Febraban Demands Equal CSLL in New Study, Directly Criticizes Nubank

Overview

• The study finds banks face higher nominal CSLL than fintechs by 5 to 11 percentage points and calls for identical statutory treatment across similar activities.
• Febraban reports fintechs post stronger margins, citing average profitability of about 37% versus 17.5% for banks and credit interest revenue of 22.9% versus 8.5%.
• The federation argues fintechs benefit from lighter regulatory costs, no compulsory reserves and extensive use of the FGC, which it says enlarge taxable bases.
• It estimates 2024 effective IR+CSLL at roughly 22.8% for major banks and 26.5% for large fintechs, countering claims that fintechs face lighter effective taxation.
• Zetta, representing fintechs like Nubank and Mercado Pago, says Febraban aims to curb competition and cites its own effective-rate figures of 29.7% for fintechs versus 12.2% for banks; Nubank has not commented.