This interview covers Nubank founder David Vélez's view on global banking. He says traditional banks still hold 90% of the market, like Blockbuster before Netflix. Vélez is bullish on AI making banks 50x more efficient and has restructured Nubank around it. He mentions Nubank (140M customers, costs 3% of traditional banks), traditional banks (at risk of disruption), and Bitcoin (role in diversified portfolios).
Nubank founder David Vélez noted in a podcast that the global banking industry is still in the "Blockbuster era," with most operations relying on physical branches and traditional banks. Nubank currently serves 140 million customers in Latin America and has fully restructured its organization around
Here is the English translation of the provided Chinese investment research notes.
Nubank founder and CEO David Vélez believes the global banking industry is still in the "Blockbuster era," with 90% of market share and profit pools still held by traditional banks. He argues that AI will amplify the efficiency advantage of digital banks to over 50 times that of traditional banks, making "a personal banker for everyone" possible, and ultimately compressing the world's 190 fiat currencies down to about 10. Nubank has already fully restructured its organization for this and is officially entering the US market.
David Vélez believes that of the approximately $10 trillion profit pool in the global consumer financial services industry, 90% still flows through the physical branches of traditional banks, with digital banks (including all fintech companies) accounting for less than 10% combined. This is akin to when Netflix emerged, and 90% of people were still renting VHS tapes from Blockbuster. He argues that the migration "from physical to digital" that has already occurred in media, retail, and transportation is just beginning in financial services.
Vélez admits that Nubank initially "missed" the inflection point where AI truly worked, only realizing the technology had qualitatively changed in December 2025. Subsequently, within 60 days, the company performed a "cold restart" AI restructuring of all 120 workflows across the company.
Vélez believes that over the next five years, the global financial system will be fundamentally changed by three external forces: the end of cash, the proliferation of open banking, and the impact of stablecoins on the fiat currency system.
| Position | Guest's Stance | Key Data |
|---|---|---|
| Nubank | Bullish (own business) | 140M customers, 10K employees, 65% of Brazil's adult population as customers, 60% use it as primary account, customer service cost is 3% of traditional banks, ROE is 2-3x that of traditional banks. |
| Traditional Banks (General) | Risk Warning (to be disrupted) | Hold 90% share of global financial services, have 100M customers, 100K employees, 6,000 branches, pay 40bps deposit rate, levy ~$600B "hidden tax" on US savers annually. |
| Blockbuster | Analogy (physical model to be disrupted) | Had vast data but failed to utilize it effectively, disrupted by Netflix. |
| Netflix | Analogy (disruptor model) | Started with zero data, built a better algorithm. |
| Amazon | Analogy (customer obsession culture) | Studied as a benchmark for "customer obsession." |
| Disney | Analogy (creating magical experiences) | Studied as a benchmark for creating "magical experiences." |
| Bitcoin | Bullish (portfolio role) | Plays a role in diversified portfolios. |
| Hyperplane | Acquired (technology integration) | AI company acquired by Nubank to build its financial foundation model. |
1. "The global banking industry is still in the Blockbuster era." — David Vélez. Support: 90% of market share and profit pools are still held by traditional banks, with digital banks accounting for less than 10% combined, representing a massive market migration opportunity.
2. "AI will make 'a personal banker for everyone' possible." — David Vélez. Support: AI can solve problems that traditional "financial education" cannot, providing super-intelligent financial optimization advice for 99% of ordinary people, thereby competing away banks' existing high-profit pools.
3. "Nubank's customer service cost is 3% of a traditional bank's, and AI will amplify this advantage to 50 times." — David Vélez. Support: Nubank operates with 140M customers and 10K employees, while traditional banks need 100K employees and 6,000 branches. AI will further automate, making a "bank with 500M customers and 5,000 employees" possible.
4. "Data is a moat, but only with the right systems and data culture." — David Vélez. Support: Blockbuster had massive data but couldn't use it, while Netflix built a better algorithm from scratch. Nubank has 140M customers, 20K-30K data points per customer, spanning 13 years of data, and has built its own financial foundation model.
5. "Nubank missed the 'December moment' when AI truly worked, realizing it only 60 days later." — David Vélez. Support: AI only became truly usable for the Clojure language with the release of the Opus 4.6 model in December 2025. Nubank subsequently performed a "cold restart" AI restructuring of all 120 workflows across the company.
6. "The end of cash is the biggest catalyst; it will unlock trillions of dollars in credit." — David Vélez. Support: Using the example of a "taco stand" in Mexico City, when cash transactions are digitized, the small vendor can obtain credit based on cash flow data, allowing them to expand their business.
7. "In 10-20 years, the world's 190 fiat currencies will be reduced to just 10." — David Vélez. Support: Many countries have poor fiscal conditions, and their fiat currencies are "not real money." Dollar stablecoins will "save" the dollar, but it won't be the only one; several other fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies will coexist.
8. "The founder is more important than the CEO, especially during times of technological change." — David Vélez. Support: Founders possess "unrealistic" vision, immense urgency, and a "near-tragic" level of care for the company, which gives them an advantage over professional managers' systematic management capabilities during periods of change. He himself chooses to play more of a "founder" role.