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CFO Victor Mansur attributed the expected 2H revenue growth to three factors: more business days, growth in new verticals and advisor headcount, and a potentially stronger DCM market. On fixed income, he noted that while high short-term rates are compressing take rates as clients prefer shorter duration, this trend could reverse as rates fall. He added that a strong primary offering pipeline in the second half could also boost fixed income performance by attracting clients to longer-duration products.

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CEO Thiago Maffra stated there was no impact on inflows or revenue from the midsized bank news, as the bank in question was not a significant contributor. CFO Victor Mansur identified the key drivers for an equity revenue recovery as a combination of higher market trading volumes, improved market performance, and a rebound in primary offerings for listed funds like REITs.

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CEO Thiago Maffra described the 10%+ revenue guidance as conservative, noting it doesn't rely on a better macro environment. He detailed strong growth drivers across core investments, cross-selling, and the wholesale bank, stating they are on pace to meet the 2026 guidance. CFO Victor Mansur added that expense management is dynamic; they will manage costs to ensure efficiency ratio improvement, investing more if revenues outperform and tightening if they are at the lower end of guidance.

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CEO Thiago Maffra expressed optimism for both fixed income and Issuer Services revenues, citing a robust DCM pipeline and strong client demand. He noted that the company's restructured bank enhances competitiveness in originating and warehousing deals. He also confirmed the BIS ratio is fully loaded.

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CFO Guilherme Lago explained that they are comfortable with the current loan-to-deposit ratio and view a strong deposit franchise as a strategic necessity for becoming customers' primary bank, especially in Brazil. For the follow-up, he stated that credit is expected to be the main driver of ARPAC growth, aiming to close the gap between Nubank's current $12 ARPAC and the incumbent banks' $45 ARPAC, as credit represents the largest portion of the retail banking profit pool.

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CFO Guilherme Marques do Lago highlighted the massive profit pool available in Brazil's secured lending market. He noted strong traction in public payroll loans and market share gains in FGTS, and expressed significant optimism for the digitally-native private payroll product. Lago explained that any potential cannibalization of unsecured loans would be far outweighed by the overall growth of the credit portfolio, as the new product will allow Nu to grant more and better credit to a wider customer base.

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CFO Guilherme Marques do Lago detailed a strong growth outlook for secured lending, driven by achieving 'product parity' in public payroll loans, signing new collateral agreements, and capturing over 30% market share in new FGTS originations. Regarding profitability, Lago explained that while the ROE of secured loans is lower than unsecured products, it is not dilutive to the company's overall ROE. This is because the growth is funded by deploying excess liquidity from the balance sheet (e.g., treasury bonds), not by replacing higher-return assets, thus optimizing the balance sheet and boosting overall profitability.

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CEO Pedro Arnt explained that the stronger outlook is due to broad-based momentum, including a rebound in Brazil and Mexico and strong performance across other emerging markets. He attributed this to an accelerated push by global merchants to localize payments. Arnt clarified that while the growth is led by larger global players, it is driven by the top 20 merchants, indicating healthy diversification beyond just one or two clients.

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CEO Pedro Arnt explained that growth in Argentina is sustainable due to renewed merchant interest and that the higher take rate is a structural part of a white-label product involving receivable financing. Regarding Mexico, he stated the volume shift was due to concentration with a few large merchants, not churn, and that the company needs to improve execution to reignite growth.

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Strategy & Marketing Officer Lia Machado de Matos acknowledged that softer market growth creates risk for the 2027 TPV target but expressed confidence in overall guidance due to strong monetization in banking and credit. CFO & IRO Mateus Scherer Schwening stated the Linx deal timing depends on regulatory approval and that proceeds will be returned to shareholders if no immediate value-accretive opportunities are identified.

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Executive Mateus Schwening confirmed the EPS guidance does not factor in future buybacks, so any repurchases under the remaining BRL 900 million authorization would represent potential upside. On the software assets, CEO Pedro Zinner stated that no offers met their intrinsic value assessment and the focus is now on maximizing the asset's value on a standalone basis. He did not definitively close the door on a future sale but emphasized the current strategy is execution-focused.

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CFO Santiago Horacio Stel explained that the company's strategy is to optimize the risk-adjusted NIM, not just minimize cost of risk. He highlighted that the 90-day NPL is at its lowest level since 2022. Mr. Stel reaffirmed the cost of risk guidance of 5.0% to 5.25%, stating this range already accounts for the current portfolio mix and that he remains comfortable with the overall asset quality outlook.

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Executive Alexandre De Oliveira affirmed the commitment to the 30% efficiency ratio target through disciplined cost initiatives. Executive Santiago Stel noted that Q4 expense growth was driven by higher volumes and variable pay but that costs are under control. Executive João Vitor Nazareth Teixeira de Souza addressed capital, stating the holdco structure optimizes allocation and that the strategy is to increase leverage in the Brazil operation by deploying capital into high-return loans while paying a modest dividend.

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CFO & Member of Executive Committee Gabriel Amado de Moura stated that while the bank doesn't guide long-term ROE, he sees no reason why the current high levels of profitability are not sustainable, given the information available today. He acknowledged that competition is tough but expressed confidence in Itaú's capabilities, teams, and investments to maintain its strong position and continue delivering value above its cost of equity.

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CEO Milton Maluhy Filho clarified that 'additional dividends' are becoming a new normal, not an extraordinary event. He stated the bank targets a 12% CET1 ratio, maintaining a buffer for uncertainty. While business growth is the priority, any excess capital generated will be distributed annually to shareholders through dividends and/or buybacks.

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CEO Milton Maluhy Filho explained that the growth is healthy, supported by a well-capitalized balance sheet and an active DCM market that allows for a revolving credit strategy. He noted the portfolio is highly diversified with low concentration risk. While the rapid growth pace in large corporates might moderate, he expressed comfort with the portfolio's quality and the ongoing opportunities in both large companies and SMEs, where delinquency is decreasing.

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Andrés Sansone, Chief Economist, and Patricia Pérez, CFO, addressed the questions. Sansone noted that while the expanding customer base supports fee growth, potential new interchange fee regulations by year-end could impact 2026. Pérez added that while consumer and SME loan demand is healthy, significant acceleration in overall loan growth depends on the reactivation of investment from large corporates, which is tied to the political landscape.

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Andrés Sansone, Chief Economist, addressed fees, noting that while customer base expansion is a positive driver, a potential interchange fee cap at year-end could impact 2026. Patricia Pérez, CFO, added that consumer and SME loan demand is healthy, but large corporate loan growth is uncertain and depends on the post-election political landscape.

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Emiliano Muratore, CFO, explained that the two primary drivers for achieving the long-term ROE target are a normalization in the cost of risk from current cyclical highs and continued Net Interest Margin (NIM) expansion. This NIM improvement will be supported by the full repayment of the FCIC facility and the normalization of monetary policy conditions.

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CEO Alexandre Saigh confirmed the 5-10% increase to the fundraising target is entirely organic and in addition to the ~$600 million REIT acquisition. He attributed the strong fundraising to heightened interest from Asian, Middle Eastern, and European investors in Patria's infrastructure, credit, and GPMS products, driven by a search for alternatives to U.S. markets. Saigh explained that the FRE impact would be more weighted towards Q4 and into 2026, as the newly raised capital needs to be deployed before it becomes fee-earning, but expressed high confidence in meeting the full-year FRE guidance.

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CEO Alexandre Saigh confirmed Patria is maintaining its $6 billion fundraising target for the year, cautioning against extrapolating the record Q1 performance. To address the FRE guidance, Saigh provided a mathematical bridge, explaining that the Q1 run-rate of $42.6 million, when annualized and combined with expected incentive fees and management fees from the new capital raised, positions the company to achieve the midpoint of its $200-$225 million guidance.

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IRO Andre Garvalho stated that the bank considers the current 11.1% CET1 level to be very adequate and expects it to remain stable through the end of the year. He explained that profit generation will organically fund IOC payments and portfolio growth without restricting capital. The bank's plan includes absorbing its stock of DTAs over time without negatively impacting the capital base.

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An executive clarified that the contribution from John Deere to the Q1 net income was 'immaterial' and close to zero. The acquisition is viewed as a long-term strategic move to strengthen Bradesco's position in the resilient agribusiness sector. The current focus is on operational integration and strategy rather than immediate financial contribution.

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Executive Marcelo de Noronha asserted that the growth in fee income is sustainable and recurring, with the exception of capital markets which is naturally more volatile. CFO/CTO Cassiano Scarpelli explained that the jump in 'other' expenses was due to a difficult year-over-year comparison, as the prior year's baseline included specific reversals and gains. He stressed that core expense control remains a focus.

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Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Perez-Reyes explained that loan recovery typically lags after a downcycle and that high liquidity has led to significant client prepayments. However, he noted that loan sales have been very strong in recent months. An executive, likely CEO Gianfranco Ferrari, added that the company prioritized ensuring risk processes were robust before accelerating loan growth.

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CFO Alejandro Perez-Reyes explained that significant ongoing investments in innovation and core business capabilities are keeping the efficiency ratio at similar levels. CEO Gianfranco Ferrari added that while Yape is profitable, its cost-to-income ratio is much higher than the group's average, which negatively impacts the consolidated efficiency metric as Yape grows. For the insurance business, Ferrari guided for a sustainable ROE in the low 20s, noting that the exceptional results of the past two years were not sustainable.

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Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Perez-Reyes confirmed that Q4 seasonality would temper results but expects the full-year ROE to land on the upper side of the ~17% guidance. He quantified NIM sensitivity as a ~15 basis point impact in the first year from a 100 bps rate cut, but expressed confidence in offsetting this through funding advantages and pricing discipline.

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CEO Alessandro Morgado Horta confirmed that interest is real and translating into commitments, with equities, infrastructure, and credit being the most sought-after asset classes by global investors. Bruno Zaremba, President of Finance and Operations, addressed the FRE margin, attributing the Q1 dip to an unusually quiet quarter for corporate advisory revenue. He reaffirmed the full-year guidance for a margin in the low 30s, expecting a stronger second half as the advisory pipeline materializes.

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CEO Alessandro Morgado Horta and President of Finance and Operations Bruno Sacchi Zaremba clarified that advisory revenues from IP&S are a recurring part of the business, though lumpy, as they depend on the timing of closed-end fund placements. They distinguished these from truly non-recurring M&A-related expenses. Horta also confirmed that the current fee rate for IP&S, once annualized, should represent a stable recurring level.

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