Nubank in early talks to buy Monzo in a deal that could value the UK digital bank at up to £10 billion

The board of Monzo, one of Britain's most closely watched digital banks, is weighing a sale to Brazil's Nubank in a transaction that could value the London lender at between £8 billion and £10 billion ($10.6 billion to $13.25 billion), according to a Sky News report published on the morning of Saturday, September 26, 2026. Sky News said New York-listed Nu Holdings, the parent of Nubank, has begun preliminary talks about an acquisition, a move that would rule out a short-term standalone flotation in London for what the broadcaster described as one of British fintech's crown jewels.

Monzo was founded in 2015 by Tom Blomfield and grew from a prepaid card app into a fully licensed UK bank with 15.2 million customers. Its latest annual report, covering the year ended March 31, 2026, showed revenue rising 39 percent to £1.7 billion and statutory pretax profit climbing 44 percent to £87.3 million, up from £60.5 million a year earlier. Adjusted pretax profit reached £172.6 million and customer deposits climbed 55 percent to £25.7 billion. Under chief executive Diana Layfield, who took the top job in February, Monzo closed its US operations and refocused on UK growth and European expansion, launching in Ireland and Spain.

Nubank, headquartered in Sao Paulo and listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of about $65.5 billion, is one of the largest digital financial platforms in the Americas. It served 139 million customers at the end of June, including almost 118 million in Brazil, 15.8 million in Mexico and more than 5 million in Colombia. Second-quarter net income exceeded $1 billion for the first time, on revenue of $5.88 billion, and the company is separately pursuing a US national bank licence.

The talks remain at an early stage and there is no certainty that any transaction will be completed. Monzo has engaged Morgan Stanley and Qatalyst as advisers, and an acquisition by Nubank is one of two main options being considered by its board and shareholders. The alternative is a new funding round expected to value Monzo above £8 billion, with the proceeds earmarked for further expansion across mainland Europe.

Key Facts

Reuters reported on September 26 that Nubank is in early-stage talks with Monzo about a potential combination that could value the British bank at between £8 billion and £10 billion ($10.60 billion to $13.25 billion). The Reuters account, which relayed the Sky News report, said an acquisition is one of two options Monzo's board is currently exploring, citing a source close to the process. Both Monzo and Nubank declined to comment, and Nu Holdings has said it does not comment on rumours or speculation.

The proposed range is striking relative to Monzo's last formal valuation. Monzo was valued at £4.5 billion in an employee share sale in October 2024, to investors including Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and StepStone Group. An £8 billion valuation would be roughly 78 percent above that level, while £10 billion would represent an increase of about 122 percent in less than two years. At the reported range, Nubank would be valuing Monzo at roughly 4.7 to 5.9 times its latest annual revenue.

The Financial Times reported on September 26 that a potential acquisition would be made via a combination of cash and stock, citing two people familiar with the matter. One of those people put the value at between £8 billion (R$55 billion) and £10 billion (R$68.7 billion). The FT also said Monzo has been holding talks with several private-equity managers about selling a significant stake of up to 15 percent to obtain a capital injection and accelerate growth, and that a third option would be a more traditional venture-capital-style funding round in which investors buy smaller stakes.

Bloomberg reported on September 26 that if completed the deal would represent the largest purchase of a British bank by a Latin American company. Bloomberg noted that any acquisition would require approval from British regulators, including the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, and that Monzo's shareholders, among them Accel, Passion Capital, CapitalG and Iconiq, would also have to vote on a sale.

Sky News reported on September 26 that the exact price Monzo would change hands for could value the bank up to 20 percent higher than some earlier expectations for a deal, and framed the potential sale as a setback for the London Stock Exchange, which had long courted Monzo as an IPO candidate. The discussions follow a turbulent period: large investors including Accel and Iconiq staged a revolt last year after the unexpected exit of chief executive TS Anil, demanding the removal of Monzo's chair and greater investor representation on the board.

Analysis

The surface reading of this story is that a fast-growing Brazilian platform wants to buy a fast-growing British one. The strategic reading is more specific. Nubank already has 139 million customers, so another 15.2 million retail accounts is not the prize. What Nubank would be buying is a UK banking licence, a regulated foothold inside one of the world's most demanding supervisory regimes, and £25.7 billion of customer deposits that can be lent against. Monzo's own European expansion, already live in Ireland and Spain, would offer Nubank a route into the single market that it could not build quickly from Sao Paulo.

The bigger picture here is that digital banking is consolidating across borders rather than within them. The first generation of challenger banks fought for domestic market share. The second generation, of which this potential deal is the clearest signal yet, is about platforms with large balance sheets buying licensed entities in markets that are expensive and slow to enter organically. For Nubank, which is separately pursuing a US national bank licence, adding a UK bank would give it regulated presences on three continents.

The price is defensible but not cheap. At 4.7 to 5.9 times latest annual revenue, Nubank would be paying a growth multiple for a business that generated £87.3 million of statutory pretax profit on £1.7 billion of revenue, a margin that remains thin by the standards of established lenders. The 78 to 122 percent premium to the October 2024 mark reflects how much ground Monzo's valuation has already made up in private markets.

My judgement is that a funding round remains the more likely near-term outcome, with a sale as a live but genuinely uncertain alternative. The talks are explicitly preliminary, and both sides have refused to confirm anything. Monzo's board has a capital-hungry European expansion plan that a round above £8 billion would fund without handing control to a single foreign buyer. Any acquisition also faces a dual review by the PRA and the FCA plus a shareholder vote involving Accel, Iconiq, Passion Capital and CapitalG, a sequence that takes months and can stall. Still, the fact that Morgan Stanley and Qatalyst have been engaged, and that the reported range has firmed rather than drifted, suggests Nubank is being taken seriously.

Why It Matters

For the London Stock Exchange, this is the latest in a series of missed listings. Monzo had long been courted as an IPO candidate, and a sale to a New York-listed acquirer would remove one of the few large UK fintech names still available to domestic public markets. Sky News framed the talks in exactly those terms, and the timing, barely two years after Monzo's £4.5 billion secondary sale, underlines how quickly an IPO pipeline can be diverted into trade sales.

For British fintech more broadly, the deal would test how open the UK's regulatory gateway is to foreign ownership of a mid-sized retail bank. The PRA and the FCA would have to satisfy themselves about the acquirer's capital, governance and operational resilience, and a change of control at a bank with 15.2 million customers and £25.7 billion of deposits is not a routine approval. For Nubank, the appeal is obvious: a profitable, deposit-rich UK bank that has already done the hard work of winning a licence and building a consumer brand.

For customers and employees, the practical consequences would take years to surface. Deposit protection, app continuity and lending policies would all be shaped by decisions made in Sao Paulo rather than London, even if the Monzo brand survived. That is the real stake in a story that currently looks like a valuation headline.

Next Up

The immediate next step is for Monzo's board to decide which path to pursue, and the timetable is not public. Watch for three signals: whether the private-equity conversations about a stake of up to 15 percent progress, whether a formal funding round is announced at a valuation above £8 billion, and whether Nubank makes any filing or statement that goes beyond its standing no-comment line. Any move to a binding offer would trigger engagement with the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.

If the talks collapse, Monzo still has a European expansion plan and a possible London listing to fall back on. If they advance, the transaction would become the largest purchase of a British bank by a Latin American company, and a marker for how far cross-border consolidation in digital banking has travelled.