Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A (NYSE:BLX) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call May 4, 2022 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Ana Graciela de Mendez - Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Jorge Salas - Chief Executive Officer

Samuel Canineu - Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Chris Sakai - Singular Research

Brad Golding - CRC

Operator

Hello, everyone and welcome to Bladex's First Quarter 2022 Conference Call on this 4th day of May 2022. This call is being recorded and is for investors and analysts only. If you are a member of the media, you are invited to listen only. Bladex has prepared a PowerPoint presentation to accompany their discussion. It is available through the webcast and on the bank's corporate website at www.bladex.com. Joining us today are Mr. Jorge Salas, Chief Executive Officer; and Mrs. Ana Graciela de Mendez, Chief Financial Officer. Their comments will be based on the earnings release, which was issued earlier today and is available on the corporate website.

The following statement is made pursuant to the safe harbor for forward-looking statements described in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In these communications, we may make certain statements that are forward-looking such as statements regarding Bladex's future results, plans and anticipated trends in the markets affecting its results and financial condition. These forward-looking statements are Bladex's expectations on the day of the initial broadcast of this conference call, and Bladex does not undertake to update these expectations based on subsequent events or knowledge. Various risks, uncertainties and assumptions are detailed in the bank's press release and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ significantly from results expressed or implied in these communications.

And with that, I am pleased to turn the call over to Mr. Salas for his presentation.

Jorge Salas

Thank you very much, Shelby, and good morning to everyone. I'm here today with our CFO, Annie Mendez; our Chief Commercial Officer, Sam Canineu, is also on the line; and a few other members of my executive team, to discuss Q1 results for this 2022.

Please let's go straight to Slide 3. Okay. So this quarter was once again a record-breaking quarter in terms of asset growth. We reached $8.4 billion in our credit portfolio at the end of the quarter. That is up 14% from our previous quarter and 38% from a year ago. The Commercial portfolio grew 12% quarter-on-quarter and 28% in the last 12 months, and it's now close to the historical peak of Bladex of $7.4 billion. This is now the seventh consecutive quarter of continued growth, this time boosted mainly by the increase in commodity prices and trade shows. Net interest income for the quarter was up 4% compared to last quarter and 36% year-on-year. Having said that, interest income does not reflect the full impact of the increased volume of commercial assets observed during the period as most of the growth took place in the last week -- or last weeks, I should say, of the quarter, and the bank maintained a higher liquidity levels at the beginning of the year in anticipation precisely of this expected increase in the credit portfolio. However, this robust asset growth will provide strong basis for a sustained improvement in the bank's revenue growth in the forthcoming months.