Nu Holdings Shares Down 22% As It Names New CFO For US Push

Nu Holdings NU is making a CFO change that could matter far beyond the finance department. The Brazilian fintech has hired Visa V veteran Rob Livingston as chief financial officer, bringing in an executive with North American financial experience as Nubank builds its planned US bank. Livingston, who was Visa's CFO for North America and previously held managerial roles at Capital One Financial, will replace Guilherme Lago on July 13.

The handoff comes at a sensitive point for Nubank. Lago joined the company in 2019, helped guide its 2021 initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, and will now become a special adviser to management and the audit and risk committees after deciding to step down. CEO David Velez said Livingston brings deep knowledge of global financial institutions and a clear view of the US, where Nubank has already received conditional approval for a bank and where Livingston will be based.

For investors, this could be a signal that Nubank is putting more structure behind its next stage of growth. The company now has more than 135 million clients in Latin America, and Livingston will oversee financial officers across Nubank's operating countries, including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, while a new Brazil CFO role will be created. Nubank is still focused on its current operations, but Velez said the problems the company is solving are not limited to Brazil or Mexico. Shares slipped 0.6% to $12.91 in extended trading at 5:11 p.m. in New York, after tumbling 22% this year through the regular close.