Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. (NYSE:BLX) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call April 19, 2024 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Jorge Salas - CEO
Ana de Mendez - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Iñigo Vega - Jefferies
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Bladex First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. A slide presentation is accompanying today's webcast and is also available on the Investors section of the company's website, www.bladex.com. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of today's presentation. Please note, today's conference call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions].
I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Jorge Salas, Chief Executive Officer. Sir, please go ahead.
Jorge Salas
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining to discuss our 2024 first quarter results. I will start by providing a high-level summary of our performance, and then Annie Mendez, our CFO, will discuss the results in more detail. After that, I'll make a couple of comments regarding key initiatives in our strategic plan. And then I will open the call for questions. 2024 had a very strong start, extending the positive profitability trend from the previous quarters.
This is notable not only because Q4 had a couple of positive one-off transactions, but more importantly, because we have been able to achieve these results in a more challenging landscape marked by reopening of debt capital markets, increased liquidity in domestic and global markets, and also increased competition from local and international banks.
In this context, we have managed to grow our portfolio, maintain our income generation, protect margins, increase deposits, and continue generating significant fee income throughout the first quarter of the year. Moving on to Slide 2. Here we show the highlights of the first quarter results. Starting with the balance sheet.
Growth of the credit book was 3% quarter-on-quarter and 12% year-on-year, with pristine asset quality. At the same time, deposits increased 7% quarter-over-quarter and 32% year-on-year, gaining a larger share of our funding structure.
As a result of the continued growth on the deposit base, the bank has been tactically reducing the use of bilateral facilities from corresponding bank. This, of course, has benefited our funding costs. Also, during the first quarter, Bladex once again topped the Mexican debt capital markets with a new bond placement for MXN 3 billion, equivalent to $180 million, which is widely oversubscribed.