Jefferies says Fintechs add 9.3m clients in Q3 vs 2.9m for top five banks in Brazil

Brazilian fintechs added 9.3 million clients in the third quarter of 2026, while the country’s top five incumbent banks added 2.9 million clients, according to data from Brazil’s Central Bank analyzed by Jefferies.

The data shows fintechs added 5.6 million borrowers during the quarter, compared to just 600,000 for the five largest incumbent banks. Nubank (NYSE:NU) and Mercado Pago drove approximately 70% of the borrower growth.

Total clients across the 12 largest financial institutions in Brazil increased by 12.2 million quarter-over-quarter to September 2026. Borrowers rose by 6.2 million during the same period.

The Central Bank reports account numbers based on its CCS database and borrower numbers based on its SCR database. The databases are merged to calculate total clients while avoiding double counting.

Over a three-year period, Nubank and Mercado Pago together added 66 million clients and 44 million borrowers. The five largest incumbent banks added 31 million clients during the same timeframe but only 4.1 million borrowers.

The incumbent banks saw an 8.8 million increase in account-holder borrowers, partly offset by a 4.7 million decline in non-account-holder borrowers over the three-year period.

Non-account-holder borrowers can include customers with co-branded credit cards, public-sector payroll loans, and auto loans originated through third-party distribution channels. Itaú Unibanco has 14.3 million credit clients who are not account holders, while C6 Bank has 4.7 million non-account holder borrowers.