Nubank and Aviva accelerate financial competition in Mexico
Mexico has just sent two strong signals to the financial market.
On one hand, Nu México received definitive authorization from the National Banking and Securities Commission to begin operating as a bank. On the other, Aviva, a Mexican fintech focused on underserved segments, raised US$18 million in a Series A round.
Although the companies have different sizes and models, both moves confirm the same trend: financial inclusion has become one of the main battlegrounds for competition, innovation, and investment in the country.
The question for traditional institutions is no longer whether new competitors will arrive. It is whether their digital financial ecosystem will be able to respond at the speed with which these actors are redefining the market.
Nubank is no longer just a digital challenger
The evolution of Nu México represents much more than a regulatory change.
In April 2025, the company obtained approval to transform from a Popular Financial Society —Sofipo— into a bank. After completing the review process supervised by the CNBV, the Bank of Mexico, and the Ministry of Finance, it received authorization to start banking operations in July 2026.
The license will allow it to expand its portfolio and move towards products such as payroll accounts, in addition to operating with a full banking structure.
Nu claims to have more than 15 million clients in Mexico, equivalent to approximately 15% of the adult population, and a presence in 98% of the municipalities. The company also announced a projected investment of US$4.2 billion in the country by 2030.
This alters the competitive landscape.
Nubank is no longer competing solely from a simple app or a commission-free card. It can become the primary financial relationship for millions of users: receiving their income, managing their savings, offering credit, and building an increasingly precise understanding of their financial behavior.
Aviva demonstrates that inclusion is also contested in niches
The second movement occurs at another scale, but points to an equally strategic opportunity.
Aviva raised US$18 million in a Series A round led by Valor Capital Group, with participation from investors such as IDB Lab, Caravela Capital, and Endeavor. The capital will be used to expand its presence and develop new financial products in Mexico.
Its proposal combines digital channels, artificial intelligence, and physical kiosks to serve individuals and small businesses with limited access to the financial system, especially outside of major cities. Valor Capital describes the model as a "phygital" neobank: a combination of digital infrastructure and in-person touchpoints to bring services closer to underserved communities.
Aviva serves as a reminder of something that purely digital strategies often ignore: inclusion does not rely solely on having an app.
It also requires adapting the experience, risk analysis, distribution, and guidance to the user's real context.
Mexico is making progress, but the opportunity remains open
According to the National Financial Inclusion Survey 2024, 76.5% of people between 18 and 70 years old had at least one financial product. However, this figure includes accounts, credit, insurance, and retirement savings products, so it does not mean that this entire population maintains an active, digital, or satisfactory banking relationship.
That is the opportunity that Nubank, Aviva, and other new players are trying to capture.
They are not just looking for clients without financial products. They are also competing for banked users who still face complex processes, fragmented experiences, non-transparent costs, or services that do not meet their needs.
The real competition will be between ecosystems
For banks, credit unions, and financial institutions, the response should not be to launch isolated features every time a new competitor appears.
The sustainable advantage lies in building a digital financial ecosystem capable of integrating:
digital onboarding and origination;
consistent web and mobile channels;
payments, savings, and credit;
fraud prevention;
real-time data;
automation and artificial intelligence;
conversational experiences;
proprietary products and third-party services.
Here, Banking as a Service models and modular architectures can play an important role. They allow for the incorporation of new capabilities without replacing the entire existing infrastructure or developing every product from scratch.
But technology alone does not solve the challenge.
Institutions need to define which segments they want to serve, what experiences they can offer better than their competitors, and which internal processes they must transform to sustain that promise.
A warning that transcends Mexico
Mexico meets unique conditions: a large population, persistent access gaps, and a fintech ecosystem with growing investment capacity. However, the direction of change can also be observed in other markets.
New competitors start by solving a specific friction. Then they expand their license, their portfolio, and their share of the customer's financial relationship.
Waiting for them to reach banking scale to react is usually a costly strategy.
The arrival of Nubank as a bank and the growth of Aviva do not herald the end of traditional banking. They herald the end of traditional experiences as a sufficient advantage.
Does your institution have the necessary digital ecosystem to compete for the next generation of financial clients?
Bankingly helps banks, credit unions, and financial institutions evolve their channels through modular digital banking solutions, onboarding, fraud prevention, conversational banking, and artificial intelligence capabilities, without losing control of their strategy or their relationship with their clients.
