Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call November 3, 2023 11:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Rodrigo Aravena - Chief Economist & SVP, Institutional Relations

Pablo Mejia - Head, IR

Conference Call Participants

Daer Labarta - Goldman Sachs Group

Daniel Mora - CrediCorp Capital

Yuri Fernandes - JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ernesto Gabilondo - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Operator

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Banco de Chile's Third Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. If you need a copy of the management's financial review, it is available on the company's website. With us today, 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 joining this conference call. We are pleased to present the performance of our bank during the third quarter. A Bidder, once again, Banco de Chile demonstrated its unquestionable leadership. Some achievements include a solid net income of CLP 260 billion in the quarter, equivalent to an ROE of 21%, remaining the most profitable bank among peers. We also led the industry regarding capital, asset quality and margins. And achieved significant accomplishments in other nonfinancial areas. .

I want to remind you that further details are shown in the management discussion report released this week and available on the banks were paid. Before moving to our presentation, we are very proud to mention that recently, Banco de Chile completed 130 years of history offering comprehensive solutions for our customers and promoting the development of the country and the people. I'd like to begin with an overview of the competitive environment and our forecast for this in the following year.

Please go to Slide #3. Chile is a small and open economy highly integrated into the rest of the world, which is why it's critical to monitor the evolution of global drivers that could potentially affect our economy. As the upper left chart shows, we've seen lower dynamism in the global economy, which has been reflected in the downward adjustment in global TV forecast. As the IMF mentioned it is we report, this negative trend is attributable to the weaker-than-expected growth in China which represents nearly 40% of Chilean export.