It doesn’t happen every day that Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi meets with CEO of one of the largest digital financial services platforms in the world. Does the meeting signal Nubank upcoming expansion to the Middle East region?
On April 7, the official Crown Prince news portal announced that His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, has met with David Vélez, Founder and CEO of Nubank, the São Paulo-based digital banking and financial services corporation with core markets concentrated in Latin America.
Many rushed to suggest that the neobanking giant has outgrown domestic region markets and is ready to expand to Middle East. The two parties really did discuss potential business opportunities offered by Abu Dhabi and the UAE. However, the scope of the conversation was much broader and more strategic, encompassing opportunities for global banking and financial institutions looking to expand their operations into markets across Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Nubank International Efforts
Nubank, whose main market presence is saturated in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, has long been exploring wider international expansion options. In particular, the fintech challenger has recently received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national bank in the United States.
Establishing MENA HQ
As part of its MENA presence buildup, Nubank plans to establish its new headquarters at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) – an international financial centre and financial free zone located in Abu Dhabi, created to attract global banks, fintech companies, and investors. The neobanking platform is also gradually enriching its local partnership network with players like integrated digital banking platform Wio Bank. The latter is a three-year old fast-growing UAE fintech startup that amassed AED 50+ billion (~$13.6B) in deposits in under 3 years from its more than 200,000 customers and reached profitability in the very first operations year.
Nubank 2025 Main Performance Highlights:
By the end of 2025, Nubank was the largest private financial institution in Brazil, with quickly expanding customer bases in Mexico and Colombia.
- Customers: ~131 million globally
- Markets: Brazil, Mexico, Colombia
- Total revenue : $16.3 billion
- Net income: $2.9 billion
- ROE: ~33%
- Total deposits: $41.9 billion
- Credit portfolio: $32.7 billion
- Monthly active users: ~83%
“Nu’s Q4’25 results reflect our ability to combine disciplined growth with sustained profitability, while continuing to invest in our core markets. As we enter 2026, we remain fully focused on winning in Latin America, while building the capabilities that will allow Nubank to evolve into a global digital banking platform over time.”
David Vélez, Nubank Founder &CEO
With the newest MENA advancemenets, Nubank 2026 growth momentum continues and accelerates at potentially unprecedented scale. Abu Dhabi’s free zone is often positioning itself as an entry gate for global fintech leaders into the wider Middle East region.
MENA region overview for broader context (infographic)
Image created via Sora
Nubank is exactly the type of payment company which is good at finding regional pain points and scaling their solutions across similar markets. Would this strategy also serve it well in Middle East with such a strong government-level engagement in the UAE? The question remains hanging in the air.
