Billionaire’s US Banking Ordeal Fuels Her Mission to Disrupt It

Billionaire Cristina Junqueirahad a hard time getting a credit card after landing in Miami last year with her husband and four kids in tow.

“That took months,” she remembers, recalling an experience with the private banking division of a major institution. But that strenuous ordeal was a reminder of why she came to the US in the first place.

“We know how to solve these problems,” she said in an interview.

Cristina Junqueira during an interview in Miami on March 2.

Photographer: Ysa Pérez/Bloomberg

Frustration with the traditional banking system pushed Junqueira to co-found Nu Holdings Ltd. with David Velez in 2013. Better known as Nubank, it’s quickly become Latin America’s ...