Banco BBVA Argentina Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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May 24, 2023

There are 2 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for waiting. At this time, we would like to welcome everyone to BBVA Argentina's First Quarter 2023 Fiscal Year Results Conference Call. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in listen only mode during the company's presentation. After the company's remarks are completed, there will be a question and answer session. At that time, further instructions will be given.

Operator

First of all, let me point out that some of the statements made during this conference call may be forward looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor provisions found in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 under U. S. Federal Securities Law. These forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward looking statements. Additional information concerning these factors is contained in BBVA Argentina's Annual Report on Form 20 F for the fiscal year 2022 filed with the U.

Operator

S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Today with us, we have Mrs. Carmen Morillo Arroyo, CFO and Mrs. Ines Llanuz, IRO and Ms.

Operator

Belen Forcade, Investor Relations. Ms. Forcade, you may now begin your conference.

Speaker 1

Good morning, and welcome to EBR Centina's Q1 2023 fiscal year results conference call. Today's webinar will be supported by a slide presentation available on our Investor Relations website on the Financial Information section. Speaking during today's call will be Ines La Nuce, our Investor Relations Officer and Carmen Mauricio Rosso, our Chief Financial Officer, who will be available for the Q and A session. Please note that starting January 1, 2020, as per Central Bank Regulation, we have begun reporting results applying hyperinflation accounting pursuant to IFRS rule IAS 29. For ease of comparability, 20222023 figures have been restated to reflect the accumulated effect of inflation adjustments for each period through March 31, 2023.

Speaker 1

Now let me turn the call over to Ines. Thank you, Belen, and thank you all for joining us today. As we are all aware, in spite of a less favorable global context and a local environment characterized by a difficulty of correcting current macroeconomic distortions and of meeting the established objectives in the loan agreement reached in March of last year with an International Monetary Fund, economic activity has shown dynamism in 2022. GDP grew 5.2% in 2022 and would fall 2.5% in 2023 according to BBVA Research. Nonetheless, the global context, high local inflation, financial volatility, the limited leeway to adopt new stimulus measures and our sensitivity about economic policy in a presidential election year led to make the expectations of a contraction of GDP in 2023.

Speaker 1

Referring to BBVA's Argentina performance, a better operating income as of March 2023 was a product of an improvement in interest income boosted by the loan portfolio. BBB Argentina has a corporate responsibility with society inherent to the bank's business model, which bolsters inclusion, financial education and support scientific research and culture. The bank works with the highest integrity, long term vision and best practices and is present through the BBVA Group in the main sustainability indexes. Moving into business dynamics, as you can see on Slide 3 of our webcast presentation, our service offering has evolved in such a way that by the end of March 2023, retail digital clients penetration reached 62%, remaining stable from a year back, while that of retail mobile clients reached 56% from 54% as of the same period of last year. The response on the side of customers has been satisfactory and we are convinced this is a path to pursue in the aim of sustaining and expanding our competitive position in the financial system.

Speaker 1

Retail digital sales have increased from 82.7% in the Q1 of 2022 to 92.5% of units and represents 69.2% of the bank's total sales measured in mandatory values versus 53.6% in the Q1 of 2022. New customer acquisitions through digital channels reached 72% in the Q1 of 2023 from 69% in the Q1 of 2022. The bank actively monitors its business, financial conditions and operating results in the aim of keeping a competitive decision to face contextual challenges. Moving to Slide 4, I will now comment on the bank's Q1 2023 financial results. BBVA Argentina Q1 2023 net income was ARS 15,000,000,000, decreasing 27.8% quarter over quarter.

Speaker 1

This implied a quarterly ROE of 13.7% and a quarterly ROA of 2.6%. Operating income in the Q1 of 2023 was ARS 78,800,000,000, 4.9 percent above the ARS 75.1 1,000,000,000 recorded in the first in the Q4 of 2022. Quarterly operating results are mainly explained by greater interest income driven by: 1, better interest income, result of a product of higher monetary policy rate compared to the previous quarter, which allowed a higher average interest rate and 2, a decline in other operating expenses. This effect was partially offset by an increase in 1, net fee income and 2, an increase in administrative expenses. Net income for the period was highly impacted by income from net monetary position as inflation increased from 17.3% in the Q4 of 2022 to 21.7% in the Q1 of 2023.

Speaker 1

Turning into the P and L lines in Slide 56, Net interest income for the Q1 of 2023 was ARS 131,200,000,000, increasing 1.6 percent quarter over quarter. In the Q1 of 2023, interest income in monetary and percentage terms increased more than interest expenses, mainly due to 1, increase in income from interest from loans, in particular overdraft, discounted instruments and credit cards and 2, increase in income from repos. The Itchen mentioned take place in a context of increasing interest rate of products derived from an increase in the monetary policy rate by the Central Bank during the previous and current quarter. In the Q1 of 2023, interest income totaled ARS 249,200,000,000, increasing 1.5% compared to the Q4 of 2022. Quarterly increase is mainly driven by: 1, an increase in interest from loan, mainly overdraft, discounted instruments and credit cards, especially due to the increase in interest and 2, an increase in repo premises.

Speaker 1

Interest expenses totaled ARS 118,000,000,000 denoting a 1.4% increase quarter over quarter and a 93.9% increase year over year. Quarterly increase is described by higher time deposit expenses, offset by a fall in SERP UBA adjustment expenses connected to SER linked time deposits. Interest from time deposits, including investment accounts, explained 82.8% of interest expenses versus 79.9 percent in the previous quarter. Net fee income as of the Q1 of 2023 totaled ARS 11,300,000,000, decreasing 8.5% quarter over quarter. In the Q4 of 2023, fee income totaled ARS 22,000,000,000 falling 8.7% quarter over quarter.

Speaker 1

The quarter decrease is mainly explained by: 1, the 12.7% fall in fees from credit cards, considering that this line includes Punto's PDGA program negative effect and 2, fees linked to liabilities. Regarding fee expenses, these totaled ARS 10,700,000,000 falling 9% quarter over quarter. Lower expenses in the quarter are partially explained by increased expenditures at year end linked to commercial promotion and acquisition costs. In the Q1 of 2023, loan loss allowance decreased 8.6% due to the good performance of our portfolio. During the Q1 of 2023, total operating expenses were ARS 69,100,000,000, decreasing 1.2% quarter over quarter, of which 32% were personnel benefits costs remaining stable versus the Q4 of 2022.

Speaker 1

Personal benefits decreased 1.2% quarter over quarter. The quarterly decrease is partially explained by the decline in severance payments. This is offset by the effect of a collective agreement on wages with the unions for 2023 and the additional for 2022. As of the Q1 of 2023, administrative expenses increased 13.2% quarter over quarter. The quarterly increase is partially explained by 1, outsourced administrative expenses 2, greater rent expenses related to software and licenses contracted with the parent company 3, increase in software services and 4, greater advertising expenses.

Speaker 1

The quarterly efficiency ratio as of the Q1 of 2023 was 62.4%, deteriorating compared to the 53% reported in the Q4 of 2022 an improving versus the 72.2% reported in the Q1 of 2022. The quarterly deterioration is explained by a higher increase in expenses and income, especially due to a significant increase in the negative quarterly results from the net monetary decision. The accumulated efficiency ratio as of the Q1 of 2023 was 62.4%, improving compared to the 64% reported in the Q4 of 2022 versus the 72.2% reported in the Q1 of 2022. In terms of activity on Slide 7, private sector loans as of the Q1 of 2023 totaled ARS 875,300,000,000, decreasing 2% quarter over quarter and increasing 3.7% year over year. Loans to the private sector in pesos fell 1.6 percent in the Q1 of 2023.

Speaker 1

During the quarter, the decrease was especially driven by a 24.5% decrease in other loans, especially corporate and commercial loans, followed by a 4.3% fall in credit cards. The later are explained by contracts versus the Q4 of 2022 seasonal effect. The fall was offset by a 40 0.5% increase in an overdraft. Loans to the private sector denominated in foreign currency decreased 8.6% quarter over quarter. Quarterly decrease is mainly explained by a 50.2% reduction in other loans and partially offset by a 7% increase in financing and pre financing of export.

Speaker 1

Loans to the private sector in foreign currency measured in U. S. Dollars fell 5.7% quarter over quarter and increased 5.4% year over year. During the quarter, both the retail and commercial portfolio fell in real terms. Loan portfolio was highly impacted by the effect of inflation during the Q1 of 2023, which reached 21.7%.

Speaker 1

In nominal terms, BBVA Argentina managed to increase the total loan portfolio by 19.3% during the quarter. CDA Argentina's consolidated market share of private sector loans reached 9.33% as of the Q1 of 2023, improving from 7.89% a year ago. In the Q1 of 2023, asset quality ratio was 1.31% compared to the 1.13% recorded in the Q4 of 2022. The slight increase is mainly explained by an increase in the retail non performing level. On the funding side, as seen on Slide 8, private non financial sector deposits in the Q1 of 2023 totaled ARS 1,600,000,000,000, slightly falling 2.2 percent quarter over quarter.

Speaker 1

The bank's consolidated market share of private deposits reached 6.83% as of the Q1 of 2023. Non financial sector deposits in pesos decreased 1.1% compared to the Q4 of 2022. The quarterly change is mainly affected by a 14.8% decrease in site deposits, offset by an increase in time deposits of 6%. Private non financial sector deposits in foreign currency expressed in pesos fell 4.2% quarter over quarter. In terms of capitalization, PVVA Argentina continues to show strong solvency indicators as of the Q1 of 2023.

Speaker 1

Capital ratio reached 27.9%. Exposure to the public sector in the Q1 of 2023, excluding Central Bank Instruments, represented 9.1% of total assets, slightly below the 10.1% in the Q4 of 2022 and way below the 17% reported by the system as of March 2023. It is worth mentioning that the shareholders meeting held on April 28, 2023, approved authorization request to the Central Bank for the distribution of ARS 50,400,000,000, ARS 35,600,000,000 of which were declared and approved by such meetings and are added to the ARS 14,800,000,000 pending distribution. The bank's total liquidity ratio remained healthy at 78.7% of total deposits as of March 31, 2023. This concludes our prepared remarks.

Speaker 1

We will now take your questions. Operator, please open the line for questions.

Operator

We will now begin the question and answer session. It appears there are no questions. So this concludes our question and answer session. At this time, I would like to turn the floor back over to Mrs. Lamouz for any closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you for your time and let us know if you have further questions. Have a good day. Bye.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thanks for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
Banco BBVA Argentina Q1 2023
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