A banner for Nubank, the Brazilian FinTech startup, hangs on the facade at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to celebrate the company's IPO in New York, U.S., December 9, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Andre Romani

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazilian digital lender Nubank said on Tuesday it had applied for a national bank charter to operate in the U.S., in its most concrete step toward an expansion outside Latin America.

The decision "is aligned with the company's intention to explore future international opportunities by evolving its regional platform into a global model," Nubank said in a statement.

Since the start of its operations in Sao Paulo more than a decade ago, Nubank has grown past 120 million customers in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, making it one of the world's largest digital challenger banks.

In the statement, Chief Executive David Velez said that the lender's core focus remains on delivering growth in its existing markets.

At the same time, he said, the application could help Nubank to serve customers already based in the U.S. and, "in the future, connect with those who share similar financial needs and could benefit from our products and services."

Nubank, which is listed in the U.S. through Nu Holdings, said the charter would support it to efficiently scale in the U.S. market, "eventually offering deposit accounts, credit card, lending and digital asset custody."

Shares in Nu Holdings jumped more than 1% on the announcement, before paring gains in late afternoon trading.

Nu's shares reached all-time highs last week, once again making it Latin America's largest lender by market capitalization as the digital bank has been neck-and-neck with traditional firm Itau Unibanco in recent years.

Co-founder Cristina Junqueira will be the head of the U.S. business, Nubank said, while former Brazilian central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto will chair its board of directors.

"While there's work ahead, we believe that by working closely with regulators, we will soon be in a position to expand our offering to the broader U.S. market," Junqueira said in the statement.

Executives at Nubank had previously said the firm was preparing to unveil an expansion to a new market.

(Reporting by Andre Romani, Alberto Alerigi Jr. and Paula Arend Laier; Editing by Kylie Madry and Franklin Paul)