Banco BBVA Argentina S.A. ADS

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 2021 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 presentation. After company remarks are completed, there will be a question and answer session. At that time, further instructions will be given. Should any participant need assistance during this call, please press star zero to reach the operator. First of all, let me stress 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 and 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 20F for the fiscal year 2020, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Today with us we have Mr. Ernesto Gallardo, CFO, Mrs. Ines Lenuce, IRO, and Ms. Belen Forcade, Investor Relations. Ms. Forcade, you may begin your conference.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to PBDA Argentina's first quarter 2021 earnings conference call. Before we begin our formal remark, let me remind you that certain statements made during the course of the discussion may constitute forward-looking statements, which are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to materially differ, including factors that may be beyond the company's control. For a description of these risks, please refer to our SEC filings and earnings release, which are available at our investor relations website, ir.bbva.com.ar. Speaking during today's call will be Ines Lanuce and Ernesto Acharo, our Chief Financial Officer. will be available for the Q&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, 2020 figures have been restated to reflect the accumulated effect of inflation adjustments for each period through March 31, 2021. I would also like to add that following the application of Central Bank's communication A72-11, as of this earnings release, we are again able to present figures of the last five quarters expressed in current currency. Now, let me turn the call over to Inés.

Thank you, Belén, and thank all of you for joining us on the first quarter 2021 conference call. Let me start by commenting that despite some incipient signs of economy recovery, uncertainties remain in regards to the resolution of negotiation of the national government with the IMF and the economic plan linked to the results of such arrangements. The evolution of the pandemic, the additional measures that may be taken by the government, and the next midterm elections further complicate the current situation. In this context, resilience of the financial sector is critical to be able to adequately and safely provide banking products and services to society. BBDA Argentina has proven this adaptive capacity through a modern branch network and an efficient and safe operating scheme from a sanitary point of view as our retail and wholesale clients continue to adopt the use of digital channels to access to our products and services. In line with this, the digitalization of our offer has evolved in such a way that at the end of March 2021, the penetration of our digital clients reached 73% from 68% in the prior year, while that of mobile clients reached 62% from 56% a year before. In terms of responsible banking, BBVA Argentina keeps working towards its sustainable model, supporting responsible business actions regarding inclusion, financial education, and environmental protection as part of its compromise with the country. I will now comment on the Bank's first quarter 2021 financial results. BBVA Argentina first quarter 2021 net income, including inflation adjustment effects, total 3.0 billion pesos, growing 821.6% quarter-over-quarter and 60.8% year-over-year. Quarterly results are mainly explained by 1. an adequate operating cost management, 2. the reduction in loan loss allowances, 3. the recovery of approbation recorded in 2017 in the frame of the legal action filed by the banks, to declare unconstitutionality of the provisions that prevented the application and inflation adjustment for the 2016 fiscal period recorded in the income tax line. And, fourth, the negative impact of inflation during the quarter. This being said, the 821.6% quarterly variation is mainly affected by One, the adjustment in the valuation of PRISMA introduced retroactively in the fourth quarter 2020 results in the line net income from measurements of financial instruments at fair value to P&L, which were required by the central bank, subject to the announcement of the fourth quarter 2020 financial statements. And two, The retroactive application of modifications and exposure of monetary results stated in communication A7211 for the financial statements ended in December 31st, 2020. Based on the privileges described in the first quarter of 2021, BDDA Argentina presented a positive real return on equity of 10.5% and a real return on assets of 1.6%, proving the bank's resilience. In the quarter, net interest income totaled 21.5 billion pesos, 2.3% lower than the results posted in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 8.1% lower than the results posted a year ago. In the first quarter of 2021, the greater interest income does not make up for the increasing interest expenses. mainly due to the regulation inactive and passive rates, to greater expenses generated by time deposits, and to a lesser extent by overlinked time deposits driven by a boost in quarterly inflation. During the first quarter of 2021, Interest income totals 36.7 billion pesos, 1.5% higher quarter over quarter, and 4.5% above first quarter 2020 interest income. Quarterly increase is mainly explained by a 16.6% increment in interest income from credit cards and a 26.4% growth in income from third UBA adjustments, This last explained by the acceleration of inflation during the first quarter of 2021, boosted by income from public securities linked to such indexes. The increase was partially offset by a 5.8% fall in income from government securities, as the effective rate from interest gained through central bank liquidity bills did not compensate the quarterly inflation rate, additional to a 13.7% fall in income from overdrafts. Interest income from loans and other financing totaled 17.7 billion pesos, growing 0.5% quarter over quarter. This is mainly explained by a 16.6% increase in credit cards and a 5.3% increase in pledge loans. The increment was offset by a fall in other loans by 2.2%, which include part of the productive investment credit lines implemented by the central fund, in overdrafts by 13.7%, and in discounted instruments by 3.8%, the later driven by lower commercial activity. Interest expenses from time deposits and investment accounts explained 79.2% of total interest expenses, versus 78.9% in the previous quarter. Interest from time deposits grew 7.7% quarter over quarter and 30.4% year over year. Net fee income as of the first quarter of 2021 totaled 3.4 billion pesos, growing 6.1% quarter-over-quarter and 25.4% year-over-year. In the first quarter of 2021, fee income totaled 7.7 billion pesos, contracting 9.7% quarter-over-quarter and 0.3% year-over-year. The quarterly fall is mainly explained by the income from credit cards, in part due to the seasonal effect and to the implementation of the new reward program. Lower expenses in the quarter are partially driven by savings in promotions and client acquisition costs compared to what was expended in the fourth quarter of 2020, affected by seasonal taxes. During the first quarter of 2021, personal benefits and administrative expenses totaled 11.2 billion pesos, increasing 2.0% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020 and falling 2.5% compared to the first quarter of 2020. Personal benefits increased 6.4% quarter over quarter and decreased 7.8% year over year. This is partially explained by salary increases arranged through collective bargaining agreements, additional to barrier remuneration payments. As of the first quarter of 2021, administrative expenses fell 2.5% quarter-over-quarter and increased 4.1% year-over-year. The quarterly fall is mainly due to savings in armored transportation services driven by the lower commercial activity. The accumulated efficiency ratio as of the first quarter of 2021 was 72.5% above the 56.8% and the 59.3% reported in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2020 respectively. This increase is especially affected by a fall in financial income and the acceleration of the inflation during the first quarter of 2021. Excluding inflation adjustments, considering the income from the monetary position line item, the first quarter 2021 accumulated efficiency ratio would have been 50.1%. In terms of activity, private sector loans and reinsurance as of the first quarter of 2021 totaled 296.8 billion pesos, decreasing 9.5% quarter over quarter and 7.7% year over year. Loans to the private sector in pesos decreased 10% in the first quarter of 2021 and remained flat in the year with a 0.9% minor increase. Loans to the private sector denominated in foreign currency fell 5.4% quarter over quarter and and 45.0% year-over-year, mainly driven by the contraction in advance of loans in foreign currency. These loans, measured in U.S. dollars, fell 13.5% quarter-over-quarter and 61.4% year-over-year. The depreciation of the Argentine pesos versus the U.S. dollar was 8.5% quarter-over-quarter and 29.9% year-over-year. BBVA Argentina consolidated market share on private sector loans as of March 2021, reached 8.23% from 8.35% in the first quarter of 2020. Retail loans fell 5.7% quarter over quarter and grew 8.1% year over year. During the quarter, the greatest decline is seen in credit cards with a 7.5% decrease. Commercial loans contracted 14.8% quarter over quarter and 24.7% year over year, mainly due to a seasonal deceleration of commercial activity. This being said, declining both retail and commercial portfolios are mainly impacted by the effects of inflation in the first quarter of 2021, which reached 13%. In nominal terms, the retail portfolio and the total loan portfolio increased 5.0% and 2.2% respectively, reversing the trend compared to the inflation-adjusted figures. On the other hand, also in nominal terms, the commercial portfolio contracted 1.8%, pushed by lower activity. In the first quarter of 2021, growth loans to deposit ratio was 58.9% from 70.3% a year ago. In the first quarter of 2021, asset quality ratio, or NPL, was 1.72%, while the cover ratio was 275.22% compared to the 1.40% NPL, and to the 311.95% covered ratio recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020. The evolution of these ratios reflects, first, an increase in the retail non-performing portfolio due to deferred credit card payments related to the expiration of COVID-19 measures over these loans, which passed to State 3 in January. Secondly, an improvement in the commercial non-performing loans in contact to those recorded in the fourth quarter 2020. And third, a decline in write-offs driven from the decrease in written non-portfolio loans in the prior six months, period required for non-performing loans to be written off. As of the first quarter of 2021, MTL is still positively affected by the temporary flexibility in central bank regulations regarding debt-share classification during the COVID-19 pandemic, which extends great periods in 60 days before a loan is classified as non-performing and suspends the mandatory re-classification of clients that have an irregular performance with other institutions but a regular performance with the bank. Cost of risk reached 2.47%, lower than the fourth quarter 2020, 4.99%. This is mainly explained by the reduction in loan loss allowances in the first quarter 2021, additional to the contract with the fourth quarter 2020 that included losses for the passing to state three of a particular company and the change in parameters in impairment models. In the first quarter of 2021, exposure to the public sector, excluding central bank instruments, measured as a percentage of total assets, reached 6.4% above the 5.6% recorded in the previous quarter. On the funding side, non-financial private sector deposits, as of the first quarter of 2021, total 501.1 billion pesos, decreasing 6% quarter-over-quarter and increasing 8.3% when compared with the first quarter of 2020. Private non-financial sector deposits in pesos total 356.4 billion pesos, falling 6.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020 and growing 18.8% compared to the first quarter of 2020. The quarter length line is mainly explained by the fall in site deposits, especially checking accounts, interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing accounts, and saving accounts. This was partially upset by an 8.1% increase in time deposits. Private non-financial sector deposits in foreign currency expressed in pesos fell 5.2% quarter over quarter and 11% year over year. Measured in U.S. dollars, This deposit fell 13.3% quarter-over-quarter and 37.6% year-over-year. Variations are mainly affected by the effect of inflation during the first quarter of 2021. In nominal terms, total deposits, side deposits, and time deposits grew 6.2%, 19.4%, and 0.2% respectively, reversing the trend in inflation-adjusted figures in certain cases. As of March 2021, BBVA's transactional deposits, including checking and saving accounts, represented 62.9% of total deposits from 66.6% a quarter ago. BBVA Argentina consolidated market share on private sector deposits as of March 2021, reached 6.90% from 6.80% a year ago. In terms of capitalization, BBVA Argentina continues to show strong solvency indicators, accounting an excess capital of 69.2 billion pesos, entailing a total regulatory capital ratio of 22.4% and a tier 1 ratio of 21.7%. The one thing is to make the best use of this excess capital. The bank's liquidity ratio in pesos and dollars remains healthy at 65.8% and 87.7% of total deposits as of March 31st, respectively. Last but not least, on April 20th, 2021, the General Shareholders' Meeting announced approved the distribution of cash dividends for 7 billion pesos equal to 11.43 pesos per share, which implies a 58% payout ratio. The distribution is subject to Central Bank's prior authorization, which has not been granted yet. As of the date of this release, BBVA Argentina has 21.5 billion pesos accumulated in dividends pending distribution. This concludes our prepared remarks. We will now take your questions. Operator, please open the line for questions.