Intercorp Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:IFS) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Michela Casassa: Hi, Yuri. How are you? Maybe just a couple of additions to what Luis Felipe mentioned in the comparison to 2019, okay, specifically why we are expecting a higher cost of risk in 2023 versus 2019? I mean first, already the mix when you compare it to 2019, putting together credit cards and personal loans, now it’s already a little bit €“ it’s getting close a little bit higher than what it was 2019, but the other important component is that the riskiness within those two portfolios is higher than it was in 2019. Why? Not because at the very beginning, we wanted not to build it that way, but because of the sustained inflation, that is a big variable that we didn’t have present in 2019. Actually, it was not even present in our expected loss models.

We incorporated it. I think it was in the first quarter of 2022. So, I would say this is a big impact because the sustaining inflation has been there almost the full 2022, and this has started to have an impact. We anticipated it already. We saw something in the second quarter, in the third quarter, now it’s even bigger. And on top of that, we have the disruption of the protest. So, we have been doing in December and in January, some rescheduling trying to help clients to overcome this moment. And of course, everything we are doing now, we have some estimates of how that should improve over time in the next month, but I think that the impact is going to be felt and strong, especially in the first quarter. And how it evolves in the next quarters of the year, of course, will depend on what happens with the process and with the outcome.

Now, everything that we are envisioning is on, I mean, on the light that the situation kind of normalize. Normalize meaning, let’s say, controlled uncertainty, but this is what we have more or less in mind. Now moving on to efficiency. I mean, just to make it clear, what I am showing in the guidance now is only at the bank level. Okay. So, the bank is the one that will have an efficiency ratio below 39%. That efficiency ratio for the full-year for the bank was a little bit above 40%. Okay. And that is the result of this positive operating leverage. But what we are not able to show you yet, Yuri, is what will happen with IFS. So basically, I mean, conceptually, I agree if there is a recovery of the revenues of Wealth Management, the bank grows nicely, Interseguro grows nicely, and payments continue to grow nicely.

Revenues and the cost do not grow that much, there should be a positive impact. We just need to make sure that with IFRS 17, things do not move, not so the level and that the comparison, of course, is one that makes sense. So I mean, conceptually, I agree with you. We will have to check the numbers with the full impact of IFRS 17.

Yuri Fernandes: Perfect Michela and Luis. Thank you very much.

Luis Felipe Castellanos: Thank you, Yuri.

Operator: Our next question comes from Andres Soto with Santander. Please go ahead.

Andres Soto: Thank you. Good morning to all. Thank you for the presentation. My question is regarding the guidance that you are providing in terms of ROE. If you could help us break that down in terms of your different banking units. What are you expecting for €“ sorry, I mean the general segment. What are you expecting for banking, insurance from management and payments?

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