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Nubank announced a strategic partnership with supermarket chain Soriana in Mexico, allowing its customers to deposit money into their Nu accounts at any of the chain's more than 700 stores.
This strategic partnership helps Nubank overcome one of the main challenges for the company's growth in Mexico, where physical money is still the main form of payment.
Deposits will be capped at 5,000 Mexican pesos (about R$1,500 at current exchange rates) and will be available to those who have the credit card Nubank.
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The deposit process is simple and straightforward, customers can generate a QR Code through the fintech app and the supermarket cashier can make the deposit using this code.
The partnership will be rolled out gradually, starting with a limited number of stores and customers to gather feedback and fine-tune the process before scaling it to the entire customer base and Soriana network.
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The importance of these steps by Nubank in Mexico
Mexico still relies heavily on cash, with credit card usage at just 12% of the population, compared to 49% in Brazil. This makes the country the next big growth opportunity for digital bank Nubank, which has already consolidated its presence in Brazil.
The partnership comes amid speculation that Nubank would be closing similar deals with other companies in Mexico. However, despite expectations that the deal would be with larger companies, such as Oxxo or the Walmex, Nubank opted for Soriana.
Market reaction to the news
Bradesco BBI commented on the announcement as “slightly negative”, due to Soriana’s limited scale for Nubank’s ambitious plans.
“Given Nubank’s strong growth ambitions in Mexico, we believe that new partnerships with retailers or ATMs from other banks will be necessary to ensure a broader presence in the country.”
Nubank informs
Despite this observation, the purple one ended last year with 5.2 million customers in Mexico – a fraction of its 89 million customers in Brazil, but a significant number for an operation that only began in 2019.
Image: Nubank Disclosure
