What Banco Inter is, in 2026
Banco Inter S.A. is a Brazilian full bank (BACEN-regulated banco-múltiplo charter), founded in 1994 as a Minas Gerais thrift (Intermedium) and re-launched in 2015 as a digital-first institution. The customer base now runs around 33 million — roughly one in six adult Brazilians has an Inter account, and Inter is consistently among the top five Brazilian banks by daily-active mobile users. The parent (Inter & Co, Inc.) is public on NASDAQ under ticker INTR; the bank itself sits one layer down in the corporate structure as Banco Inter S.A.
The product surface is what the brand markets as the super-app stack:
- Conta Inter — the free checking account. No monthly maintenance fee, no minimum balance, free TED and PIX transfers, free debit card. The remunerated balance pays 100% of CDI by default — that's Inter's structural answer to Nubank's RDB-on-Nuconta mechanic. CDI tracks the BACEN Selic policy rate within a few basis points; the gross yield in 2025–2026 has run roughly in line with Nubank's at ~10-12% per annum before tax, depending on where Selic sits.
- Inter Invest — the investing arm, operating through Inter DTVM (CVM- regulated brokerage subsidiary). Single-name Brazilian stocks, FIIs (real-estate investment funds), ETFs, Tesouro Direto (direct treasury securities), the fund supermarket, and structured products. The "zero brokerage" positioning applies to equity / ETF execution; FIDC and structured products carry their own fee schedules.
- Inter Shop — the marketplace + cashback layer that is genuinely unique in the Brazilian neobank cohort. Roughly 80+ partner brands (food delivery, e-commerce, streaming, travel, insurance) route cashback rebates directly into the customer's Conta Inter balance. The cashback rate varies by partner and category and moves over time; the structural fact is that the rebate lands in the bank balance immediately rather than as an external loyalty currency, which is the unit-economics differentiator.
- Inter Seguros — insurance brokerage (life, home, auto, dental, pet, travel) distributing third-party insurer products. Not a primary use case for most readers but the cross-sell economics matter to Inter's revenue mix.
- Inter Global Account — a USD account for Brazilian residents (originally launched via a US partner-bank custody arrangement), and as of January 2026 a separately licensed banking branch in Miami that extends regulated credit and banking products to US and non-US residents. The Miami branch is the structural extension that moved Inter from "Brazilian-only super-app" to "Brazilian super-app with US-resident banking surface" in one regulatory step.
Safety and regulation — FGC R$ 250.000, direct cover
Banco Inter S.A. is a banco-múltiplo chartered and supervised directly by Banco Central do Brasil (BACEN) under Law 4.595/1964 and the supplementary BCB resolutions that govern Brazilian full-bank licensees. The FGC (Fundo Garantidor de Créditos) cover applies directly at Banco Inter — there is no partner-bank in the deposit chain, which is the structural difference from a payments-institution wallet model (Mercado Pago, the various ifoods of the payments world) where the depositor-of-record relationship runs to the custody bank rather than the consumer-facing brand.
The FGC ceiling is R$ 250.000 per depositor per institution per ownership category, with an aggregate four-year R$ 1.000.000 cap across all FGC-member institutions. The 250k ceiling applies to ordinary deposit accounts (conta-corrente, conta de poupança), CDBs issued by Inter, LCAs, LCIs, and similar covered instruments. It does not apply to investment products that are not deposits — Inter Invest brokerage holdings, direct Tesouro Direto positions, equity / ETF / FII positions in the Inter DTVM custody layer, and the Inter Global Account USD balance all sit outside FGC. The brokerage custody layer is covered by the separate B3 / CVM market-infrastructure protections, not by FGC.
On the supervisory side: BACEN runs prudential supervision (capital, liquidity, recovery and resolution planning, Basel III) and CVM supervises the Inter DTVM brokerage layer separately under the Brazilian capital-markets framework. The two regulatory perimeters coexist inside the same group but apply different rules to different products inside the same app — a reader allocating across Conta Inter (FGC), Inter Invest (CVM market- infrastructure), and the Inter Global USD account (US-side regulatory perimeter post- January 2026) sees three distinct regulatory regimes in one product surface.
The Miami banking branch — what changed in January 2026
The January 2026 authorisation of Inter's Miami-licensed international banking branch is the structural news in this edition of the review. The branch is licensed by the relevant US banking regulator (Florida Office of Financial Regulation in coordination with the federal supervisory framework for international banking entities) and extends Inter's regulated banking products to:
- Brazilian residents with USD accounts and international payment needs, who previously used the Inter Global Account through a partner-bank custody arrangement and now have a direct Inter banking relationship for those balances.
- US residents — both individual and business — who can open Inter-branded US-side banking products. This is the first time a Brazilian full-bank has authorised a regulated US-resident-facing banking branch under its own brand (rather than via a US acquisition or a separate US subsidiary), and the structural differentiator is that the branch is part of the same legal entity as the Brazilian Banco Inter — not a separate US bank.
- Non-US-resident international clients — individuals and businesses outside the US who want a USD banking relationship with a regulated US-side branch. Inter's positioning here is the Latin American executive / SME audience that has used Miami-domiciled correspondent-banking relationships historically and now has a direct Brazilian-owned US-licensed alternative.
The deposit-protection chain for US-side Inter Global balances depends on the licence class and the deposit-insurance status of the Miami branch — typically a US international banking branch is FDIC-insured for its eligible deposit accounts up to the standard FDIC ceiling. Verify on the Inter Global Account product page before relying on a specific FDIC characterisation; the licence is fresh as of January 2026 and the disclosures are still in their initial-deployment phase.
Fees — what costs zero, what costs something
The published fee philosophy on Conta Inter is "core banking free; cross-sell where it makes sense". Specifically:
- Free: monthly account maintenance, PIX (send + receive + QR), TED and DOC (domestic interbank transfers), debit-card issuance, ATM withdrawals up to the monthly free-allowance threshold (verify the current count on the Inter tarifas page), Inter Shop cashback distribution to the Conta Inter balance, brokerage execution on equities and ETFs.
- Tiered: international transfers (Brazilian residents sending USD abroad via the Inter Global Account; rates depend on partner-bank routing and the Miami-branch product if applicable), FX conversion at card-present rates plus the Brazilian IOF (federal financial-transactions levy of 1.1% on most consumer FX uses since the 2025 simplification), and structured-product subscription fees inside Inter Invest (varies by issue).
- Not free: per-jurisdiction taxes on Brazilian-resident foreign-currency uses (IOF as noted above, plus the regional VAT-equivalents that apply to specific transaction types). These are tax surcharges, not Inter fees — the line item appears on the statement and is sometimes misread as a bank fee.
Inter vs Nubank vs C6 — the Brazilian super-app comparison
Three Brazilian neobanks compete in adjacent product spaces. The differentiator shape:
- Nubank — the largest Brazilian neobank by user count, ~100M+ customers. Operates through Nu Pagamentos S.A. (instituição de pagamento + payments rail) and Nu Financeira S.A. (SCFI — credit institution layer). Cleaner UX than Inter, narrower product surface — Nubank does banking + credit card + savings + brokerage but not the cashback marketplace or insurance brokerage of Inter. Choose Nubank if you want the cleanest UX and Brazil-only product needs.
- Banco Inter (this review) — ~33M customers. Full-bank charter, broader product surface including Inter Shop cashback and Inter Seguros insurance brokerage, plus the new Miami banking branch (Jan 2026) for US-resident access. Choose Inter if you want the super-app breadth and the cashback economics matter to you, or if the Miami branch unlocks a USD-account use case that Nubank doesn't address.
- C6 Bank — ~30M customers. Premium-positioned super-app with similar product breadth (banking + investing + multi-currency card + C6 Tag toll-payment). C6 Carbono is the premium tier. Choose C6 if you prize a slightly more premium UI feel and the multi-currency card matters, or if the Globe / Tag features fit your travel pattern.
All three are direct FGC R$250k members on their banking-deposit products. The differentiation is product-surface and UX, not regulatory category.
Who Banco Inter is for
Choose Banco Inter if: you're a Brazilian resident wanting a fee-free full-bank with broad product breadth (banking + investing + cashback shopping + insurance + USD account in one app), you find the cashback economics through Inter Shop meaningful (typical well-engaged user routes BRL 800–3,000 of monthly retail spend through Inter Shop partners), and you can tolerate a slightly cluttered super-app UX in exchange for the breadth. The Conta Inter remunerated-balance yield at 100% of CDI is at parity with Nubank's RDB mechanic — the cashback layer is the structural Inter-vs-Nubank differentiator.
The Miami branch (Jan 2026) makes Inter a credible choice for: Brazilian residents with regular USD banking needs, US residents who want a Brazilian-bank-affiliated US-side banking relationship, and non-US-resident international clients who prefer a Brazilian- owned US-licensed branch over a generic Miami correspondent-banking relationship. Verify the specific account terms and FDIC characterisation on the Inter Global Account product page before relying on a specific protection figure.
Look elsewhere if: you prefer Nubank's calmer UX and don't value the cashback marketplace breadth; you're outside Brazil and don't need the Miami-branch US-side products; or you want investment-grade premium UI feel (C6 Carbono is the closer match).