So there’s X amount of situations that you can go over the problem. Well, yes, we’re expecting a worse scenario in 2023 than 2022. Point, that’s within the guidance of the cost of credit. We don’t open to break down. Substantially, the effect is retail in terms of materiality of provisions, but relatively speaking percentage, the biggest growth is wholesale. So we have to look at percentage, the cost of credit year-on-year if you removed the effect. For the specific case of December, we have the retail for now from the nominal, the big volumes. And of course, the margin levels are €“ is very different. Well, it’s from retail, and before it was wholesale.
Renato Lulia: Next question from Renato Maloney .
Unidentified Participant: Congratulations on the results. I want to talk a bit about growth. When we look at the central bank data, specifically for individuals, measures that you and other banks took make sense. But greater reduction than we would normally see seasonally speaking. So I’d like to understand this deceleration and how this can affect guidance risk this year.
Milton Maluhy Filho: Yes, we’ve seen this portfolio decelerating for the last few quarters, actually. We made adjustments in the third quarter of 2021, and so we’re talking about 13, 14 months of consistent, consecutive readjustments. We make adjustments, we see how things are going, make more adjustments. So we’re very active in this regard. So this deceleration has happened for a number of reasons, in specific portfolios. Real estate, for example. Interest rates. There’s a lower demand. Vehicles, we proactively decided to reduce our exposure. For individuals, I think it’s important that we understand where the income is lower in the portfolios. So this is a 10 percentage point in the mix €“ sorry, this is 10 percentage points, not 10%.
So this is a six point NPL, give or take. We’re looking at 150, 160 NPL above what we are disclosing. So, this has been proactive. And something we’ve been doing each month. Yes, fourth quarter there was a deceleration. There is seasonality. Non-financed credit cards is growing. Otherwise, it’s falling. And in personal loans, individual loans, two areas were affected. General loans, average balance still is fine. Overdraft and 13th salary are affecting the more expensive lines €“ recovery in the more expensive lines. Yes, since there’s piling up with retail, and we see this over the quarters, when we start to look at the future, we don’t see much growth. So, the system across the board has done this to some degree or other. And where we see greater preoccupation, greater risk, we’ve made the adjustments that are necessary in the portfolios.
This includes credit cards, vehicles, and the like. So we’ve been very prudent. I think we need to be cautious. That’s what the outlook calls for us. I think few people look at this with such caution, as much caution as we are. So that’s what we’re doing. We’re looking at a decrease in growth, and managing the portfolios as best as possible. Again, watching how these portfolios are performing over time, and make adjustments to the right, to the left. Again, that’s part of what we do. And that’s what we do on a day to day basis.
Renato Lulia: Next, Eduardo Rosman from BTG Pactual.
Eduardo Rosman: I’ve been following you guys for 15 years. I remember how you started compared to your competition way back then and how you are now. A lot of your peers say this performance gap is cyclical. Customer exposure, et cetera. We think it’s more structural. Milton, since day one as CEO, you’ve been focusing on digital transformation, you’ve been pushing it. And you can see that this has really affected performance positively. Do you think there’s still chance for growth here? Can we believe that this difference, better performance for Itaú is structurally better, is based on digital technology because it’s better €“ it’s even better now than it was 10, 15 years ago.
