users must run the whole process online, requesting the card in Nubank’s app, website, or through the recommendation of a friend or family member who already owns a Nu credit card.
With an unbanked population that accounts for 36 million people, Mexico offers plenty of room for growth in the eyes of Nubank. “The problem is this big and bad: Personal finance tools in both Brazil and Mexico are so limited that Nubank has not had to spend a dollar on customer acquisition,” said CEO David Vélez to TechCrunch. The executive explained to the media outlet that the market for financial institutions in both Brazil and Mexico will be, in a few years, similar to what China is now.
Both Latin American countries are about to adopt QR Code payments. While in Brazil, the Central Bank’s PIX platform is set to start operating its instant payments system in November, in Mexico, the government is also pushing regulation on the matter. “It’s been very helpful to be able to go to China and see what our market might look like five years from now,” said Vélez, stressing that he was inspired by the Chinese firm Tencent, from which the fintech first raised $180 million in 2018, to improve customer satisfaction processes by prioritizing data science and machine learning.
