Nubank Targets Zero-Fee, Instant Remittances to Colombia and Latin America
Nubank is setting its sights on transforming the international money transfer market by making international remittances to countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil as seamless and instantaneous as local domestic transfers.
Rather than treating remittances as an isolated financial product, Nubank will aim to utilize its vast regional presence to connect financial systems across borders, offering a low-cost alternative to traditional money transmitters.
Nubank aims to eliminate the high costs of sending remittances to Colombia and other LATAM markets
Nubank CEO David Velez identified the steep cost of cross-border transfers as a primary obstacle for international users. Currently, individuals sending money from the United States to countries like Colombia or Mexico can face transaction fees ranging between 5 percent and 10 percent. Financial institutions in the receiving countries often levy additional charges to accept these funds.
To disrupt this model, Nubank has explicitly decided not to seek direct profitability from its new remittance product. The company intends to eliminate commissions entirely while keeping the foreign exchange spread to the absolute minimum possible.
According to Velez, the goal is for these transfers to remain financially neutral for the bank, serving instead as a highly useful tool to strengthen long-term customer relationships and bridge its operations across the Americas.
Direct integration with Bre-B, Pix, and CLABE
A core element of this frictionless transfer strategy is direct integration with local, instant payment networks. Senders will not be restricted to moving money solely within the Nubank ecosystem.
Specifically, users in the United States will be able to send funds directly to any Bre-B account in Colombia, any Pix account in Brazil, and any CLABE account in Mexico.
This interoperability functions regardless of whether the receiving individual is a Nubank customer. Velez affirmed that the process is designed to be as easy and intuitive as sending local money.
The Nu Global infrastructure
The technological backbone enabling these cross-border transfers is Nu Global, a multicurrency account designed for international transactions. Through Nu Global, customers can send and receive money across more than 35 countries without incurring transfer fees.
The service is expected to become accessible through Nubank’s applications in Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States.
Customer balances held on the platform are converted into USDC or EURC, which are stablecoins tied to the value of the U.S. dollar and the euro, respectively. To attract and retain deposits, the Nu Global account offers an annual yield of 3.5 percent on its dollar-denominated balances, while users earn a 2.2 percent annual yield on euro-denominated balances.
A global vision for instant payments
This remittance strategy fits into Velez’s broader vision for the future of international finance. He pointed to the domestic experience in Brazil, where the Pix system allows for free and immediate transfers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Velez expects that within a few decades, global international transfers will closely mirror this Brazilian model. By leveraging the connection between the estimated 80 million Hispanics living in the United States and Nubank’s 140 million existing customers across Latin America, the company is attempting to lay the groundwork for a truly global, free, and instant digital payment infrastructure.