Nu Mexico has entered the credit card market with a bang. Only from December 2020 to December 2021, it went from just over 100,000 placed, to 1.4 million. The bet, says Emilio González, country manager of the institution, is to continue with an accelerated growth of this product that, unlike others, can be requested from the application.
“We were the biggest credit card issuers in the fourth quarter… We’re easily going to be the biggest credit card issuers,” he says.
In an interview, he specified that there are 1.4 million cards that are already active, and the vast majority of customers use them every month. In addition, he assures, delinquency levels have remained within expectations.
“We have managed to have good results, balance sheets and volume of purchases that are quite healthy. Regarding payment dynamics, we are going according to our expectations. Our models show that there is good resilience,” he notes.
Market opportunity compared to Brazil
Emilio González points out that during 2022 Nu México, the Mexican subsidiary of the giant Brazilian neobank, has as a priority to continue with a very accelerated growth in the placement of cards and other products, given that, he emphasizes, there is a market opportunity that compares with the that exists in the South American country.
“In Brazil we already have more than 50 million customers. So in the long term we believe there is an opportunity to reach tens of millions of Mexicans, and to do that we want our growth to continue accelerating. This year I think we will be able to continue with a very fast growth rate in credit cards, in addition, we are working on expanding our product offering”, he points out.
From the hand of his sofipo
In previous months, Nu México acquired the popular financial company (sofipo) Akala. Last week, the name change to Nu México Financiera was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF).
The Country Manager details that, with this acquisition, what they will seek is to offer other products to their users, including deposits, and going forward the objective is to consolidate operations within a unit.
“(The recruitment) is one of the new activities that we can do with the sofipo. We haven’t announced specific plans for any product, but I think if you see Brazil, you can more or less see the guide a little bit. But there are many products that we could also launch here in Mexico in order to reach more Mexicans”, she emphasizes.
He adds: “we are aware that we cannot remain passive, static. Our card product will continue to evolve, and we will also continue to offer new products”.
Positive that there are more fintech focused on cards
Emilio González considers it positive that there is more and more fintech and other players focused on serving the card market, some debit and others credit, because, he says, a great opportunity that exists in the Mexican market is being attacked.
“By offering products that are in line with the needs of more people, there is a lot of room for the financial services market in Mexico to grow, just because there is very little inclusion in both credit cards and deposit accounts,” argues.