Finance1 min read

Nubank improves 2026 efficiency ratio outlook as AI leads hiring slowdown

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In short

Nubank posted a 31 percent currency-neutral increase in third-quarter net income to $1.09 billion, while revenue climbed 37 percent to $6.26 billion. The improved financial performance allowed management to lower its full-year efficiency ratio projection to between 19 percent and 19.5 percent. A slower-than-planned return-to-office policy across new city locations also helped limit operational expenses. Meanwhile, the digital banking platform now counts an active user base of more than 140 million clients globally.

Key points

  • Artificial intelligence adoption has expanded operational capacity, directly driving a sl…: Artificial intelligence adoption has expanded operational capacity, directly driving a slowdown in hiring that improved efficiency forecasts.
  • Management attributed the increase in the 90-day delinquency ratio to seasonal trends and…: Management attributed the increase in the 90-day delinquency ratio to seasonal trends and intentional portfolio risk adjustments.
  • Delayed implementation of back-to-office policies across several new regional offices pro…: Delayed implementation of back-to-office policies across several new regional offices provided unexpected support to the company's cost structure.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

SAO PAULO, Nov 12 : Brazilian digital lender Nubank on Thursday posted third-quarter profit in line with analysts' estimates, while improving its efficiency ratio projections for the year partly due to an artificial intelligence-led slowdown in hiring.

Nu Holdings, which has over 140 million clients and in September began expanding beyond Latin America, now expects its full-year efficiency ratio, which measures how much a bank has to spend to generate revenue, to land between 19 per cent and 19.5 per cent, below a previous expectation of around 20 per cent.

"The biggest thing is that our pace of hiring was a little bit slower than we expected," Chief Financial Officer Rob Livingston told Reuters. "We are seeing significant benefits from AI helping us with our capacity and productivity, and so we slowed down our hiring," he said.

Livingston said Nubank's back-to-office policy, announced last year, as also rolling out slower than initially planned as the company is opening new offices in several cities, while stronger-than-expected revenue also boosted efficiency prospects.

Nubank reported $1.09 billion in net income for the July-September…

Finance