Intercorp Financial Services Inc. Common Shares

Good morning, and welcome to the Intercourt Financial Services fourth quarter 2023 conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. After the presentation, we will open the floor for questions. At that time, instructions will be given as to the procedures to follow if you would like to ask a question. Also, you can submit online questions at any time today using the window on your webcast, and they will be answered after the presentation during the question and answer session. Simply type your question in the box and click Submit Questions. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Ms. Valentina Porto of Inspire Group. Ma'am, you may begin.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. On today's call, Intercorp Financial Services will discuss its fourth quarter 2023 earnings. We are very pleased to have with us Mr. Luis Felipe Castellanos, Chief Executive Officer, Intercorp Financial Services, Ms. Michaela Casasa, Chief Financial Officer, Intercorp Financial Services, Mr. Gonzalo Basadre, Chief Executive Officer, Entreseguro, Mr. Bruno Ferreiro, Chief Executive Officer in Deligo, Mr. Carlos Torre, Executive Vice President of Payments at InCorp Financial Services. They will be discussing the results that were distributed by the company yesterday. There is also a webcast video presentation to accompany the discussion during this call. If you didn't receive a copy of the presentation or the earnings report, they are now available on the company's website, ifs.com.pe, to download a copy. Otherwise, for any reason, if you need any assistance today, please call Inspire Group in New York at 646-940-8843. I would like to remind you that today's call is for investors and analysts only. Therefore, questions from the media will not be taken. Please be advised that forward-looking statements may be made during this conference call. These do not account for future economic circumstances, industry conditions, the company's future performance, or financial results. As such, statements are made based on several assumptions and factors that could change, causing actual results to materially differ from the current expectations. For a complete note on forward-looking statements, please refer to the earnings presentation and report issued yesterday. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Luis Felipe Castellanos, Chief Executive Officer of Intercorp Financial Services, for his opening remarks. Mr. Castellanos, please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Good morning all and welcome to our fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings call. I want to thank you very much for attending. I want to start by making a brief summary of our strategy at IFS. You know that our aspiration includes to become the leading digital financial services solution for clients, providing profitable products and services in our key businesses with the best digital experience for our customers, based on operational excellence and levered on advanced analytics and the best talents are our competitive advantage. This is the strategy we are deploying and we continue to execute it with a long tradition. Regarding economic environment, 2023 was a challenging year in Peru with virtually no GDP growth and a contraction in domestic demand which translated into an deterioration of the payment capabilities of our retail customers. On the positive side, inflation decreased consistently during the second half of 2023, and the central bank has reduced the solidus reference rate by 100 basis funds during the year to 6.25%. Also, expectations of a strong El Nino phenomenon have decreased, and for 2024, GDP growth of around 3% is now expected, which is a good recovery versus last year. Despite this challenging environment, IFS continues to show resilience in its core operations. In 2023, we grew our customer base and revenues, and we continue to consolidate the results of our digitalization efforts. At Interbank, market shares across key business lines remain strong despite moderation in consumer loans. as we are still digesting increased levels of cost of risk, mainly in the consumer finance segments. In spite of the challenging conditions, Interbank remains well-provisioned and well-capitalized. At Interseuro, in 2023, we continued growing in premiums of individual life and retail insurance, while consolidating market leadership in annuities. Investment results continue to be solid in the company. Although global market conditions impacted negatively our investment results in our wealth management business, in 2023, Intellibus' results recovered from the negative profit posted in 2022. Finally, on payments, despite growth in merchants, volumes have moderated in 2023, and this has taken a toll in EasyPay's results. However, Interbank and EasyPay continue working on creating synergies. while clean, continues to accelerate with a fully interoperable P2P system. We remain confident that IFS will continue generating sustainable returns in the coming years, as we are being cautious with our operations. Given the scenario we're facing today, we continue working on our long-term strategy, which is to ultimately empower all Peruvians to achieve their financial well-being. a detailed review of our results. Thank you.