Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) Q1 2024 Results Conference Call May 3, 2024 12:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Rodrigo Aravena - Chief Economist & Institutional Relations Officer
Pablo Mejia - Head of Investor Relations
Daniel Galarce - Head of Financial Control and Capital

Conference Call Participants

Ernesto Gabilondo - Bank of America
Tito Labarta - Goldman Sachs
Yuri Fernandes - JPMorgan
Neha Agarwala - HSBC Global Research
Andres Soto - Santander

Operator

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Banco de Chile's First Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. If you need a copy of the management financial review, it is available on the Company's website.

With us today, we have Mr. Rodrigo Aravena, Chief Economist and Institutional Relations Officer; Pablo Mejia, Head of Investor Relations; 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 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 for attending this webcast today, where we will present the financial results and achievements of Banco de Chile during the first quarter of this year. We are proud of our overall performance during the quarter.

Once again, we led the industry in net income and profitability, capitalization and risk, among other figures, demonstrating our capacity to generate consistent and solid results overtime. Following the thorough view of the previous quarterly call, we will begin our presentation with a brief analysis of the macroeconomic conditions and competitive landscape we faced. Then, we will present the most relevant achievements in our strategic initiatives and finalize with a deeper analysis of financial results.

Please go to Slide number 3 to begin the macro environment discussion. The Chilean economy is growing again. The activity posted a significant cyclical recovery at the beginning of this year, after the chart macroeconomic adjustment mainly in 2023, when the economy grew only 0.2%, one of the lowest figures in the region. Nevertheless, it's important to be aware of two main aspects related to the recession seen last year.

First, the subdued growth resulted from the tightening monetary fiscal policy especially between 2022 and 2023. This adjustment was necessary to correct the macroeconomic imbalances that occurred during the pandemic, such as increases in inflation, domestic demand and external savings among others. Second, the CPI in 2023 returned to their policy rents. The current account deficit declined to pre-pandemic levels and fiscal debt remained below 40% of the GDP. The normalization of these figures provides further reasons to expect a more sustainable recovery for the country.