Bancolombia S.A. (NYSE:CIB) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call November 8, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Juan Carlos Mora - Chief Executive Officer
Laura Clavijo - Chief Economist
Mauricio Wolff - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Ernesto Gabilondo - Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Yuri Fernandes - JPMorgan
Andres Soto - Santander Investment Securities Inc.
Eric Ito - Bradesco BBI
Olavo Arthuzo - UBS

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Bancolombia's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Nat, and I will be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.

Also please note that this conference call will include forward-looking statements, including statements related to our future performance, capital position, credit-related expenses and credit losses. All forward-looking statements whether made in this conference call or future filings, in press releases or verbally address matters that involve risks and uncertainties.

Consequently, there is factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such statements, including the changes in general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products by other companies, lack of acceptance of new products or services by our targeted clients, changes in business strategy and various other factors that we describe in our reports filed with the SEC.

With us today is Mr. Juan Carlos Mora, Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Mauricio Botero Wolff, Chief Strategy and Financial Officer; Mr. Rodrigo Prieto, Chief Risk Officer; Mrs. Catalina Tobon, Investor Relations and Capital Markets Director; and Mrs. Laura Clavijo, Chief Economist.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Juan Carlos Mora, Chief Executive Officer. Thank you. You may begin.

Juan Carlos Mora

Good morning, and welcome to the Bancolombia's third quarter results conference call. Please turn to Slide 2. As we advanced through the year, we are observing increasingly positive indicators with the economic landscape and credit cycle. Inflation rates have persistently declined, enabling the Colombia Central Bank to reduce interest rates. This environment supports lower credit deterioration and encourages domestic spending.

Despite a modest expansion of our credit portfolio and a decline in interest income, the third quarter reported a consecutive improvement marked by a net income of COP1.5 trillion. This represents a 4.3% growth quarter-over-quarter and a 1% increase year-over-year, resulting in a 15% return on equity. This performance is attributed to the good performance of our investment portfolio, reduce provision charges and operating expenses that have grown well below the inflation rate as we will further elaborate.