Canadian Halal Investor.

NYSE Shariah screener · October 2026

Is Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU) Halal?

FAIL

Nu Holdings Ltd. · NYSE: NU · Financials

The short answer

Nu Holdings fails the Shariah screen on business activity: the Nubank digital bank earns about 76.25% of its revenue from interest income (credit cards, loans and receivables), far above the 5% ceiling for non-compliant income. Interest-bearing debt of US$5.18 billion is 8.69% of its ~US$59.66 billion market cap (under the 33% ceiling), but a ratio pass cannot overturn an activity-screen failure.

Gate 1 — Business activity: FAIL

Gate 1 — business activity: FAIL. Nu Holdings Ltd. (consumer brand Nubank), headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is a digital-only bank and financial services platform operating in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, with 131.0 million customers at December 31, 2025. Per its FY2025 Form 20-F (Item 4B), its core products are retail credit (personal loans, auto loans, credit card financing, revolving credit) and SME credit, alongside payments, customer assets, insurance brokerage, marketplace fees and an MVNO mobile service.

Interest-based lending is the core business: the 20-F states that "Interest income and gains net of losses on financial instruments" was 85.2% of total revenue in 2025 (83.6% in 2024), with pure interest income of US$12.03 billion. The company also distributes conventional insurance through its brokerage. Interest-based lending as the core activity means the business fails gate 1 decisively, and no ratio test can overturn an activity-screen failure.

Gate 2 — Debt and cash: PASS

Gate 2 — interest-bearing debt: PASS (8.69%, ceiling 33%). Per Nu Holdings' FY2025 Form 20-F balance sheet, "Borrowings and financing" of US$4,398.2 million plus "Repurchase agreements" of US$783.8 million total US$5,182.1 million of interest-bearing debt at December 31, 2025 (US$5,740.6 million at June 30, 2026 per the Q2 2026 6-K). Lease liabilities (US$29.2 million) are excluded - they are not interest-bearing debt. Customer deposits (US$41.9 billion) and payables to network (US$13.6 billion) are operating and funding liabilities excluded from the numerator under standard bank-screening convention.

US$5.18 billion against a market capitalization of about US$59.66 billion (Finnhub, October 2, 2026) is 8.69%, under the 33% ceiling - but the business gate already fails, so this does not change the result. Cash and cash equivalents of US$15.0 billion plus securities of US$16.36 billion total about US$31.36 billion (~52.6% of market cap), largely government bonds held as regulatory liquidity reserves.

Gate 3 — Non-compliant income: FAIL

Gate 3 — non-compliant income: FAIL (76.25%, ceiling 5%). Nu Holdings' Form 20-F separately discloses interest income in Note 6: 2025 interest income of US$12,028,302 thousand (credit card, loan, other assets at amortized cost and other receivables) against 2025 total revenue of US$15,774,741 thousand is about 76.25%, far above the 5% ceiling. The full reported line "Interest income and gains net of losses on financial instruments" of US$13,434,683 thousand is 85.17% of revenue, and Q2 2026 pure interest income of US$4,760.6 million against revenue of US$5,513.2 million was about 86.35%.

Key figures used

Frequently asked questions

What does Nu Holdings do?

Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NU), consumer brand Nubank, is a digital-only bank and financial services platform operating in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands in 2016 and headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, it served 131.0 million customers at December 31, 2025 (139 million by June 30, 2026). Per its FY2025 Form 20-F (Item 4B, Business Overview), its core products are retail credit (personal loans, auto loans, credit card financing, revolving credit), SME credit, payments, customer assets (brokerage, private pensions, savings, investment funds), insurance brokerage, marketplace fees and an MVNO mobile service. Brazil is the dominant market, accounting for about 91% of geographic segment revenue.

Is Nu Holdings' business Shariah compliant?

No - Nu Holdings fails this screener's first gate. It is an interest-based lender and that is its core business: "Interest income and gains net of losses on financial instruments" was 85.2% of total revenue in 2025 (83.6% in 2024), stated explicitly in the 20-F, with pure interest income (credit card, loan and other receivables) of US$12.03 billion of the US$13.43 billion line. The company also distributes conventional insurance through its insurance brokerage (commissions are inside fee/commission income with no separately disclosed revenue share). It has no gambling, alcohol, pork or tobacco business, but interest-based lending as the core activity means the business does not pass gate 1.

How much interest-bearing debt does Nu Holdings have?

Nu Holdings' interest-bearing debt is "Borrowings and financing" plus "Repurchase agreements" on its balance sheet: US$4,398.2 million plus US$783.8 million, totaling US$5,182.1 million at December 31, 2025 per its FY2025 Form 20-F (US$5,740.6 million at June 30, 2026 per its Q2 2026 6-K). Lease liabilities (US$29.2 million) are excluded as they are not interest-bearing debt. As a bank, the bulk of its liabilities are customer deposits (US$41.9 billion) and payables to network (US$13.6 billion) - operating and funding liabilities excluded from the debt numerator under standard bank-screening convention. US$5.18 billion against a market capitalization of about US$59.66 billion is 8.69%, under the 33% ceiling - but the business gate already fails, so the debt ratio does not change the result.

How much interest income does Nu Holdings earn?

Nu Holdings' Form 20-F separately discloses interest income in Note 6: 2025 interest income was US$12,028,302 thousand (credit card, loan, other assets at amortized cost and other receivables) against 2025 total revenue of US$15,774,741 thousand, which is about 76.25% - far above the 5% non-compliant income ceiling. The full reported line "Interest income and gains net of losses on financial instruments" of US$13,434,683 thousand is 85.17% of revenue. In Q2 2026, pure interest income of US$4,760.6 million against revenue of US$5,513.2 million was about 86.35%.

What do third-party Shariah screeners say about Nu Holdings?

Zoya publishes a Nu Holdings (NU) page and rates it not Shariah-compliant, citing FY2025 revenue of $15,878,616,000 and interest income of $12,028,302,000 (about 75.75%) - the same interest-income figure as the 20-F's Note 6 disclosure. Musaffa publishes an NU page (musaffa.com/stock/NU/) and classifies Nu Holdings Ltd. as not halal under its AAOIFI methodology. I could not verify a published ShariaPortfolio rating for NU from public sources. Third-party screeners apply different assumptions and update on different schedules, and their results can change when new financial statements are published - always check the latest screening before investing.

Sources

Screened 2026-10-02 from published company figures and market data. Figures change; this page is educational, not financial advice and not a religious ruling.

Screened with our two-gate Shariah screening methodology (business-activity gate, then AAOIFI-style financial ratios).