Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 5, 2023 12:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Rodrigo Aravena - Chief Economist & Institutional Relations Officer

Pablo Mejia - Head of Investor Relations

Conference Call Participants

Juan Recalde - Scotiabank

Andres Soto - Santander

Ernesto Gabilondo - Bank of America

Neha Agarwala - HSBC Global Research

Operator

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Banco de Chile's First Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. If you need a copy of the management financial review, it is available on the company's website. Today with us, we have Mr. Rodrigo Aravena, Chief Economist and Institutional Relations Officer; Mr. Pablo Mejia, Head of Investor Relations; and Daniel Galarce, Head of Financial Control and Capital.

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this call is being recorded and that the information discussed today may include forward-looking statements regarding the company's financial and operating performance. All projections are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. Please refer to the detailed note in the company's press release regarding forward-looking statements.

I will now turn the call over to Mr. Rodrigo Aravena. Please go ahead, sir.

Rodrigo Aravena

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much for attending this call, where we will review the main accomplishment of Banco de Chile during the first quarter of this year. We are very proud of the overall performance of our bank during the first quarter of the year.

Once again, Banco de Chile led the industry in terms of profitability by posting a solid 22% ROE, thanks to its bottom line of MXN266 billion. The bank also maintained its sound capital position reflected in 17% and 12.8% in Basel and CET1 ratio, respectively, while asset quality indicators remain healthy. This figure, coupled with our permanent leadership in customer service only confirmed unquestionable leadership of Banco de Chile in the country.

As we made in previous earnings release, we have divided this call into four main sections. In the first part, we will analyze the macroeconomic and financial environment we faced and our forecast for this year. Second, we will refer to our key strategic advances and accomplishments. After this, we will present a detailed analysis of our financial performance. And finally, we will move to a Q&A section.

Let me start with the macroeconomic analysis. Please go to slide number three. Despite the recession that we have faced as the upper left chart shows, the economy began the year in a better shape, particularly the lower-than-expected decline of the local activity, together with improvement in some key drivers for Chile such as cover prices allow us to expect a better than forecasted performance of the economy for this year.