Grupo Supervielle S.A.

Good morning, and welcome to the Grupo Supervielle first quarter 2021 earnings call. A slide presentation will accompany today's webcast, which is available in the investor section of Grupo Supervielle's investor relations website at www.gruposupervielle.com. As a reminder, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of today's presentation. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Ana Bartesaghi, Treasurer and IRO. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Grupo Supervielle first quarter 2021 earnings call. This is Ana Bartesaghi, Treasurer and IRO. Speaking during today's call will be Patricio Supervielle, our Chairman and CEO, and Mariano Biglia, our Chief Financial Officer. Also joining us are Alejandro Stengel, Second Vice Chairman of the Board and Bank CEO, and Jorge Ramirez, First Vice Chairman of the Board. Alejandra Norton, Board Member of several of Grupo Supervielle's subsidiaries, will also be joining us for today's call. All will be available for the Q&A session. Note that starting first Q20, as per central bank regulations, We began reporting results applying hyperinflation accounting in accordance with IFRS Rule IAS 29. Therefore, all results in this presentation are adjusted for inflation as of March 31st, 2021, unless otherwise noted. In addition, following the retrospective application of the Central Bank Communications Act 7211, Effective January 1, 2021, figures for all quarters of 2020 have been restated. For your convenience, our earnings report filed yesterday after market close also includes managerial results in nominal terms. Before we proceed, I would like to make the following safe harbor statement. Today's call will contain forward-looking statements which are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I refer you to the forward-looking statement section of our earnings release and recent filings with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect New or Change Events or Circumstances. Given this new strict lockdown in Argentina and to avoid connectivity issues, we have decided to revert to a conference call format only for this quarter. I would now like to turn the call over to our chairman, Patricio Supervielle.

Thank you, Ana. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Please turn to slide three, our earnings presentation. During the quarter, we moved into a second wave of COVID-19. While today we are better prepared to confront this with the many initiatives we have accelerated or put in place to serve our clients while securing the health and safety of our employees, the scenario in our market remains complex. During this period, we continued to exercise liquidity management to protect our financial margin and reinforce our strategy to protect our capital. In terms of our financial results, we reported net income of nearly 200 million pesos in the quarter, despite higher turnover taxes. The impact of the regulatory framework and continued weak demand in a recessionary economic environment. Return on average equity in real terms was 1.8% in the quarter and 4.5% when excluding the consumer lending business. As NIEM remained pressured from higher costs of funds resulting from the floor on time deposits or on interest rates and subsidized rates on loans while fees remain weak. Maintaining a prudent approach to risk management, we continue to increase our coverage ratio this quarter, which reached 205% from 192% last December. And we are closely monitoring our loan portfolio and risk model after the end of the central bank automatic loans deferral last March. Efficiency, excluding non-recurring severance and early retirement charges, increased 120 basis points to 66.3% impacted by lower revenues. By contrast, comparable personnel and administrative expenses excluding non-recurring charges in both periods declined 6% as we maintained strict cost controls while advancing on our transformation strategy. In this environment, we are focused on capital preservation and retaining strong liquidity. We have a solid capital base with a Tier 1 ratio of 13.8% and are deploying hedging strategies against inflation, which include real estate investment, mortgages, and sovereign bonds. Now turning to our strategic initiatives, with an unprecedented number of people going online and turning to self-service Transact during the pandemic and our belief that these habits will continue, we have accelerated the execution of our transformation strategy with the goal of driving sustainable growth as demand resumes while enhancing our current competitiveness. This includes assessing the future of our work model and real estate management, advancing our digital transformation, evolving our service model in our branch I will discuss the latter in more detail shortly. Please turn to the macro front on slide four. This year comes following the sharp economic contraction last year and favorable external conditions support our GDP rebound. However, economic activity still remains below In this context, the central bank is reversing the downtrend in international reserves, and Lowering the risk of a near-term peso devaluation. In addition, despite lowered and planned subsidy reductions, pensions and public salary adjustments, increased taxes and export duties are contributed to strengthen the fiscal balance. So, while the gap between the blue-chip rate and the official exchange has somewhat contracted, it still remains at high levels Interest rates remain unchanged with seven days report rates of 36.5%. For the year, we expect inflation approximately 47% and GDP growth at approximately 6%, with economic recovery also dependent on the rollout of the vaccination program. The resumption of IMF negotiations that are more likely Most likely to take place after the mid-term elections in October and business confidence. Let me now turn the call to Mariano Biglia, our CFO.