NASDAQ:GGAL Grupo Financiero Galicia Q3 2020 Earnings Report $61.95 +1.91 (+3.18%) Closing price 04/17/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$61.95 0.00 (0.00%) As of 04/17/2025 05:52 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Forecast Grupo Financiero Galicia EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.52Consensus EPS $0.61Beat/MissMissed by -$0.09One Year Ago EPSN/AGrupo Financiero Galicia Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$450.84 millionExpected Revenue$408.10 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$42.74 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AGrupo Financiero Galicia Announcement DetailsQuarterQ3 2020Date11/30/2020TimeBefore Market OpensConference Call DateWednesday, November 25, 2020Conference Call Time9:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsGrupo Financiero Galicia's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Friday, April 25, 2025Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Company ProfilePowered by Grupo Financiero Galicia Q3 2020 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrNovember 25, 2020 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 10 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Welcome to the Grupo Financiero Galicia Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Release Conference Call. This call is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Pablo Fervida. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 100:00:13Thank you, Sarah. Good morning and welcome to this conference call. I will make a short introduction and then we will take your questions. Some of the statements made during this conference call will be forward looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor provisions of the U. S. Speaker 100:00:31Federal securities laws and are subject to risk and uncertainty that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. According to the National Institute of Statistics Monthly Economic Activity Estimator or EMI in Spanish, the Argentine economy recorded a 6.9% year over year contraction in September and an 11.9% contraction during the 1st 9 months of this year compared to the same period of 2019. During the Q3, the primary fiscal balance amounted to ARS 412,000,000,000 deficit, 1.5% of GDP. And as of the end of September, the accumulated fiscal deficit rose to 4.8% of GDP. The increase in public spending was a consequence of the implementation of the fiscal stimulus package, mainly consisting of direct transfer to the unemployed, social plan beneficiaries and informal sector workers as well as of aid to companies in the form of labor tax reductions and partial payment of salaries. Speaker 100:01:44Lower fiscal revenues were caused by the economic contraction due to the social isolation and distancing measures. During the Q3 of the year, the consumer price index recorded a 7.5% increase, accumulating a 22.3% increase during the 1st 9 months and a 36.6% from September 2019. On the monetary front, the monetary base went up by ARS229.2 billion between June September, entailing a 10.6% quarterly increase. The issuance of pesos was mainly explained by the Central Bank's transfer to the treasury, which were used to finance the fiscal deficit and by interest accrued from the DeliQ and repos that were issued in order to sterilize the aforementioned monetary expansion. The official exchange rate averaged MXN 75.2 per dollar in September, an 8.1% increase against the average for June 2020, and a 33.1% hike from September 2019. Speaker 100:02:59The average interest rate on peso denominated private sector time deposits for up to 59 days was 30.45 percent for September, 0.93 percentage points above the average recorded last June. Private sector deposits in pesos amounted to ARS4.6 trillion in September, increasing 6.9% during the quarter and 89.3% when compared to September 2019. Transactional deposits in pesos fell 2.7% against June, but increased 95.5% in the year, while peso denominated time deposits increased 20.3% in the quarter and 87.5% year over year. As of the end of September, peso denominated loans to the private sector amounted to ARS2.48 trillion, recording a 9.6% increase during the 3rd quarter and a 50.1% increase when compared to September last year. Turning now to Grupo Financiero Galicia. Speaker 100:04:12Net income for the Q3 amounted to ARS5.5 billion, up 99% from the year ago quarter. This profit was mainly due to gains from Banco Alicia for ARS4.5 billion. Galicia Minterodola Fundos for ARS 344 1,000,000, Interquita Regionales for ARS 295 1,000,000 and Insura Americana Holdings for ARS273,000,000. The annualized return on average assets was 2.3% and the return on average shareholders' equity 14%. Going to Banco Alicia, net income for the quarter increased 59% from the year ago quarter, due to a 10% growth of net interest income, a 19% increase of net fee income and a 19% decrease of loan loss provisions, offset by a 17% decrease of net income from financial instruments. Speaker 100:05:14Although interest income increased 18%, net interest income recorded an ARS896 1,000,000 growth as interest expenses were down 27%. Average inter selling assets increased ARS22 1,000,000,000 or 4% year over year, mainly due to the growth of peso denominated loans and of peso denominated government securities, offset by the decrease of the same items denominated in dollars. In the same period, its yield decreased 6.60 basis points, primarily due to lower yields on both dollar and peso denominated government securities and on other inter selling assets in pesos. Interest bearing liabilities increased ARS 2.5 billion from the Q3 of last year, primarily due to 26% increase in the average balance of peso denominated time deposits, offset by a 45% decrease in dollar denominated saving accounts and its cost decreased 504 basis points, mainly as a result of a lower interest rate on other interest bearing liabilities in pesos and on pesos denominated time deposits. Net fee income increased 19% in the last 12 months, being the net fees related to credit card activity the ones that stood out primarily because of lower expenses related to Quiero, our loyalty program. Speaker 100:06:48Net income from financial instruments decreased 17% due to lower yields on the LEIC and of results from derivative financial instruments, offset by higher profits from government securities. Gains from gold and foreign currency quotation differences were relatively stable from the year ago quarter reaching ARS2.3 billion including a ARS1.8 billion profit from foreign currency trading. Provision for loan losses were 19% lower than in the same quarter of the prior year, while both personnel and administrative expenses decreased 1% as compared to a year before. The bank's financing to the private sector reached ARS445 1,000,000,000 at the end of the quarter, down 2% in the last 12 months, mainly due to a 62% lower balance of dollar denominated loans that was partially offset by a 37% increase of loans in pesos. Net exposure to the public sector increased 50% year over year and excluding Leliqs it represented 70% of total assets compared to 4% at the end of the Q3 of 2019. Speaker 100:08:09Deposits reached ARS616,000,000,000, up 18% in a year as peso denominated deposits increased 52%, while dollar deposits fell 40%. The bank's estimated market share of loans to private sector was 12.7%, a 132 basis points higher than at the end of a year ago quarter. And the market share of deposits from the private sector was 10.1%, same level that the one reported in the same quarter of 2019. As regards asset quality, the ratio of non performing loans to total financing ended the quarter at 2.2% recording 152 basis points improvement as compared with the 3.7% of the Q3 of the prior year. And the coverage with allowances reached 301.5%, up from 133% coverage from a year ago. Speaker 100:09:10As of the end of September 2020, the bank's consolidated computable capital exceeded by ARS91,000,000,000 or 182 percent, the ARS50 1,000,000,000 minimum capital requirement. And the total regulatory capital ratio reached 23.1 percent, increasing by 673 basis points from the end of the same quarter of 2019. In summary, in a very challenging and volatile macro environment, Grupo Financiero Galicia has shown good results and was able to keep liquidity, solvency and profitability metrics at good levels. We are now ready to answer the questions that you may have. Thank Operator00:10:16We'll go ahead and take our first question from Jason Mollin with Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Speaker 200:10:22Good morning. Thank you. Good morning, Faolo. My question is related to what you provided in your press release on regulatory changes and the credit line that was introduced, the productive credit line for SMEs. I mean, I don't need to read them all, but maybe you can talk about the suspension of fees, the suspension of dividends, extension of credit card maturities, controls on foreign exchange, etcetera, etcetera, and then now this new credit line that was announced. Speaker 300:11:03Can you talk to us Speaker 200:11:04a little bit about what does Galicia see as the most important impact? Like which changes will have the most impact on the bank going forward like in the next 12 months? I mean what are the things that we should be looking at? And are they very material to the operating income and operations of the bank? Thanks. Speaker 100:11:30Okay. Well, you made a good summary of all the regulations that came out considering fees, dividend, waivers on NPLs and so on, also minimum interest rate on time deposits. This productive line came recently and well, it will have to be or banks will have to have this burst on average 7.5% of the peso deposits. Definitely, the rates are much higher than the ones that we were granting beginning in March. At that moment, the interest rates were around 24% for SMEs, 15% for independent professionals and monotributis. Speaker 100:12:36That's the recall. These rates are 30% 35%, so they are a little bit higher and it will be optimized. But going back to the more general question, not just the productive line, the Central Bank has been, I would say, using the banks as a tool to help the rest of the economy to improve its situation. So basically trying to help SMEs, independent professionals in order to keep economic activity as high as possible. Definitely, we would prefer no regulation in this sense, but we are, I would say, trying to accommodate. Speaker 100:13:31And each time there is a new regulation, we take decisions in order to get back to the previous situation. I would say that going forward, the main risk keeps being regulatory risk. And within regulatory, we would also add a fiscal risk in the sense that some provinces are trying to increase taxes on certain banking transactions. Yesterday or the day before yesterday, the city of Buenos Aires announced that for next year, they are planning to raise certain taxes on banks basically, mainly because the national government reduced the transfer of national taxes to a city of Buenos Aires. So this was the kind of political reaction. Speaker 100:14:43We are in the middle of a kind of political negotiation. We will have to see if it is finally approved. But so definitely, regulatory risk and this type of fiscal or tax risk are the main concerns. I don't know if I was clear Speaker 200:15:03with No, that's very helpful. That's very helpful. On the fiscal side that you just mentioned, are they considering a potential transaction tax? Or is it some kind of revenue tax or income tax being proposed? Speaker 100:15:18They announced 2 things. It's a project. Again, it's not approved. One is to charge with a stamp tax of 1.2% the credit card statements that, of course, will be paid by the credit card holders, but indirectly could cause that the consumption with credit cards will diminish in a way and so people would prefer to pay cash certain transactions. But the more direct impact would be in the project of applying sales tax in Puerto Los Ingreso Brutos is called in Spanish of 7% on the interest that we received banks received on Leliqs and on Repo. Speaker 100:16:15So what already the Central Bank said that this project would affect the rate of a monetary instrument. So in my opinion, it will be an issue that will be discussed and negotiated. But these are the 2 initiatives that the city of Buenos Aires announced for next year. Thank you very much, Pablo. You're welcome. Operator00:16:52We'll take our next question from Ernesto Gabolondo with Bank of America. Speaker 300:16:58Hi, good morning, Paolo. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on NIMs and net interest income. We noticed an important sequential decline in net interest income, and I think it was explained by lower interest on public sector securities, lower interest on overdraft loans, and we also saw higher funding costs. And I don't know if it was mainly explained because of the minimum flow on interest rates. Speaker 300:17:27So what should be the trend we should be looking for NIMs during the last quarter and next year? Speaker 100:17:36Yes. Thank you for the question. Yes, we saw a sequential contraction in NIMs higher than expected 3 months ago. During the quarter with the, I would say, introduction of this minimum interest rate on time deposits, of course, we were expecting that contraction. That was, I would say, the main reason because in the Q2, the cost of funding, mainly the time deposits interest rate, was abnormally low. Speaker 100:18:18But now is in a way higher than perhaps what the market would be willing to receive. So the main reason for the contraction was this minimum interest rate on time deposits. On the other hand, in the second and third quarter, we saw the impact of lower interest rates on these loans we granted to SMEs and independent professionals at 24% 15% respectively. Going forward, interest rates on our loans should be a little bit higher because of this 30% to 35% interest rates on the productive line. And also, the Central Bank changed the trend and began increasing the interest rates on the lease and on repo transaction. Speaker 100:19:20And also another source of or variable that affects NIM is a breakdown between pesos and dollars. As you saw, the weight on dollars is coming down and as deposits in dollars and loans in dollars are decreasing and the peso bucket is growing. So going forward, we think there will be a stable to a slight contraction in margin. We are not seeing any, I would say, such a compression as we saw in the Q3 compared to the second one. Speaker 300:20:03Now this is very helpful. Thank you very much, Pablo. Just a second question in terms of asset quality, in terms of NPLs. Once you end the relief programs, when do you expect to have the peak of NPLs? And what should be the level of that NPL ratio? Speaker 100:20:26Well, it's, I would say, the key question that we all discussed internally. Definitely, NPL has been very resilient, not only because of this waiver from the Central Bank. If we look at the numbers of the Q3, the total NPLs to total financing, this includes unused amounts of overdraft and credit card limits, it was 2.2%. If we do not take into account this waiver, this 2.2% would have been around 2.9%, still I would say very healthy NPL ratio. Going forward, we could expect some, I would say, again, slight deterioration. Speaker 100:21:27But why? Because interest rates of these loans granted were low and not only low, but also negative in real terms. And it's easy for companies and individuals to pay this debt. And as I mentioned, I think in the previous conference call with a higher inflation, perhaps the impact on the P and L will be seen in the adjustment by inflation more than in the deterioration of the asset quality. I don't know if that was clear here. Speaker 300:22:08Yes, very clear. Thank you very much, Paolo. Speaker 400:22:12You're welcome. Operator00:22:15We'll take our next question from Gabriel Nobrega with Citi. Speaker 500:22:22Hi, Pablo. Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to ask questions. So I also have a question on asset quality. Just seeing that you did not create additional provisions this quarter and also being that you're saying that the NPL ratio is behaving better than expected. Do you think that the second quarter was the only quarter where you had to create additional provisions? Speaker 500:22:47Or do you believe that as the waivers drop in December of this year, you will maybe have to reassess all of the asset quality and maybe have to increase additional provisions during 2021? And I'll ask a second question afterwards. Thank you. Speaker 100:23:06Hi, Gabriel. So the Q2 saw a peak in provisioning and mainly related to off balance sheet commitment. For the Q4, we are thinking in provision similar to the Q3, to this current quarter that we are discussing today. So and the coverage really is very high, again, not only considering the regulatory one with this waiver on NPLs, but also if we consider the previous NPL metrics, the coverage is above 220%. So we are, I would say, really comfortable with the level of coverage we created. Speaker 500:24:07Okay. That's very clear. And then as for my second question, when we look at the specific NPL ratio for Tarettas, it decreased a lot in the quarter. I have here more than 300 bps. And I was just wondering if there is a specific thing here or maybe the portfolio is performing better than expected? Speaker 100:24:38Nothing, I would say, extraordinary. The collection was better than expected or as the economic activity began to rebound, collection improved. We didn't sell bad loans or there was no specific action. In the quarter, the 3 months, July, August and September, saw a sequential a sequential growth. Yesterday, it was published the September Economic Activity number and the economy grew 1.9% from August and the previous numbers were 1.7% and 1.1%, I think. Speaker 100:25:27So the 3 months were positive and that was translated to collection. And also many times in the case of the Naranja clients, they are more in the interior of Argentina and they typically benefit or see the benefits from the agricultural sector that is doing very well. But again, nothing extraordinary. Speaker 500:25:58All right. Thank you so much. Speaker 100:26:02You're welcome. Operator00:26:05We'll take our next question from Alejandra Armando with Zetta. Speaker 600:26:13Hi, good morning, Paolo. I wanted to know the percentage of loans that have been reprogrammed, if you could tell us and discriminate that between credit cards and the rest of your portfolio? And then also the percentage of loans that you have with subsidized rate? That would be my first question. Speaker 100:26:34Okay. Hi, Alejandra. The loans with subsidized rate as of September represented 10.5% of our total loans. The main ones are the ones granted to SMEs at 24%. Speaker 300:26:54In terms Speaker 100:26:57of the loans that were deferred or the installments that were deferred or reprogrammed, as you said, the number decreased significantly and it's around 4% of total loans. Most of them credit cards, if I had to say a percentage, 70% credit cards, 30% personal loans in the area, not a very accurate figure. So in total, you have between the 2 around 14.5 percent of total loans. Speaker 600:27:3814%, 1.4%. Speaker 100:27:4114%, considering the subsidized rates, the 10.5% Okay. Operator00:27:49And then Speaker 600:27:52the second question that I have is that in terms of fees on a quarter on quarter basis, we saw a 9% increase in real terms when fees have been frozen. If you could explain that a little bit because at a bank level, they actually declined 2% quarter on quarter. So I was wondering what happened there and what can we expect on 4Q and on 2021? Speaker 100:28:18Okay. Well, when you look at the different subsidiaries, the fee for example, in this case, the fee behavior or the fee growth or decrease and you add these subsidiaries in order to get to the full unconsolidated group of financial release number. Many times, you don't get the desired result mainly because there are many intercompany transactions and these are eliminated. Typically, the bank pays fees to Valicia Seguros or to FEMA, our asset manager or Naranja pays the bank for different services. So this type of consolidated variation is due to, in many cases and particularly in this quarter due to eliminations due to this intercompany transaction. Speaker 100:29:23Having said that, if we look at the current regulation, the Central Bank allowed for price increases for basic products beginning in next year, 9% in January and 9% in February. This is again for the basic products. We could be increasing prices of fees for other products like, say, deposit boxes, for example, or certain bundle of products. So the expectation in terms of prices is to have some increase and also to increase cross selling and volume. So the target for next year is to have this growing around 5 percentage points above inflation. Speaker 600:30:21Okay. Thank you very much. Speaker 100:30:25You're welcome, Alexandra. Operator00:30:28We'll take our next question from Yuri Fernandes with JPMorgan. Speaker 300:30:33Hi, Pablo. Good morning. Speaker 700:30:35I have a quick question regarding tax Can you provide us some guideline here how to think about the effective tax rate for the bank? This quarter was pretty high. So I know inflation matters a lot here, but if you can provide some kind of color for us, I guess that will be helpful. I have a second question regarding NII and margins. I understood from Alejandra's question that only 4% of your loans are in deferral. Speaker 700:31:04That seems to be a very low and good number. I just want to check if this includes the 3 month grace periods from the automatic renegotiations of cards in September, like the Central Bank Regulation. And if that's the case, if the number of deferred are so low, are you accruing interest on those loans? I mean, like you're not receiving installments. You should only receive next year. Speaker 700:31:29So how are you treating those loans that have those grace periods and should be paid in several like 9 installments just in 2021? Like are we seeing that in NII now? Or are you not accruing peers on those loans? Thank you. Speaker 100:31:46Well, thank you for the questions, Yuri. Regarding the income tax rate, the statute salary 1 is 30%. And beginning last year, the calculations are using or adjusting by inflation. This quarter, the effective tax rate looks higher mainly because the difference between the accounting and the tax accounting is a treatment of a provisioning. We cannot use all the provisions that we show in the P and L as an expense, as a deductible item. Speaker 100:32:40In order to do that for tax purposes, you need to begin collection procedures. So that is there is the main difference. Going forward, of course, it's hard to project. It will depend on this difference between the or how high provisioning will be. But again, the rate is 30%. Speaker 100:33:12Going to your questions on NII and margin and our reprogram loans, 4% are the to total loans is the amount of credit cards that were refinanced in 12 monthly installments at 43% in April and at 40% in September. In September, the amount that was refinanced was much lower than in April. And we are accruing interest on these loans, of course. The other loans that are affecting, I would say, net interest income are the ones that granted at 24% to SMEs and at 15% interest rate to these independent professionals. But they are being collected with no problem. Speaker 100:34:21And actually, if we look at the amount of outstanding loans at 24%, let me make a quick calculation. We are at around 60% of the maximum amount this year. So we already collected 40% of the maximum amount that we granted under the 24 percent interest rate line. So that's why we think with the new interest rates on this productive line, margins could be resilient or even a little bit higher. Speaker 700:35:14It's likely I understood previously flat to slightly lower, so it's flat to slightly higher from here. Speaker 100:35:24I would say that this change in the margin, there are many variables affecting one points up, other points down. In the case of this decrease in the outstanding amounts of 15% and 24% line and are in a way replaced by 30% 35% interest rate lines helps in the margin. Of course, if minimum interest rates persist or if they are new or additional regulation that play against the margin. That's why we think they could be stable or with a slight compression considering all the variables. Speaker 700:36:16No, perfect. It's pretty clear, Paolo. Thank you very much. Speaker 100:36:21Thank you. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. Operator00:36:26We'll take our next question from Rodrigo Nestor with AR Speaker 800:36:32Partners. Hi, good morning. Good morning, Pablo. Thank you for taking my question. So I would like to have more color on the hedge in policy against inflation and the peso depreciation, particularly are you increasing exposure to the newly issued sovereign dollar linked bonds and also the inflation linked ones? Speaker 800:36:52And from now on, what should we expect in terms of a strategy to mitigate the risk of spiking inflation and further depreciation of the peso? Thank you. Speaker 100:37:04Thank you, Rodrigo. Well, to hedge against inflation and also for the devaluation, Of course, we have our real estate, but it's a portion of our equity. We try to be a hedge in dollars, not only in, I would say, of course, the limit we have regulatory limits that are 4% to 5% of our regulatory capital. But the policy is to be hedged and we do that through forward contracts. The asset and liability management committee permanently analyzes the convenience or not to purchase dollar linked instruments or inflation linked instruments. Speaker 100:38:093rd instruments are in some cases too long and other alternative are the UVA loans. But from, I would say, regulatory view are a little bit risky. Of course, we are not able all the banks, not just in Alicia, we are not able to adjust fully the UVA on the personal loans and mortgage loans we granted 2 years ago. So these are instruments, and we permanently try to cover against both inflation and devaluation. Operator00:39:12We'll take our next question from Nicolas Riva with Bank of America. Speaker 400:39:18Thanks very much, Pablo, for taking my question. I have only one question and it's about the deposits in dollars in the banking system. So we have seen a significant amount of outflows really since August of last year since the primary elections, than 50% of the deposits in dollars from the entire banking system, not just Felicia have exited the system. And I wanted Speaker 300:39:46to ask you if internally Speaker 400:39:49you guys discuss or if you're concerned about potential restrictions in terms of withdrawing deposits in dollars like at Coralito, specifically of dollar deposits similar to what Argentina had back in 2,001, 2002? Thanks. Speaker 100:40:08Hi, Nicolas. Well, as you said, the outflow of dollar denominated deposit began after the primaries of last year. At the beginning, in the worst days of August September last year, they were very important amounts. Then it flattened and even they grew in December. This year, we were seeing a leakage, very small withdrawals every day. Speaker 100:40:40In September, when the Central Bank put restrictions to or new or additional restrictions in the FX market, people got more nervous and we saw a rebound in dollar denominated withdrawals After the situation normalized in the sense that banks were able to sell again dollars, the mood changed dramatically. And today, we are seeing even in some days some growth of dollar denominated deposits. Having said this, the level of deposits in dollars in the face of Galicia is close to $1,700,000,000 and the coverage with liquid instruments, mainly cash dollar bills is about 93%. So we are not worried about liquidity at all. And we I would say that nobody feels that there are, I would say, the conditions to put any what you say, regulation, as you mentioned, the Corralito. Speaker 100:42:07So we think all the banks are in a very good situation in terms of liquidity, in dollars and also in pesos, but the issue you are asking is dollars. And as you mentioned, since the primary deposits in dollars in the system decreased more than 60%, and we saw no problem at all. Why? Because basically, regulation was very good in terms of that dollar denominated deposits could be lent just to exporters and origination dollars basically disappeared 1 year ago. So banks are seated on bills of dollar bills. Speaker 100:43:00So no, we don't see any risk of this type of an extreme regulation. Operator00:43:13We'll take our next question from Carlos Gomez with HSBC. Speaker 400:43:19Hello, good morning. Speaker 900:43:19Thank you for taking our questions. Two questions. First, Operator00:43:24could you Speaker 900:43:24tell us what you expect for inflation for this year and for next year? And if you expect an increase in inflation, how do you intend to handle it? What is the strategy that you will hold? 2nd, could you give more detail about the transaction regarding Tazheta Regionales and the additional 17%, which is not going to be owned by the bank? Thank you. Speaker 100:43:52Perfect. Well, regarding inflation for this year, we are forecasting that it will end up at 37%. This 37% includes on average around 4% of monthly inflation for November December. That are the last two months that we need to wait to have all the monthly input. For next year, we are forecasting higher inflation around 47%. Speaker 100:44:30Of course, this is a moving target. Basically, because there are certain signals that take us to believe that the government, the Ministry of Economy, the Central Bank are willing to reduce subsidies in order to have a lower fiscal deficit, and they will allow some tariff increase prices increases in utilities, the tariff increases, And also some programs of frozen prices were or are about to finish. And also the monetary expansion will create some pressure on prices going forward. So let's say from 37 to 47. Again, we have to we'll be able to be more accurate on expecting inflation as demands of next year goes by. Speaker 100:45:32The way banks make money in an inflationary environment and also in a noninflationary environment is with the margin. It's likely that if inflation goes up, interest rates will go up and margins will go up. And we could have some coverage, as I explained in a previous answer, with a dollar linked instrument or inflation linked instrument. But basically, the best way to have a good profitability is to have a good margin financial margin as a whole. And target regionales Carlos. Speaker 100:46:25The idea of the transaction was to that Grupo Financiero Avisia ends up with having 100% of all its subsidiaries. The only minority shareholders in the different subsidiaries were or still are at Tarquita Regionales. These are 2 families that were the founders of Tarquita Naranja. Banco of Alicia purchased the control of Tarjita Naranja back in 1995. And now we are completing a process basically giving or exchanging shares of Grupo Financiero Alicia by their shares in Parque Terre Regionales. Speaker 100:47:16At the end of the process, Grupo Financiero Oricia will have 100% of Naranja, Naranja, and the former minority shareholders of Naranja will have 3.25 percent of the shares of Grupo Financiero Abadisia. These shares will be issued slightly at the beginning of next year, once all the regulatory approvals are obtained, the last legal step that was in our hands was an extraordinary shareholders meeting that took place 1 week ago. So now we have to wait for some state owned offices to approve this transaction. Speaker 900:48:11So can you repeat so how many shares will be issued? So this is a capital increase for Gugofri and Cirovales? Speaker 100:48:19This is a capital increase, but Grupo will have a bigger portion of La Rancher and Regionales. So in a sense, it will be kind of neutral. The number of shares issued will be I don't have it right now in front of me, but with the new issuance of shares, the shareholders of Cordoba, returns of Cordoba, will have 3.25 percent of the shares of Grupo Financier of Alicja. Speaker 900:48:58So it is 3.25 percent of new shares, right, that will be issued as a bit more of outstanding shares Speaker 100:49:05that will be That will mean here I found a number. The shareholders from the province of Cordoba will receive 47,900,000 shares of Grupo Financiaris. Speaker 900:49:4447.9 percent. And you said this will be at the beginning of next year? Speaker 100:49:49That's yes. Of course, it's the timing is not fully under our control, but that is our estimate. Speaker 900:49:59Okay. And just one question. So this will be ordinary shares, not super majority the shares with extraordinary votes that Eva Holten has? Speaker 100:50:11Yes. These shares with 1 vote. Okay. Yes. Operator00:50:23We'll take our final question from Alejandra Aranda with Dettau. Speaker 600:50:30Hi, Pablo. Sorry, one more question. In terms of what you're expecting now for growth of loan and deposits for 2021, could you update us? Speaker 100:50:42Yes. Before always when we speak about volumes of loans and deposits, we have as a benchmark inflation. So we say inflation plus x percentage. For next year, deposits will be or should be growing in line with inflation at around, let's say, this 47% to 50% that I mentioned and loans around 10 percentage points above inflation. Of course, we are speaking just about peso, deposits and loans. Speaker 100:51:22In terms of dollars, the yen looks in weight and slightly that the trend will continue. And perhaps in a year, we will get to 10% to 15% of dollar deposits and dollar loans. And the 85% to 90% of pesos. Speaker 600:51:48Okay, perfect. Thank you. Speaker 100:51:52You're welcome. Operator00:51:57There are no more questions in the queue. Speaker 100:52:02Okay. Thank you all for attending this call. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Good morning and happy Thanksgiving for the ones in the U. S. Speaker 100:52:16Bye bye.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallGrupo Financiero Galicia Q3 202000:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K) Grupo Financiero Galicia Earnings HeadlinesGrupo Financiero Galicia S.A. 2024 Q2 - Results - Earnings Call PresentationMarch 13, 2025 | seekingalpha.comBanco Galicia: Last Train To Buy An Argentinian Bank Is Leaving The StationMarch 5, 2025 | seekingalpha.comReal Americans Don’t Wait on Wall Street’s Next MoveWhat's happening in the markets right now should concern every freedom-loving American who's worked hard and saved smart. Your 401(k) doesn't deserve to be dragged through the mud by tariffs, trade wars, reckless spending, and political standoffs. And you don't have to stand by while Wall Street plays roulette with your future.April 19, 2025 | Premier Gold Co (Ad)Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. American Depositary Shares (GGAL) Pre-MarketMarch 5, 2025 | nasdaq.comGrupo Financiero Galicia SA (GGAL) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Highlights: Record Profits Amid ...March 3, 2025 | finance.yahoo.comGráfico de Grupo Financiero Galicia ADRMarch 1, 2025 | es.investing.comSee More Grupo Financiero Galicia Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Grupo Financiero Galicia? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Grupo Financiero Galicia and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Grupo Financiero GaliciaGrupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL), a financial service holding company, provides various financial products and services to individuals and companies in Argentina. The company operates through Banks, NaranjaX, Insurance, and Other Businesses segments. It also offers personal loans; express and mortgage loans; pledge and credit card loans; credit and debit cards; and online banking services, as well as savings, deposits, and checking accounts related services. In addition, the company offers financing products; consumer finance and digital banking services; electronic check; global custody services; Fima funds; financial and stock market services to individuals, companies, and financial institutions; foreign trade services; and capital market and investment banking products that include debt securities, short-term securities, and financial trusts. Further, it provides robbery, personal accident, life collective, home, life, integral, pet, surety, and technical insurance products. Additionally, the company offers private banking services to high net worth individuals; and operates digital investment platform. Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. was founded in 1905 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.View Grupo Financiero Galicia ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Archer Aviation Unveils NYC Network Ahead of Key Earnings Report3 Reasons to Like the Look of Amazon Ahead of EarningsTesla Stock Eyes Breakout With Earnings on DeckJohnson & Johnson Earnings Were More Good Than Bad—Time to Buy? 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There are 10 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Welcome to the Grupo Financiero Galicia Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Release Conference Call. This call is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Pablo Fervida. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 100:00:13Thank you, Sarah. Good morning and welcome to this conference call. I will make a short introduction and then we will take your questions. Some of the statements made during this conference call will be forward looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor provisions of the U. S. Speaker 100:00:31Federal securities laws and are subject to risk and uncertainty that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. According to the National Institute of Statistics Monthly Economic Activity Estimator or EMI in Spanish, the Argentine economy recorded a 6.9% year over year contraction in September and an 11.9% contraction during the 1st 9 months of this year compared to the same period of 2019. During the Q3, the primary fiscal balance amounted to ARS 412,000,000,000 deficit, 1.5% of GDP. And as of the end of September, the accumulated fiscal deficit rose to 4.8% of GDP. The increase in public spending was a consequence of the implementation of the fiscal stimulus package, mainly consisting of direct transfer to the unemployed, social plan beneficiaries and informal sector workers as well as of aid to companies in the form of labor tax reductions and partial payment of salaries. Speaker 100:01:44Lower fiscal revenues were caused by the economic contraction due to the social isolation and distancing measures. During the Q3 of the year, the consumer price index recorded a 7.5% increase, accumulating a 22.3% increase during the 1st 9 months and a 36.6% from September 2019. On the monetary front, the monetary base went up by ARS229.2 billion between June September, entailing a 10.6% quarterly increase. The issuance of pesos was mainly explained by the Central Bank's transfer to the treasury, which were used to finance the fiscal deficit and by interest accrued from the DeliQ and repos that were issued in order to sterilize the aforementioned monetary expansion. The official exchange rate averaged MXN 75.2 per dollar in September, an 8.1% increase against the average for June 2020, and a 33.1% hike from September 2019. Speaker 100:02:59The average interest rate on peso denominated private sector time deposits for up to 59 days was 30.45 percent for September, 0.93 percentage points above the average recorded last June. Private sector deposits in pesos amounted to ARS4.6 trillion in September, increasing 6.9% during the quarter and 89.3% when compared to September 2019. Transactional deposits in pesos fell 2.7% against June, but increased 95.5% in the year, while peso denominated time deposits increased 20.3% in the quarter and 87.5% year over year. As of the end of September, peso denominated loans to the private sector amounted to ARS2.48 trillion, recording a 9.6% increase during the 3rd quarter and a 50.1% increase when compared to September last year. Turning now to Grupo Financiero Galicia. Speaker 100:04:12Net income for the Q3 amounted to ARS5.5 billion, up 99% from the year ago quarter. This profit was mainly due to gains from Banco Alicia for ARS4.5 billion. Galicia Minterodola Fundos for ARS 344 1,000,000, Interquita Regionales for ARS 295 1,000,000 and Insura Americana Holdings for ARS273,000,000. The annualized return on average assets was 2.3% and the return on average shareholders' equity 14%. Going to Banco Alicia, net income for the quarter increased 59% from the year ago quarter, due to a 10% growth of net interest income, a 19% increase of net fee income and a 19% decrease of loan loss provisions, offset by a 17% decrease of net income from financial instruments. Speaker 100:05:14Although interest income increased 18%, net interest income recorded an ARS896 1,000,000 growth as interest expenses were down 27%. Average inter selling assets increased ARS22 1,000,000,000 or 4% year over year, mainly due to the growth of peso denominated loans and of peso denominated government securities, offset by the decrease of the same items denominated in dollars. In the same period, its yield decreased 6.60 basis points, primarily due to lower yields on both dollar and peso denominated government securities and on other inter selling assets in pesos. Interest bearing liabilities increased ARS 2.5 billion from the Q3 of last year, primarily due to 26% increase in the average balance of peso denominated time deposits, offset by a 45% decrease in dollar denominated saving accounts and its cost decreased 504 basis points, mainly as a result of a lower interest rate on other interest bearing liabilities in pesos and on pesos denominated time deposits. Net fee income increased 19% in the last 12 months, being the net fees related to credit card activity the ones that stood out primarily because of lower expenses related to Quiero, our loyalty program. Speaker 100:06:48Net income from financial instruments decreased 17% due to lower yields on the LEIC and of results from derivative financial instruments, offset by higher profits from government securities. Gains from gold and foreign currency quotation differences were relatively stable from the year ago quarter reaching ARS2.3 billion including a ARS1.8 billion profit from foreign currency trading. Provision for loan losses were 19% lower than in the same quarter of the prior year, while both personnel and administrative expenses decreased 1% as compared to a year before. The bank's financing to the private sector reached ARS445 1,000,000,000 at the end of the quarter, down 2% in the last 12 months, mainly due to a 62% lower balance of dollar denominated loans that was partially offset by a 37% increase of loans in pesos. Net exposure to the public sector increased 50% year over year and excluding Leliqs it represented 70% of total assets compared to 4% at the end of the Q3 of 2019. Speaker 100:08:09Deposits reached ARS616,000,000,000, up 18% in a year as peso denominated deposits increased 52%, while dollar deposits fell 40%. The bank's estimated market share of loans to private sector was 12.7%, a 132 basis points higher than at the end of a year ago quarter. And the market share of deposits from the private sector was 10.1%, same level that the one reported in the same quarter of 2019. As regards asset quality, the ratio of non performing loans to total financing ended the quarter at 2.2% recording 152 basis points improvement as compared with the 3.7% of the Q3 of the prior year. And the coverage with allowances reached 301.5%, up from 133% coverage from a year ago. Speaker 100:09:10As of the end of September 2020, the bank's consolidated computable capital exceeded by ARS91,000,000,000 or 182 percent, the ARS50 1,000,000,000 minimum capital requirement. And the total regulatory capital ratio reached 23.1 percent, increasing by 673 basis points from the end of the same quarter of 2019. In summary, in a very challenging and volatile macro environment, Grupo Financiero Galicia has shown good results and was able to keep liquidity, solvency and profitability metrics at good levels. We are now ready to answer the questions that you may have. Thank Operator00:10:16We'll go ahead and take our first question from Jason Mollin with Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Speaker 200:10:22Good morning. Thank you. Good morning, Faolo. My question is related to what you provided in your press release on regulatory changes and the credit line that was introduced, the productive credit line for SMEs. I mean, I don't need to read them all, but maybe you can talk about the suspension of fees, the suspension of dividends, extension of credit card maturities, controls on foreign exchange, etcetera, etcetera, and then now this new credit line that was announced. Speaker 300:11:03Can you talk to us Speaker 200:11:04a little bit about what does Galicia see as the most important impact? Like which changes will have the most impact on the bank going forward like in the next 12 months? I mean what are the things that we should be looking at? And are they very material to the operating income and operations of the bank? Thanks. Speaker 100:11:30Okay. Well, you made a good summary of all the regulations that came out considering fees, dividend, waivers on NPLs and so on, also minimum interest rate on time deposits. This productive line came recently and well, it will have to be or banks will have to have this burst on average 7.5% of the peso deposits. Definitely, the rates are much higher than the ones that we were granting beginning in March. At that moment, the interest rates were around 24% for SMEs, 15% for independent professionals and monotributis. Speaker 100:12:36That's the recall. These rates are 30% 35%, so they are a little bit higher and it will be optimized. But going back to the more general question, not just the productive line, the Central Bank has been, I would say, using the banks as a tool to help the rest of the economy to improve its situation. So basically trying to help SMEs, independent professionals in order to keep economic activity as high as possible. Definitely, we would prefer no regulation in this sense, but we are, I would say, trying to accommodate. Speaker 100:13:31And each time there is a new regulation, we take decisions in order to get back to the previous situation. I would say that going forward, the main risk keeps being regulatory risk. And within regulatory, we would also add a fiscal risk in the sense that some provinces are trying to increase taxes on certain banking transactions. Yesterday or the day before yesterday, the city of Buenos Aires announced that for next year, they are planning to raise certain taxes on banks basically, mainly because the national government reduced the transfer of national taxes to a city of Buenos Aires. So this was the kind of political reaction. Speaker 100:14:43We are in the middle of a kind of political negotiation. We will have to see if it is finally approved. But so definitely, regulatory risk and this type of fiscal or tax risk are the main concerns. I don't know if I was clear Speaker 200:15:03with No, that's very helpful. That's very helpful. On the fiscal side that you just mentioned, are they considering a potential transaction tax? Or is it some kind of revenue tax or income tax being proposed? Speaker 100:15:18They announced 2 things. It's a project. Again, it's not approved. One is to charge with a stamp tax of 1.2% the credit card statements that, of course, will be paid by the credit card holders, but indirectly could cause that the consumption with credit cards will diminish in a way and so people would prefer to pay cash certain transactions. But the more direct impact would be in the project of applying sales tax in Puerto Los Ingreso Brutos is called in Spanish of 7% on the interest that we received banks received on Leliqs and on Repo. Speaker 100:16:15So what already the Central Bank said that this project would affect the rate of a monetary instrument. So in my opinion, it will be an issue that will be discussed and negotiated. But these are the 2 initiatives that the city of Buenos Aires announced for next year. Thank you very much, Pablo. You're welcome. Operator00:16:52We'll take our next question from Ernesto Gabolondo with Bank of America. Speaker 300:16:58Hi, good morning, Paolo. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on NIMs and net interest income. We noticed an important sequential decline in net interest income, and I think it was explained by lower interest on public sector securities, lower interest on overdraft loans, and we also saw higher funding costs. And I don't know if it was mainly explained because of the minimum flow on interest rates. Speaker 300:17:27So what should be the trend we should be looking for NIMs during the last quarter and next year? Speaker 100:17:36Yes. Thank you for the question. Yes, we saw a sequential contraction in NIMs higher than expected 3 months ago. During the quarter with the, I would say, introduction of this minimum interest rate on time deposits, of course, we were expecting that contraction. That was, I would say, the main reason because in the Q2, the cost of funding, mainly the time deposits interest rate, was abnormally low. Speaker 100:18:18But now is in a way higher than perhaps what the market would be willing to receive. So the main reason for the contraction was this minimum interest rate on time deposits. On the other hand, in the second and third quarter, we saw the impact of lower interest rates on these loans we granted to SMEs and independent professionals at 24% 15% respectively. Going forward, interest rates on our loans should be a little bit higher because of this 30% to 35% interest rates on the productive line. And also, the Central Bank changed the trend and began increasing the interest rates on the lease and on repo transaction. Speaker 100:19:20And also another source of or variable that affects NIM is a breakdown between pesos and dollars. As you saw, the weight on dollars is coming down and as deposits in dollars and loans in dollars are decreasing and the peso bucket is growing. So going forward, we think there will be a stable to a slight contraction in margin. We are not seeing any, I would say, such a compression as we saw in the Q3 compared to the second one. Speaker 300:20:03Now this is very helpful. Thank you very much, Pablo. Just a second question in terms of asset quality, in terms of NPLs. Once you end the relief programs, when do you expect to have the peak of NPLs? And what should be the level of that NPL ratio? Speaker 100:20:26Well, it's, I would say, the key question that we all discussed internally. Definitely, NPL has been very resilient, not only because of this waiver from the Central Bank. If we look at the numbers of the Q3, the total NPLs to total financing, this includes unused amounts of overdraft and credit card limits, it was 2.2%. If we do not take into account this waiver, this 2.2% would have been around 2.9%, still I would say very healthy NPL ratio. Going forward, we could expect some, I would say, again, slight deterioration. Speaker 100:21:27But why? Because interest rates of these loans granted were low and not only low, but also negative in real terms. And it's easy for companies and individuals to pay this debt. And as I mentioned, I think in the previous conference call with a higher inflation, perhaps the impact on the P and L will be seen in the adjustment by inflation more than in the deterioration of the asset quality. I don't know if that was clear here. Speaker 300:22:08Yes, very clear. Thank you very much, Paolo. Speaker 400:22:12You're welcome. Operator00:22:15We'll take our next question from Gabriel Nobrega with Citi. Speaker 500:22:22Hi, Pablo. Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to ask questions. So I also have a question on asset quality. Just seeing that you did not create additional provisions this quarter and also being that you're saying that the NPL ratio is behaving better than expected. Do you think that the second quarter was the only quarter where you had to create additional provisions? Speaker 500:22:47Or do you believe that as the waivers drop in December of this year, you will maybe have to reassess all of the asset quality and maybe have to increase additional provisions during 2021? And I'll ask a second question afterwards. Thank you. Speaker 100:23:06Hi, Gabriel. So the Q2 saw a peak in provisioning and mainly related to off balance sheet commitment. For the Q4, we are thinking in provision similar to the Q3, to this current quarter that we are discussing today. So and the coverage really is very high, again, not only considering the regulatory one with this waiver on NPLs, but also if we consider the previous NPL metrics, the coverage is above 220%. So we are, I would say, really comfortable with the level of coverage we created. Speaker 500:24:07Okay. That's very clear. And then as for my second question, when we look at the specific NPL ratio for Tarettas, it decreased a lot in the quarter. I have here more than 300 bps. And I was just wondering if there is a specific thing here or maybe the portfolio is performing better than expected? Speaker 100:24:38Nothing, I would say, extraordinary. The collection was better than expected or as the economic activity began to rebound, collection improved. We didn't sell bad loans or there was no specific action. In the quarter, the 3 months, July, August and September, saw a sequential a sequential growth. Yesterday, it was published the September Economic Activity number and the economy grew 1.9% from August and the previous numbers were 1.7% and 1.1%, I think. Speaker 100:25:27So the 3 months were positive and that was translated to collection. And also many times in the case of the Naranja clients, they are more in the interior of Argentina and they typically benefit or see the benefits from the agricultural sector that is doing very well. But again, nothing extraordinary. Speaker 500:25:58All right. Thank you so much. Speaker 100:26:02You're welcome. Operator00:26:05We'll take our next question from Alejandra Armando with Zetta. Speaker 600:26:13Hi, good morning, Paolo. I wanted to know the percentage of loans that have been reprogrammed, if you could tell us and discriminate that between credit cards and the rest of your portfolio? And then also the percentage of loans that you have with subsidized rate? That would be my first question. Speaker 100:26:34Okay. Hi, Alejandra. The loans with subsidized rate as of September represented 10.5% of our total loans. The main ones are the ones granted to SMEs at 24%. Speaker 300:26:54In terms Speaker 100:26:57of the loans that were deferred or the installments that were deferred or reprogrammed, as you said, the number decreased significantly and it's around 4% of total loans. Most of them credit cards, if I had to say a percentage, 70% credit cards, 30% personal loans in the area, not a very accurate figure. So in total, you have between the 2 around 14.5 percent of total loans. Speaker 600:27:3814%, 1.4%. Speaker 100:27:4114%, considering the subsidized rates, the 10.5% Okay. Operator00:27:49And then Speaker 600:27:52the second question that I have is that in terms of fees on a quarter on quarter basis, we saw a 9% increase in real terms when fees have been frozen. If you could explain that a little bit because at a bank level, they actually declined 2% quarter on quarter. So I was wondering what happened there and what can we expect on 4Q and on 2021? Speaker 100:28:18Okay. Well, when you look at the different subsidiaries, the fee for example, in this case, the fee behavior or the fee growth or decrease and you add these subsidiaries in order to get to the full unconsolidated group of financial release number. Many times, you don't get the desired result mainly because there are many intercompany transactions and these are eliminated. Typically, the bank pays fees to Valicia Seguros or to FEMA, our asset manager or Naranja pays the bank for different services. So this type of consolidated variation is due to, in many cases and particularly in this quarter due to eliminations due to this intercompany transaction. Speaker 100:29:23Having said that, if we look at the current regulation, the Central Bank allowed for price increases for basic products beginning in next year, 9% in January and 9% in February. This is again for the basic products. We could be increasing prices of fees for other products like, say, deposit boxes, for example, or certain bundle of products. So the expectation in terms of prices is to have some increase and also to increase cross selling and volume. So the target for next year is to have this growing around 5 percentage points above inflation. Speaker 600:30:21Okay. Thank you very much. Speaker 100:30:25You're welcome, Alexandra. Operator00:30:28We'll take our next question from Yuri Fernandes with JPMorgan. Speaker 300:30:33Hi, Pablo. Good morning. Speaker 700:30:35I have a quick question regarding tax Can you provide us some guideline here how to think about the effective tax rate for the bank? This quarter was pretty high. So I know inflation matters a lot here, but if you can provide some kind of color for us, I guess that will be helpful. I have a second question regarding NII and margins. I understood from Alejandra's question that only 4% of your loans are in deferral. Speaker 700:31:04That seems to be a very low and good number. I just want to check if this includes the 3 month grace periods from the automatic renegotiations of cards in September, like the Central Bank Regulation. And if that's the case, if the number of deferred are so low, are you accruing interest on those loans? I mean, like you're not receiving installments. You should only receive next year. Speaker 700:31:29So how are you treating those loans that have those grace periods and should be paid in several like 9 installments just in 2021? Like are we seeing that in NII now? Or are you not accruing peers on those loans? Thank you. Speaker 100:31:46Well, thank you for the questions, Yuri. Regarding the income tax rate, the statute salary 1 is 30%. And beginning last year, the calculations are using or adjusting by inflation. This quarter, the effective tax rate looks higher mainly because the difference between the accounting and the tax accounting is a treatment of a provisioning. We cannot use all the provisions that we show in the P and L as an expense, as a deductible item. Speaker 100:32:40In order to do that for tax purposes, you need to begin collection procedures. So that is there is the main difference. Going forward, of course, it's hard to project. It will depend on this difference between the or how high provisioning will be. But again, the rate is 30%. Speaker 100:33:12Going to your questions on NII and margin and our reprogram loans, 4% are the to total loans is the amount of credit cards that were refinanced in 12 monthly installments at 43% in April and at 40% in September. In September, the amount that was refinanced was much lower than in April. And we are accruing interest on these loans, of course. The other loans that are affecting, I would say, net interest income are the ones that granted at 24% to SMEs and at 15% interest rate to these independent professionals. But they are being collected with no problem. Speaker 100:34:21And actually, if we look at the amount of outstanding loans at 24%, let me make a quick calculation. We are at around 60% of the maximum amount this year. So we already collected 40% of the maximum amount that we granted under the 24 percent interest rate line. So that's why we think with the new interest rates on this productive line, margins could be resilient or even a little bit higher. Speaker 700:35:14It's likely I understood previously flat to slightly lower, so it's flat to slightly higher from here. Speaker 100:35:24I would say that this change in the margin, there are many variables affecting one points up, other points down. In the case of this decrease in the outstanding amounts of 15% and 24% line and are in a way replaced by 30% 35% interest rate lines helps in the margin. Of course, if minimum interest rates persist or if they are new or additional regulation that play against the margin. That's why we think they could be stable or with a slight compression considering all the variables. Speaker 700:36:16No, perfect. It's pretty clear, Paolo. Thank you very much. Speaker 100:36:21Thank you. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. Operator00:36:26We'll take our next question from Rodrigo Nestor with AR Speaker 800:36:32Partners. Hi, good morning. Good morning, Pablo. Thank you for taking my question. So I would like to have more color on the hedge in policy against inflation and the peso depreciation, particularly are you increasing exposure to the newly issued sovereign dollar linked bonds and also the inflation linked ones? Speaker 800:36:52And from now on, what should we expect in terms of a strategy to mitigate the risk of spiking inflation and further depreciation of the peso? Thank you. Speaker 100:37:04Thank you, Rodrigo. Well, to hedge against inflation and also for the devaluation, Of course, we have our real estate, but it's a portion of our equity. We try to be a hedge in dollars, not only in, I would say, of course, the limit we have regulatory limits that are 4% to 5% of our regulatory capital. But the policy is to be hedged and we do that through forward contracts. The asset and liability management committee permanently analyzes the convenience or not to purchase dollar linked instruments or inflation linked instruments. Speaker 100:38:093rd instruments are in some cases too long and other alternative are the UVA loans. But from, I would say, regulatory view are a little bit risky. Of course, we are not able all the banks, not just in Alicia, we are not able to adjust fully the UVA on the personal loans and mortgage loans we granted 2 years ago. So these are instruments, and we permanently try to cover against both inflation and devaluation. Operator00:39:12We'll take our next question from Nicolas Riva with Bank of America. Speaker 400:39:18Thanks very much, Pablo, for taking my question. I have only one question and it's about the deposits in dollars in the banking system. So we have seen a significant amount of outflows really since August of last year since the primary elections, than 50% of the deposits in dollars from the entire banking system, not just Felicia have exited the system. And I wanted Speaker 300:39:46to ask you if internally Speaker 400:39:49you guys discuss or if you're concerned about potential restrictions in terms of withdrawing deposits in dollars like at Coralito, specifically of dollar deposits similar to what Argentina had back in 2,001, 2002? Thanks. Speaker 100:40:08Hi, Nicolas. Well, as you said, the outflow of dollar denominated deposit began after the primaries of last year. At the beginning, in the worst days of August September last year, they were very important amounts. Then it flattened and even they grew in December. This year, we were seeing a leakage, very small withdrawals every day. Speaker 100:40:40In September, when the Central Bank put restrictions to or new or additional restrictions in the FX market, people got more nervous and we saw a rebound in dollar denominated withdrawals After the situation normalized in the sense that banks were able to sell again dollars, the mood changed dramatically. And today, we are seeing even in some days some growth of dollar denominated deposits. Having said this, the level of deposits in dollars in the face of Galicia is close to $1,700,000,000 and the coverage with liquid instruments, mainly cash dollar bills is about 93%. So we are not worried about liquidity at all. And we I would say that nobody feels that there are, I would say, the conditions to put any what you say, regulation, as you mentioned, the Corralito. Speaker 100:42:07So we think all the banks are in a very good situation in terms of liquidity, in dollars and also in pesos, but the issue you are asking is dollars. And as you mentioned, since the primary deposits in dollars in the system decreased more than 60%, and we saw no problem at all. Why? Because basically, regulation was very good in terms of that dollar denominated deposits could be lent just to exporters and origination dollars basically disappeared 1 year ago. So banks are seated on bills of dollar bills. Speaker 100:43:00So no, we don't see any risk of this type of an extreme regulation. Operator00:43:13We'll take our next question from Carlos Gomez with HSBC. Speaker 400:43:19Hello, good morning. Speaker 900:43:19Thank you for taking our questions. Two questions. First, Operator00:43:24could you Speaker 900:43:24tell us what you expect for inflation for this year and for next year? And if you expect an increase in inflation, how do you intend to handle it? What is the strategy that you will hold? 2nd, could you give more detail about the transaction regarding Tazheta Regionales and the additional 17%, which is not going to be owned by the bank? Thank you. Speaker 100:43:52Perfect. Well, regarding inflation for this year, we are forecasting that it will end up at 37%. This 37% includes on average around 4% of monthly inflation for November December. That are the last two months that we need to wait to have all the monthly input. For next year, we are forecasting higher inflation around 47%. Speaker 100:44:30Of course, this is a moving target. Basically, because there are certain signals that take us to believe that the government, the Ministry of Economy, the Central Bank are willing to reduce subsidies in order to have a lower fiscal deficit, and they will allow some tariff increase prices increases in utilities, the tariff increases, And also some programs of frozen prices were or are about to finish. And also the monetary expansion will create some pressure on prices going forward. So let's say from 37 to 47. Again, we have to we'll be able to be more accurate on expecting inflation as demands of next year goes by. Speaker 100:45:32The way banks make money in an inflationary environment and also in a noninflationary environment is with the margin. It's likely that if inflation goes up, interest rates will go up and margins will go up. And we could have some coverage, as I explained in a previous answer, with a dollar linked instrument or inflation linked instrument. But basically, the best way to have a good profitability is to have a good margin financial margin as a whole. And target regionales Carlos. Speaker 100:46:25The idea of the transaction was to that Grupo Financiero Avisia ends up with having 100% of all its subsidiaries. The only minority shareholders in the different subsidiaries were or still are at Tarquita Regionales. These are 2 families that were the founders of Tarquita Naranja. Banco of Alicia purchased the control of Tarjita Naranja back in 1995. And now we are completing a process basically giving or exchanging shares of Grupo Financiero Alicia by their shares in Parque Terre Regionales. Speaker 100:47:16At the end of the process, Grupo Financiero Oricia will have 100% of Naranja, Naranja, and the former minority shareholders of Naranja will have 3.25 percent of the shares of Grupo Financiero Abadisia. These shares will be issued slightly at the beginning of next year, once all the regulatory approvals are obtained, the last legal step that was in our hands was an extraordinary shareholders meeting that took place 1 week ago. So now we have to wait for some state owned offices to approve this transaction. Speaker 900:48:11So can you repeat so how many shares will be issued? So this is a capital increase for Gugofri and Cirovales? Speaker 100:48:19This is a capital increase, but Grupo will have a bigger portion of La Rancher and Regionales. So in a sense, it will be kind of neutral. The number of shares issued will be I don't have it right now in front of me, but with the new issuance of shares, the shareholders of Cordoba, returns of Cordoba, will have 3.25 percent of the shares of Grupo Financier of Alicja. Speaker 900:48:58So it is 3.25 percent of new shares, right, that will be issued as a bit more of outstanding shares Speaker 100:49:05that will be That will mean here I found a number. The shareholders from the province of Cordoba will receive 47,900,000 shares of Grupo Financiaris. Speaker 900:49:4447.9 percent. And you said this will be at the beginning of next year? Speaker 100:49:49That's yes. Of course, it's the timing is not fully under our control, but that is our estimate. Speaker 900:49:59Okay. And just one question. So this will be ordinary shares, not super majority the shares with extraordinary votes that Eva Holten has? Speaker 100:50:11Yes. These shares with 1 vote. Okay. Yes. Operator00:50:23We'll take our final question from Alejandra Aranda with Dettau. Speaker 600:50:30Hi, Pablo. Sorry, one more question. In terms of what you're expecting now for growth of loan and deposits for 2021, could you update us? Speaker 100:50:42Yes. Before always when we speak about volumes of loans and deposits, we have as a benchmark inflation. So we say inflation plus x percentage. For next year, deposits will be or should be growing in line with inflation at around, let's say, this 47% to 50% that I mentioned and loans around 10 percentage points above inflation. Of course, we are speaking just about peso, deposits and loans. Speaker 100:51:22In terms of dollars, the yen looks in weight and slightly that the trend will continue. And perhaps in a year, we will get to 10% to 15% of dollar deposits and dollar loans. And the 85% to 90% of pesos. Speaker 600:51:48Okay, perfect. Thank you. Speaker 100:51:52You're welcome. Operator00:51:57There are no more questions in the queue. Speaker 100:52:02Okay. Thank you all for attending this call. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Good morning and happy Thanksgiving for the ones in the U. S. Speaker 100:52:16Bye bye.Read morePowered by