Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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So we have a few Uniclass outside of the full bank, some personality. We have a lot of clients that fit into our target and that we can we could grow with quality. The last point is play of course we try to be more efficient. We try to have an offer that is lean, the simplest possible. One Itaú will allow us to do this on the lower income clients where we have an adequate cost and an adequate appetite. So for all these clients, they don’t go through the threshold of credit, it’s not the cost of the loss, the cost of credit over a loss is so high. There are no efficiency that justifies working with this client. And you end up with a portfolio that seems to be growing because of the dynamic and the accounts receivable, but the loss is on the long term.

So we are focusing on the net margin through the cycle profitability, it has to be the adequate profitability. And we have the capacity to rebalance this portfolio and continue to grow with quality improving the profitability of the business as a whole. So we have an efficiency agenda for the public. There is an integration that we can grow more and more in these clients that we do not service with our full bank offer. And we are going to continue to do what we’ve always done, which is reworking the segments [indiscernible] and Uniclass, where we’re growing double digits with great quality and generating more engagement and loyalty with these clients. So these clients that are more engaged with the bank, they have lower delinquency. And this is our agenda for the future.

And we believe that there is a big space yet to be worked with.

Unidentified Analyst: Thank you, Milton.

Renato Lulia : We have [indiscernible], UBS. The floor is yours.

Unidentified Analyst: Good morning, everyone. My question, well, still working with the second — with the previous questions, credit card and low income. Credit card, it was an impressive improvement. You talked about the two quarters of the HR, the BPS. But you shown that there was a change in the mix that was very big, the growth, strong growth of Uniclass and Personnalité, big drop in the lower income, you don’t have the numbers. Credit card, my doubt is if the mix is constant, would we have a better outcome? This is the first point. Second, in the low income, you mentioned that some of the company’s competitors, Santander, they said they have a deficit in the lower income. So we need a solution for that business. Well, based on your explanation is the solution is Itaú One or something along that line.

How are the — well on site, well, would it be viable to have the — well, the question is what the bank agency — this is Itaú One – I’m sorry for the question it’s very complicated. But yes, will the Itaú One would be a solution? Well, if we maintain the same mix, the results wouldn’t have improved as what we’ve observed.

Milton Filho: We estimate that derisking of the portfolio would be 200 points of NPL in our — the other way. So just so you can see the dimension of derisking that we’ve done and the moment that we’ve done it. And these are portfolios that can regenerate the bank product, we talk about the top-line if you don’t see the backbone through the adjusted cost of credit, and that margin induces you to take a decision that with the inadequate appetite. Of course there was it was an over offering of that product in the market, every new competitor got in with a credit card offer. So client that today could have had two credit cards, the experience of having a credit card more — it’s more difficult to do digitally in one day they can open and get five-six-seven Credit cards.

And then there is a phenomena of not charging the fee. It seems like it’s three in the pocket of the client. So they use the credit cards whenever they need. And if they are not a client that is engaged in the organization and the first credit cycle, they get the credit card away and then they go to the next product. And then they try to keep the last credit card with the bank that they have the best relationship there is a natural trend that the engagement leads to lower delinquency but the credit models for as better as they might be. They don’t they do not improve the income of the clients. So that’s the first point. We are very, very much convinced de risking is fundamental, just so you can understand. Our delinquency on credit cards. Quarter-on-quarter we show the bank balance sheet, the delinquency dropped in 6%.

The vehicle loans also dropped in a quarter. These are numbers that we don’t talk about, but all the derisking in the portfolio has a result in the delinquency the NPLs has dropped. And we’ve improved the profitability but the credit card operation monoline or standalone, it’s an operation that is not positive, it destroys value, as it is. It runs below the cost of capital. So in some businesses, you can have a positive result. But it’s diluted on ROE and on the other businesses, which are the most risky, you have a negative sometimes result. So you’re diluted for the income and diluted for the ROE and still would have we given the size of our portfolio we could have — we could absorb this. Importantly, what would it — what would have been the ROE that we would have had, if we don’t have to mix the compensation of the credit card and the size that we have.

I mean, this is the numbers would have been higher, if we had the size of the industry as a whole. And the lower income issue, I think it really depends on the channel and the product and the client, they are working with. Generally yes, it is deficit operation. The cost of service is very high for clients, I do not have the pocket capacity there. So the clients that you can operate with the credit, whether delinquency rate that is very high, sometimes through credit itself, they do not contribute for the operation for the operation of the bank. So what we believe is that the network of branches will continue to have an important role, but their remote service many clients, for the high medium income, they still like to be service to talk to the human to have the onsite service.

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