Nubank improves 2026 efficiency ratio outlook as AI leads hiring slowdown

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% ⁠and ​19.5%, below a ⁠previous expectation of around 20%. "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.