4/30/2026

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

Good morning and welcome to Wango del Vallejo's first quarter 2026 results conference call. My name is Sia and I will be your coordinator today. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation there will be a question and answer session. Before we begin the call today I would like to remind you that forward-looking statements made during today's conference call Do not account for future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance and financial results. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Please note that this video conference is being recorded. Joining us today from Manvajillo are Mr. Carlos de la Cerda, Executive Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Ivan Lomeli, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Joaquin Dominguez, Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Rodrigo Marimon, Investor Relations Officer. They will be available to answer your questions during the Q&A session. For opening remarks and introductions, I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Rodrigo Marimon. Mr. Marimon, you may begin.

speaker
Rodrigo Marimon
Investor Relations Officer

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss Banbajio's results for the first quarter 2026. Today, we will review our quarterly performance, analyze key drivers, and provide updates on our strategic execution. The industry data cited today throughout this presentation is based on CNBP's information as of February 2026, which is the most recent public available data. Before we begin our pod early review, we would like to welcome Mr. Ivan Lomeli, who will assume the position of Chief Executive Officer at Ban Bajio, effective as of 1st of May of 2026. Mr. Lomeli takes this responsibility with distinguished track record of expertise and a deep understanding of our core business. Since May 2022, Ivan delivered exceptional results as our Executive Director of Corporate Banking for the metropolitan area of Mexico City, and earlier this year, he extended his leadership to include the northern and southern regions. Ivan's leadership in corporate segments in key regions was instrumental in building the momentum we are reporting today, ensuring a smooth transition and reinforcing our commitment to our historical business focus, company loans. Under his leadership, we will further bolster our focus on this core target base, ensuring that our pace of growth and franchise expansion remains the central pillars of our corporate strategy. Finally, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to Mr. Edgardo del Rincon for his strong leadership, strategic vision, and unwavering commitment to Ban Bajio. We wish him every success in his future endeavors. Having said this, let's start with the presentation of our quarterly results. As we move to slide three, you will see a quarter defined by a robust long growth acceleration in the first three months of the year and disciplined execution with sound and stable asset quality metrics. These allow us to deliver solid performance despite the ongoing pressure on our revenue generation as a result of interest rate dynamics and the still challenging operating environment. Starting with our growth dynamics, our total loan portfolio expanded 6.9% year-over-year, reaching 286 billion pesos. On a quarterly basis, we saw a robust 2.9% expansion, which positioned us firmly towards the upper end of our 8% to 10% loan growth guidance. This acceleration of growth following four quarters of continued deceleration was primarily driven by our core business, company loans, which increased 7.9% year-over-year. This performance is a reflection of our enhanced focus on company loans and the early success of the evolution of our sales force restructuring implemented in early 2026. In addition, we have been gradually capturing early signals of investment acceleration in key regions and sectors. Furthermore, total deposits grew 8.6% year-over-year, reaching 283 billion pesos, underscoring the continued strength and growth of our franchise. During this first quarter, our risk profile remained a standard feature, The NPL ratio was stable at 1.5%, supported by an ample coverage ratio of 121.7%. Most notably, our cost of risk came in at very sound levels, at 0.56% for the quarter. Our healthy asset quality is further bolstered by 299 million pesos in additional reserves currently held on our balance sheet. This provision buffer, maintained alongside our stable NPL and coverage ratio, provide us with a robust caution to withstand any unexpected impacts in the coming quarters. Regarding profitability, while we anticipated that this first quarter was going to be characterized by the continued pressure of the interest rate cycle, our results remained within our guided range. Our return on average equities stood at 16.7% and our efficiency ratio was 44.1%. Finally, our capitalization ratio as of March 2036 stands at a solid 16%, composed entirely of common equity tier 1 capital. Moving to slide 4, you can see the reacceleration in loan growth discussed earlier. As the charts illustrate, the 6.9% year-over-year and the 2.9% quarter-over-quarter expansion stands as the best start of the year in the past six years, driven by an accelerating pace in our core segments. This is particularly visible in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, as well as in our newly created regional office, Western Mexico, including Guadalajara City, where we are capturing and increasing credit demands from the developing investment trends in the manufacture, services, and general trade sectors. The mentioned growth in company loans, which include both corporate and SME segments, and the continued and deliberate constructions in financial institutions and mortgages, underscores our strategic focus on reallocating capital towards higher margin business lines. The government loans rise in the last 12 months was driven by a specific exposure originated in December with good levels of interest margins, an opportunity aligned with our focus on profitable growth. Turning to slide five, the resilience of our credit profile remains a pillar within our strategy of growth, evidenced by our risk performance that significantly outperforms the industry. Our NPL ratio stood stable at 1.5%, maintaining a wide gap with a system average of 2.2%. The highlight this quarter is our cost of risk, which reached an outstanding 0.56%. This performance validates our outlook from last quarter. The portfolio cleanup completed in the fourth quarter of 2025 positioned us for a healthier expansion in 2026, while our conservative underwriting standards remained unchanged. Turning to the funding side, on slide six, total deposits reached 283 billion pesos, representing a robust 8.6% year-over-year increase. This quarterly rise reflects inflows captured to support the accelerated loan growth reported in the quarter. The 9.7% CAGR in total deposits since 2033 underscores the continuing expansion and deepening of our client franchise. Moving to slide seven, you can see that despite the migration from zero cost to interest-bearing deposits in the first quarter, we successfully delivered a significant reduction in our overall cost of funds. Demand deposits now account for 41% of our total funding mix, and notably, the cost assigned to these balances decreased by 24 basis points during the quarter. As a result, our total funding costs improved to 4.57%, a decrease of 37 basis points quarter over quarter, and a substantial 173 basis points reduction compared to the first quarter of 2035, largely explained by the compression in market rates. Similarly, our cost of funds as a percentage of tier rate dropped to 62.8%. Turning to slide 8, the net interest margin for the first quarter stood at 5.4%. While pressure has mounted as anticipated, we kept our metrics within our targets for the year. This decline is explained by 57 basis points from rate sensitivity and 31 basis points from portfolio mix. And this year-over-year contraction should be viewed in the context that average reference rate is now 270 basis points below the first quarter of 2035 levels. Nevertheless, our insensitivity per 100 basis points of reference rate cut remains disciplined at 19.5 basis points. And the decrease in the quarter was largely driven by the migration of zero-cost deposits to interest-bearing accounts. Moving to slide 9, total revenues reached 5.8 billion pesos for the quarter. While our reported figures show a 9.5% year-over-year decrease, this primarily reflects the anticipated pressure on interest revenues and a significant market-driven valuation adjustment within non-interest income. Our commitment to the continued underlying performance of our core revenues remains unchanged. Our recurring revenue streams continue to show the sound growth rates reported in previous quarters. Net fees and commissions grew 9.1%, with standout performances in bank assurance at 61.1%, appraisals at 30.7%, and cash management fees at 15.3%. Moving to slide 10, our efficiency ratio for the quarter stood at 44.1%, which remains below the system average of 45.6%. Our operating expenses have shown favorable development, reflecting our disciplined approach to cost management, a core strength of our financial performance. Operating expenses grew by a contained 6.7% year-over-year and reported a 4.2% contraction quarter-over-quarter. While revenue remains sensitive to ongoing external pressures, our strict control over our cost base allows us to partially mitigate the impact, and we remain confident in delivering this metric within our guided range of 43% to 45% for the full year. Turning to profitability metrics on slide 11, it is important to highlight that despite the expected quarterly compression, our return on average equity of 16.7% remained firmly within our 2026 guidance of 16.5% to 18%. Finally, on slide 12, we close the first quarter of 2026 with a preliminary capital adequacy ratio of 16%. This level stands significantly above our 14% commitment and well exceeds regulatory requirements. Our robust capital position provides the bank with substantial flexibility to support our growth reacceleration while simultaneously rewarding our shareholders. Lastly, we are pleased to announce that our Annual General Shareholders Meeting held today approved a cash dividend payment equivalent to 50% of our 2025 net income. The total distribution will amount to 4.5 billion pesos, which represents an attractive 7% dividend yield for our shareholders. As has been our practice, the distribution will take place in two equal installments of 25% each, with payments scheduled for May and September 2026. In conclusion, the first quarter of 2026 has successfully demonstrated a robust acceleration of our loan growth, validating the execution of our corporate strategy and our sales force evolution. While revenue will remain under anticipated pressure, our disciplined performance position us within the ranges expected for 2026. and we expect this trend to continue throughout the remainder of the year. With a resilient balance sheet, exceptional asset quality profile, and a new leadership deeply rooted in our corporate DNA, we remain fully confident in our ability to meet our targets for the year and continue delivering long-term value to our shareholders.

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

We will now conduct a Q&A session. If you would like to ask a question, please press the raise your hand button located at the bottom of the screen. If you are connected by telephone, please dial star 9. We remind you that all lines have been placed on mute. When it is your turn to ask a question, you will be given permission to speak. You will then be able to unmute yourself and ask your question. Our first question comes from the line of Pablo Ordoñez. Please state your company name and ask your question.

speaker
Pablo Ordoñez
Analyst

Yes, hi, good morning, Carlos, Iván, Joaquín, Angélica and Rodrigo. Thanks for taking my question. And, Ivan, congratulations on the CEO appointment. We wish you all the success. Ivan, my question is for you. Can you give us an update on the strategic outlook? What has been the performance of the new commercial strategy? I understand from the remarks that you're starting to see early signs of this in terms of the long demand and accelerating growth. And do you think that there could be an upside risk to your long-growth guidance for the year? And finally, on the strategy, what would be your key priority areas, and is there anything new, anything that you would like to change? Thank you.

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you very much for your questions, and it's important to mention that the business strategy remains unchanged. We really believe that this is an ideal moment to reinforce the bank's focus on company loans, especially in the main markets where we have smaller market share, for instance, Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. And just to give you an idea, in the loan growth of the first quarter, 80% of that came from new clients for the bank, which is very positive. On the other hand, we have successfully completed the majority of the strategic milestones established at the beginning of the year, opening regional branches in Mexico City and Guadalajara. We already hired about 50-plus bankers and new business centers specialized in the mid-market segment in Mexico City and Monterrey. Forty percent of the plan of the new branches have already opened. So the 2.9 loan growth on the first quarter, I think that it's a tangible proof that the new focus on the segments is delivery results, and we see a strong pipeline for the second Q. Perfect.

speaker
Pablo Ordoñez
Analyst

Thank you very much, Joanne. Thank you.

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ernesto Gavilondo. Please state your company name and ask your question.

speaker
Ernesto Gavilondo

Thank you.

speaker
Ernesto Gavilondo
Analyst at Bank of America

Ernesto Gavilondo from Bank of America. Hi, good morning. Carlos, Ilan, Joaquin, and Rodrigo to ask questions. My first question will be on your net income guidance. So we noted a significant mean pressure in the quarter, but at the same time, the long row came at 7%, seems to be accelerating. The easing cycle seems to be at its end. And on the other hand, the asset quality remained resilient. The cost of risk in first quarter is coming below your guidance, and I believe there's still extra provisions of more than 300 million pesos that need to be released before July. So, with all this, how comfortable are you to reach your guidance and if we can expect a midpoint of the guidance range? Then my second question is on your strategy for the consumer portfolio. We know it is small when compared to the Bajio's portfolio, but in the last administration with Edgardo, he was ready to expand it and to represent more than 5% of the loan book. So, Ivan, I would appreciate your view on what will be Bajio's strategy for the consumer segment. And for my last question, we'll be on dividends. We saw your 50% ordinary dividend payout ratio. But given your current common equity ratio, it's high, and the potential earnings recovery, I'm just wondering if there's a possibility to discuss or to evaluate a special dividend at the end of the year. Thank you.

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

Thanks for your question, Ernesto. The mean compression is actually not a surprise. It is exactly what we informed the market previously. Delivering a 17% return on equity in what we anticipate to be the toughest quarter of the year proves that our point of maximum pressure, even then, we're firmly within our profitability guidance and confirms that the structural resilience of our balance sheet. I think we're going to be there. In terms of return on equity, we will be within our guidance and a sustainable basis at a level of 18%. And this is based essentially on two main factors. One is, again, we're looking the loan growth strong. We see this as something that's happened because of the segmentation that we did at the end of last year. And the other thing is that the core non-interest revenues are growing at a 9% level. So we're confident in that. On the consumer part, I believe that the portfolio is currently entering a phase of healthy normalization. This strategic prudence is due to, I think, three different factors. One is the seasonality of the portfolio. The other one is that we see the system on the overall, there's a deceleration of this portfolio, and we're also being very focused on the risk discipline, which that's going to remain. But at the end of the day, the portfolio is going to keep growing. It's going to be growing less than historically, but mainly because of the market. Our appetite for the bank is still there, and we will keep growing strong.

speaker
Carlos de la Cerda
Executive Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors

Hi, Ernesto. This is Carlos. Regarding your question about the dividends, Yes, there is always a possibility that we will be considering in the second or at the end of the second quarter or the beginning of the third to grant an additional extraordinary dividend just in the case that the macroeconomic conditions lead us to believe that at the rate that our net worth, net equity is growing, the capitalization rate, we don't want it to be too high. But we also don't want it to be under 14%, which is the lower limit that we like. So depending on the loan growth that we see and we expect it to be high, we will consider an additional dividend on the second quarter.

speaker
Ernesto Gavilondo

Thank you very much.

speaker
Joaquin Dominguez
Chief Financial Officer

This is Joaquin Dominguez. You were asking about the additional reserves. What we are expecting is that in the second quarter, we will be pretty close in the level of we have guided, and there will be, we are expecting a compensation between the regulatory reserves that we will meet in the quarter with the release of the 300 million reserves. So there will be an exchange between reserves due to the regulation and the additional reserves we already have.

speaker
Ernesto Gavilondo
Analyst at Bank of America

Okay, so at the end it's a neutral impact and then you expect the cost of risk to be within your guidance.

speaker
Eric Ito
Analyst

That's right.

speaker
Ernesto Gavilondo
Analyst at Bank of America

Perfect. Thank you. And then just in terms of means, as you were saying that it was kind of expected to you, but considering that the easing cycle is coming to an end and also you're trying to go to the bottom line, do you think that could help in terms of what you guided for the year? I remember you guided between minus 8, minus 9 to relatively flat net income for the year. So, After this first quarter, how do you position within this guidance range? You are more like getting into the bottom, going rather into the medium part of the guidance. How do you see it?

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

We believe that we're going to be on the mid part of the guidance. Again, we're focusing heavily on long growth. in increasing the NIR and the control over operating expenses. So I think we're going to be there.

speaker
Ernesto Gavilondo

Perfect. Thank you very much.

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Carlos Gomez. Please state your company name and ask your question.

speaker
Carlos Gomez
Analyst at HSBC

Hello, good morning. This is Carlos Gomez from HSBC. First of all, congratulations to Ivan and good luck in your new role. Hello to Joaquin. Hello to Carlos. We know that there will be continuity and we will continue to deliver very well. So my questions. The first one refers to loan demand. And yes, we understand that you want to learn more. and you have taken commercial initiatives that will allow you to do more, but that's you as a company. The question is whether you have seen demand, especially corporate demand, recover to any degree so far this year. We just had published, we had some figures from the central bank which show a little bit of recovery in March, but at the same time you are telling us that on the retail side you expect less demand. So is corporate starting to pick up or not just yet? And second, you have been proactively reducing the interest rate sensitivity of the bank over the last two or three years as rates went down. Has the process finished or do you intend to proceed further? Thank you so much.

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

Thanks for your question, Carlos. We are seeing a big pickup on the credit activity. Again, we're focusing heavily on the big markets in Mexico where we have smaller market share. So we see a lot of opportunity there to get our fair market share in those markets. We see activity particularly in three different industries. Real estate, and this is essentially commercial real estate. warehousing is growing there. Agribusiness, as you all know, we have a lot of expertise with the agribusiness industry, but particularly on what we call very high-end agribusiness, which is focused on the export market. And the third one is energy. We see that as activity that is going to be picking up. We have expertise there, and we're also going to focus on that part of the portfolio.

speaker
Joaquin Dominguez
Chief Financial Officer

Carlos, this is Joaquin. Nice to say hello to you. Just in terms of race sensitivity, we are seeing that we are pretty close to the end lowering rates period, we are not doing any special additional action in terms to reduce sensitivity. And we feel we are very well positioned for the next cycle. We are expecting that the interest will remain stable for several quarters in the near future. So there is no need to make an additional action. And also, as we said in other conferences, we are more focused on the organic growth, as Ivan mentioned, specifically in the long road.

speaker
Carlos Gomez
Analyst at HSBC

And can you remind us of your sensitivity? You may have said it already.

speaker
Joaquin Dominguez
Chief Financial Officer

It's pretty close to 20 basis points. It's a little bit lower than 20 basis points for each 100 basis points of change in the leader rate.

speaker
Carlos Gomez
Analyst at HSBC

Thank you so much.

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Eric Ito. Please state your company name and ask your question.

speaker
Eric Ito
Analyst

Hi, guys. Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question, and congrats, Ivan. Thank you, Joaquin, Carlos, and Rodrigo. I have two questions here. One is basically a follow-up on the names. So if we look at your margins in the quarter, I think, yes, we saw a compression. It was in line with your guidance. But I think if we look at the components there, we saw the cost of lending decreasing in the quarter. And I think even if we compared to your NIMS sensitivity, I think the impact was a bit higher. So my first question is, how are you seeing... I don't know if there's any specific move here that we should follow in. If you could give us an update on competition here on this front. And then the second question is more... towards the long term. Ivan, I don't know, I think this quarter you mentioned 80% of growth coming from new clients. So I just wanted to get an update on how do you feel, what are your expectations for the mix going forward? You should think more towards, let's say, 2027, 2028, if we could see any upside from your news coming from the mix or more loan growth, for example, because of new clients or exploring new markets that you are not on yet. Thank you.

speaker
Joaquin Dominguez
Chief Financial Officer

Hi, this is Joaquin Dominguez. I will answer the first question. So, in this third quarter, we have some several factors that impact the NIM. Someone that is very obvious, but it has some impact in our case, due that our main income comes from interest margin, is that February has two days, three days less in the quarter. We had two days less than in the fourth quarter of the last year. And that means around 120 million pesos of impact. And also, in terms of these lower days of operation, impacts commissions and FX income. Well, the other impact is that the last reduction in the last year of the interest rate wasn't at the end of December. And that impacted the whole first quarter of this year. So that's the other one. And another important issue is that in December and in the last quarter, that is seasonally impact. We grow a lot in non-interest-bearing interest demand deposits, and we decrease in the first quarter. So that made a fixed impact in the cost of funding, and that was also reflected in the NIM. We are seeing that the trend is is getting better in two ways. The demand deposit is starting to increase again and also we are having a better mix of assets. So that's why we are very comfortable with the guidance as Ivan mentioned and also being in the mid term, in the mid range of the NIM guidance.

speaker
Eric Ito
Analyst

Okay, just before you go to the second one, so can we say, Joaquim, here, that this quarter was close to the bottom of your names? Going forward, we should expect extensions?

speaker
Joaquin Dominguez
Chief Financial Officer

Yes, it could be. It will depend more on the behavior of the interest rates, more on the behavior of the mix of the liabilities and assets, but we are very comfortable that we are really in the deep part of the NEM.

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

Okay. Thank you for your question. Regarding the low growth activity, Again, it's going to be strong. We had a meeting with the leadership team last week to review the pipeline, and we strongly believe that it's going to be a second quarter in terms of growth. We're focusing also a lot in new clients for the bank. So this momentum is going to be maintained. And again, the biggest opportunity for us is that in the main markets of our country, we have low market share. So if we get our fair share in those markets, the growth is significant for the bank. So we're gonna focus to actually re-fence our position in the markets where we're strong We have a strong market share and keep growing in the markets that were underrepresented as of today.

speaker
Eric Ito
Analyst

Okay, very clear. Thank you so much for the answers and congrats again, Ivan. Thank you very much.

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Andres Soto. Please state your company name and ask your question.

speaker
Andres Soto
Analyst at Santander

Hello everyone, this is Andres Soto from Santander. Thank you very much for this presentation and welcome, Ivan, to these calls. My first question is regarding the non-interest income, which both in the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year was impacted by what I believe is related to losses from previously foreclosed assets. I would like to understand if you have any visibility of these will continue. Do you expect additional losses related to that or how we can think about this line going forward?

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you for your question, Andres. This was a specific asset that we already knew that could have an impact, but we don't see further deterioration on that part. So it's very focused, and we actually, we believe that going forward, the performance of that part is gonna be better. The good news is that it's not a portfolio issue, It's a specific issue that we had to deal with.

speaker
Andres Soto
Analyst at Santander

Understood. My second question is regarding deposits. We have seen significant increase in this line both in the fourth quarter and also this quarter. What has been the strategy there? How you guys are being able to attract deposits? Are those retail deposits or is commercial deposits and how much of this improvement in the funding structure is already reflected in your current need?

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

This growth in deposit has been essentially because we've been very successful with our cash management team and platforms. So the good news about these deposits is they're sticky deposits. They're related to collections, payroll payments. So we feel very confident that the deposits will be strong for the quarters to come. And it's in both segments. We're growing on the retail piece and also on the corporate piece. So... It's a mix of both, which that's also good news.

speaker
Andres Soto
Analyst at Santander

And how much of that improvement in the funding structure do you expect to help support NIMS going forward?

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

The answer is yes, and that has two components. The sticky deposits essentially are cheaper, and the second, that's going to improve the NIR because the cash management platform is very effective in terms of generating non-interest records.

speaker
Andres Soto
Analyst at Santander

Perfect. And with this, when we compare Bambajio today versus Bambajio probably pre-COVID, is it fair to assume that you are now a more structurally profitable bank with less dependent on interest rates and revenue, also diversified into fee income, and therefore, equals to equals in terms of policy rate, you should aspire to higher ROE going forward?

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

Yes, I believe that we've developed those capabilities very strongly, and we're executing very well. So, yep, for sure. Again, on the return on equity part, we believe that it's going to be improving but we will be within our guidance.

speaker
Andres Soto
Analyst at Santander

But most likely not at the bottom of the guidance, but rather at least at the midpoint, I believe, right after this quarter.

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

Well, it's going to be within guidance, and we see it on a sustainable basis at 18%.

speaker
Andres Soto
Analyst at Santander

Sounds good. Thank you, Jorge. Thank you.

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brian Flores. Please state your company name and ask the question.

speaker
Brian Flores
Analyst

Hi, Tim, Joaquin, Carlos, Ivan. Thank you for the opportunity, Ivan. Best of luck. A lot of success. I have a couple of follow-ups and I have a question. So my first question is if I understood correctly, the cost of risk perhaps in the second quarter is going to continue to be low, but then after that, I understand we see a normalization towards the guidance. I just wanted to confirm if this is the case, right? And then my second question is perhaps on the efficiency ratio because it is a bit on the midpoint, slightly, I would say, pressured. So, we wanted to understand if there are any specific structural cost-cutting measures that you are implementing to prevent any deterioration here on the cost-to-income ratio. And then, finally, seizing the opportunity to have Ivan here. Ivan, obviously, your inheritance here is, I think, Edgardo had a great administration. Obviously, He should have left some great best practices. We just wanted to understand where do you think, in terms of the strategy, you would like to see the bank going into a different direction, thinking about what you just mentioned, the sustainable hourly levels.

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you. Actually, the last part, Brian, and thank you for your question. The business strategy will not change. That's going to remain. What we are going to do is we're going to be more focused on company loans that have been historically our main strength, and we do believe that we have a competitive advantage in all segments of business. of business loans, so the focus is definitely going to be there, and we see lots of opportunity for growth in small, medium, and big companies, and we see that nationwide. On the risk, the cost of risk, we are going to be within guideline. I mean, and this is, again, we do see that this level is not sustainable. It's going to be growing a little bit, but we do believe that we will meet the guidance.

speaker
Brian Flores
Analyst

Perfect. And any comments on the efficiency side?

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

On the efficiency side, I mean, the operating costs are really under control. We're gonna keep that momentum and tension over the operating costs. And again, what is gonna help us improve this is our expectation of loan growth and the increase in the non-interest revenues. What is important here, and this is, I believe it's strategic, is that the core NIR are growing at a double-digit level. And again, most of this is related to cash management initiatives that what allow us is to feel confident that deposits, sticky deposits are going to remain there.

speaker
Brian Flores
Analyst

No, perfect. Thank you, Tim. Thank you.

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tito Lavarta. Please state your company name and ask your question.

speaker
Tito Lavarta
Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Hi. Good morning. Good afternoon. It's Tito from Goldman Sachs. And, Ivan, congratulations on your new position there. My question is on your fee and trading income guidance of 13% to 15%. Fees were down a bit on seasonality, but growing around 9% year over year. We did see the trading income decline significantly. I know the trading income is difficult to sort of forecast, but just to get your thoughts, I mean, one, I guess on fees, should we expect that to accelerate for the rest of the year and what would drive that in any sort of thoughts on how you think the trading income can evolve to get that guidance. Thank you.

speaker
Joaquin Dominguez
Chief Financial Officer

Hi, Tito. This is Joaquin Dominguez. Well, we are really very comfortable with the guidance we provided and we feel comfortable also that we will make that in first because we had a and impact in the first quarter due to the increase in the rates along the yield curve. And that impacted a position we have in CETES that create a negative valuation or decrease the positive valuation we used to have. And that is already fixed with the actual yield curve. So that is a temporary impact that does not warriors in part is a position that is with a very good rate of portfolio yield. So we will maintain that position that allows us to also provide a sustained, a very stable NIM in terms of what we do in the money market side in the treasury. In the other part, an important component of the non-interest income is the FX. We had a difficult quarter in terms of low volatility in the FX rate and also the lower level of the interest rate during January and February. decreased mainly in those months because March was a good month. There were very low operation of our clients. They were expecting to sell their positions with a better FX and that happened until March. So we are seeing a normalization in the market and we are expecting that we will take the normal or the usual or the expected income from FX. So in terms of we feel that we will meet the guidance. For this, I will let Ivan to explain.

speaker
Ivan Lomeli
Chief Executive Officer

Hi, Tito, and thanks for your question. Strategically, what we're focusing is on the core NIR. The cash management platforms have been very successful, and we've been cross-selling a lot with our own client base and with the new customers that the bank is acquiring. So going forward, we're very confident that the growth of fees on the core piece are going to be there. And because they're linked essentially to the payments, collections, payrolls, et cetera, of our clients. So, I mean, we're going to keep doing what we've done in the last quarter and keep growing at a double-digit level. That's what we want to keep doing.

speaker
Tito Lavarta
Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Okay, that was very helpful. Thank you, Yvonne and Pauline.

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

Thank you. We have not received any further questions at this point. I would now like to hand the call back over for closing remarks.

speaker
Rodrigo Marimon
Investor Relations Officer

Thank you very much, everyone, for joining us today. We remain available to address any follow-up questions via email and any further meeting requests. We look forward to speaking to you again in July 2026 when we release our second quarter 2026 results. Thank you very much and have a nice day.

speaker
Sia
Conference Call Coordinator

That concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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