Brazil’s Largest Fintech Nubank Apologizes for Racism, Vows ‘Historic Reparation Agenda’

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Saturday, October 24th, Latin America’s largest Fintech, São Paulo based Nubank, published a letter signed by the online bank’s three co-founders apologizing for co-founder Cristina Junqueira’s remarks on the Roda Viva show, which were considered racist.

“Diversity has always been part of our culture. The mistake was to believe that value alone was enough. The mistake was to think that things were going to work themselves out,” reads the statement.

“We were satisfied with the progress we made in our first years of existence, which was reflected in some statistics regarding gender equality and LGBTQIA+, for instance, which, repeated, obscured the urgent need for active positioning also in the anti-racist agenda,” the letter continues.

In addition, the bank commits itself to “advance, within and beyond, with an agenda of historical reparation and to fight structural racism”.

To this end, they announced that they have partnered with the IDBR (Brazil’s Identities Institute). “The goal is to broaden our understanding on the issue, establish our public and ongoing engagement and expedite the promotion of racial equality at Nubank,” explains the statement.

Understanding the case

During her appearance at the Roda Viva show last Monday, Cristina Junqueira, Nubank’s co-founder, said that the level of demand to work at the bank is high and that it is impossible to “level down” in reference to a potential affirmative policy for black candidates.

The statement reflected poorly on social media, and the bank was accused of racism. Recently, Brazilian companies such as Magazine Luiza, announced exclusive trainee programs for black professionals.

“Nubank made a mistake

Seven years ago, when we founded Nubank, our greatest desire was to build a culture with very solid values.

Among our most admired values is Building Strong and Diverse Teams. Diversity has always been part of our culture. The mistake was to think that having the value by itself was enough.

The mistake was to think that things are going to work out on their own, by the Nubankers community itself, organically, with no continuous efforts and leadership investments.

We were satisfied with the progress we made in our first years of existence, which was reflected in some statistics regarding gender equality and LGBTQIA+, for instance, which, repeated, obscured the urgent need for active positioning also in the anti-racist agenda.

We stopped questioning ourselves. We overlooked the long road ahead. As a result, we lost the humility that has always been the feature that helped us understand old issues with new solutions and an innovative mentality.

We made a mistake.

Ethnic-racial diversity is a much broader and more complex challenge than we imagined. We spent the last few days talking with the black community of Nubankers, with black activists from outside Nubank and also with our clients.nd, with an agenda of historical reparation and the fight against structural racism.

In these discussions, we realized how much we need to progress, within and beyond, with an agenda of historical reparation and the fight against structural racism. Brazil has excellent black professionals in different careers.

At Nubank, we are very proud of our community and we apologize to Black Nubankers, the Black movement and under-represented groups for not having done more. Nubank needs to listen to change. We need many more specific actions. We want to learn about race to lead our teams in this change.

As founders, we are committed to listen more and act more. We already had initiatives focused on recruitment and inclusion, but we know it’s not enough.

We are nonconformists by nature, we question everything including ourselves. We will use this feature to start a journey of racial inclusion again. But we don’t have nor do we want simplistic solutions.

That is why we are designing a real agenda with specific and ambitious transformational actions in the area of racial diversity, which we will share in November with the figures of our commitment.

To build it, we are working with our Nubankers, black community representatives, racial diversity experts, consultants and NGOs.

We have just signed a partnership with the Brazil’s Identities Institute (ID_BR) as the first step in this learning and transformation journey. The goal is to broaden our understanding of the issue, strengthen our public and ongoing engagement and expedite the promotion of racial equality at Nubank.

The ID_BR grants companies on this path the “Yes to Racial Equality” Seal at the “Commitment” level, and Nubank is already included in this process. There is an agenda to be accomplished and the institute will assist us in this journey to continue the strategic planning focused on racial issues.

We also decided to double the size of the internal team dedicated to recruiting professionals from under-represented groups in all of the company’s positions and levels and to enhance the search for black leaders to help us in this process.

We are sure that this work will yield benefits for Nubank and for society. We hope that banks, fintechs and other financial system agents will join us in this movement to help change the reality around us.

Our commitment now is to challenge the status quo again – this time in the field of racial diversity and inclusion in Brazil and Latin America.

David Vélez, founder and CEO of Nubank.
Cristina Junqueira, co-founder.
Edward Wible, co-founder.

Source: UOL