Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 23, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Paul Cardillo - Investor Relations Officer
Ignacio Alvarez - Chief Executive Officer
Jorge Garcia - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Lidio Soriano - Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer

Conference Call Participants

Brett Rabatin - Hovde Group
Frank Schiraldi - Piper Sandler
Kelly Motta - KBW
Jared Shaw - Barclays
Timur Braziler - Wells Fargo
Benjamin Gerlinger - Citi
Gerard Cassidy - RBC
Samuel Varga - UBS

Operator

Hello and welcome to the Popular Incorporated Third Quarter Earnings Call. My name is Elliot and I will be coordinating your call today. [Operator Instructions].

I would now like to hand over to Paul Cardillo, Investor Relations Officer at Popular. Please go ahead.

Paul Cardillo

Good morning and thank you for joining us. With us on the call today is our CEO, Ignacio Alvarez; our President and COO, Javier Ferrer; our CFO, Jorge Garcia; and our CRO, Lidio Soriano. They will review our results for the third quarter and then answer your questions. Other members of our management team will also be available during the Q&A session.

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that on today's call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding Popular, such as projections of revenue, earnings, expenses, taxes and capital structure as well as statements regarding Popular's plans and objectives.

These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements are set forth within today's earnings release and our SEC filings. You may find today's press release and our SEC filings on our web page at popular.com.

I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Ignacio Alvarez.

Ignacio Alvarez

Good morning and thank you for joining the call. In the third quarter, we achieved net income of $155 million, a decrease of $23 million from the second quarter. These results were primarily driven by a higher provision for credit losses, which was partly a result of loan growth at BPPR.

Credit quality trends remained stable in the period. Net interest income increased by $4 million compared to the second quarter. While this was below what we had anticipated, it was largely a result of a $1.8 billion reduction in deposit levels at BPPR, which impacted the balance and mix of earning assets. That said, average retail customer deposit balances remain approximately 30% above prepanemic levels and we continue to add new deposit clients during the quarter.