Intercorp Financial Services Inc. Common Shares

Good morning and welcome to the Intercorp Financial Services First Quarter 2024 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 procedure to follow if you would like to ask a question. Also, you can submit online questions at any time today using the window on the webcast, and they will be answered after the presentation during the Q&A session. Simply type your question in a box and click Submit Question. It is now my pleasure to turn this call over to Mr. Ivan Peel from Inspire Group. Sir, you may begin.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. On today's call, Intercorp Financial Services will discuss its fourth quarter 2024 earnings. We are pleased to have with us Mr. Luis Felipe Castellanos, Chief Executive Officer, Intercorp Financial Services, Ms. Miquela Casasa, Chief Financial Officer, Intercorp Financial Services, Mr. Carlos Torre, Chief Executive Officer, Interbank. Mr. Gonzalo Basadre, Chief Executive Officer, Interseguro. Mr. Bruno Ferrecho, Chief Executive Officer, IntelliGo. 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. Otherwise, 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 made are 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 and welcome to our fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. I want to thank you all for attending our call today. 2024 marked a period of recovery, both for our country and for IFS. In the macroeconomic front, we finished the year with an improved sentiment and outlook on the back of a rebound in manufacturing, construction, agro, and fishing. Inflation remained under control, and our currency, the soul, was stable. We're anticipating a GDP growth of 3.2% for the year 2024, primarily driven by the mentioned recovery in diverse sectors and improved drivers of private investment and consumption. Peru will probably be the country with the highest growth in the region for 2024. Looking ahead to 2025, we continue to be modestly optimistic about the future growth of Peru. We expect private investments and consumption to continue its positive trend. However, we're cautious given that 2025 is a pre-electoral year and changes in the external environment could create certain volatility. 2024 results for IFS confirm that we are emerging from the most challenging phase of the credit cycle. During the first half of 2024, we still carried the challenges that the challenge is coming from the deterioration of the consumer portfolio from the previous year, but as expected in the second half, and particularly in this last queue, we saw an important recovery boosted by the liquidity events that helped Peruvian consumers, including the fourth release of pension funds and the availability of severance indemnity deposits. that the risking strategy we implemented in the banking segment has definitely paid off, as the cost of risk has returned to low levels. Additionally, the market performance has had a positive impact on our investment portfolio, both in the insurance and the wealth management segments. As a result, the recovery of our business is evident. We achieved an ROE of 18% plus in the fourth quarter, a fast recovery that demonstrates the resilience and value of our operations. We believe that these trends should continue. At Interbank, we had a positive year as we have been able to increase our market shares in loans and deposits, consolidating our position as the third largest bank in both. Our growth in loans has been driven by commercial banking, where we have gained over 80 basis points in market shares. We believe we have begun our recovery path in the consumer portfolio. We have deployed enhanced internal risk models, thus further improving our underwriting standards. Although, we are still being cautious. EasyPay and Interbank continue to seize business opportunities together, while Plin keeps increasing the engagement of users, fostering more primary banking relationships and supporting growth. On a separate note in the banking segment, it is worth to mention that by year end, we executed a successful issuance of subordinated bonds at the lowest ever spread for Interbank, which reaffirms the market's confidence in our franchise. At Interseguro, we have seen relevant growth in our core business, mainly in individual life and annuities, where we continue to be the market leader. Our wealth management segment in Deligo had a positive year in its core business as assets under management reached an all-time high, growing by 17% in the year. The investment portfolio's performance also improved. Our key strategic priority at IFS continues to be to achieve digital excellence for our customers to generate primary relationships. Our ambition is to be a leading digital platform with focus on key businesses and profitable growth, providing a comprehensive offering of the best digital experience with deep analytical capabilities as our competitive advantage. Going forward, we continue to be optimistic about IFS's franchise and outlook on the back of the continued recovery of Perus Fundamentals while we continue to execute our long-term strategy. Now, Let me pass it on to Miquela for further explanation of this quarter and full-year results. Thank you.