Banco Itau Chile

SGO:ITAUCL

Earnings Call Transcript

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Banco Itaú Chile Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Claudia Labbe. Please go ahead.

[Claudia Montevecchi, executive]

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our fourth quarter 2024 conference call. I would like to remind you that our remarks may include forward-looking information, and our actual results could differ materially from what is discussed in this presentation.

I would also like to draw your attention to the financial information included in this management discussion and analysis presentation, which is based on our managerial model in which we adjust for nonrecurring events and apply managerial criteria to disclose our income statement. Please remember that since the second quarter 2019, we are presenting our income statement in the same manner as we do internally. This managerial financial model reflects how we measure, analyze and discuss financial results by segregating commercial performance, financial risk management, credit risk management and cost efficiency. We believe this way of presenting our results will give you a clearer and better view of our performance from these different perspectives. Please refer to Pages 15 to 18 of our report for further details.

I am pleased to welcome Andre Gailey, our CEO; Andres Perez, our Chief Economist; and Matias Valenzuela, our Head of Financial Planning and Analysis and Capital, who are here with you today.

To comment on the macroeconomic backdrop of the fourth quarter 2024 and on our expectations for next year for Chile and Colombia, I would like to turn to Andres Perez. Good morning, Andres.

[Andrés Perez, executive]

Thank you, Claudia. So good morning, everyone. So first off, in this slide, I will provide some very brief remarks on recent macro dynamics in Chile. First off, activity was better than expected during Q4 of 2024, with the quarterly GDP proxy increasing sequentially by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter excluding adjusted basis. This is on the back of a 0.8% expansion in the third quarter. On an annual basis, GDP in Chile rose by 3.7% in the fourth quarter of last year after increasing by 2.3% in the previous quarter, leading to an overall annual growth during 2024 of 2.5%. Final GDP data will be announced by the Central Bank on March 18.

Moving on to prices. Inflation ended the year at 4.5%, up from 4.1% in September. The increase in the last quarter of the year was mainly driven by another adjustment in electricity prices, the third in the year and exchange rate pass-through pressures. During the fourth quarter of 2024, the Central Bank of Chile cut the monetary policy rates twice by 25 basis points at each meeting, closing the year at 5.0% in nominal terms. In December, the financial industry's loans totaled CLP 242 billion, essentially flat. The banking industry demand deposits and time deposits rose on an annual basis by 6.7% and 5.3%, respectively.

Moving on to the next slide, please. Okay. Now moving on to Colombia. Again, first off on activity. GDP growth came broadly in line with expectations in the fourth quarter of 2024. The Colombian economy increased by 13.3% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, slightly above the 2.1% in the previous quarter. And for the full year, activity rose by 1.7%, up from 0.6% in 2023. On inflation, annual headline inflation ended 2024 at 5.2% with the disinflation process continuing at a gradual pace. Banrep, the Central Bank of Colombia slowed the pace of cuts in December to 25 basis points, taking the policy rate to 9.5%. This take place following a string of 50 basis point cuts throughout previous months and the decision to slow the pace of cuts took place in the context of above target inflation expectations, greater-than-expected minimum wage hike and the currency depreciation that was in line with regional peers.

Now moving forward, I'll briefly discuss the macro outlook for 2025 in Chile and in Colombia. In Chile, the improved mining quotes in 2024 raises the carryover for this year, while the dynamics of imports of capital goods and record tourism levels will support investments and consumption, respectively. We see 2025 GDP growth at 2.3% with risk tilted to the upside, expectations that are actually reaffirmed following this morning's January in effect.

We forecast inflation ending the year at 4.1%, down from 4.5% in December 2024. In this context, we believe the Central Bank will maintain the policy rate at 5% through year-end, which in a fancy terms has the policy rate already in the neutral range. In Colombia, with an above inflation minimum wage adjustment, this inflation path is likely to be somewhat lower this year, uncertainty on the fiscal front, along with the Central Bank or that may eventually lean more bearish could see the COP under more pressure. Such risks lead us to believe there is less room for rate cuts in Colombia this year, which we forecast with the policy rate ending at 8.0% in nominal terms. In this scenario, GDP growth is expected to increase to 2.3% in 2025, up from 1.7% in 2024. Inflation is expected to gradually fall to 4.5% this year from 5.2% last year.

Now our CEO, Andre Gailey, will continue the presentation. Good morning, Andre.

[Andre Carvalho Gailey, executive]

Hello. Good morning, everyone. I would like to share a few main messages with you regarding our performance in 2024. Since the last quarter of 2024, we have begun to implement new models to originate credit and to manage our loan portfolio, both in terms of risk and in terms of returns. Such models are based on the best practice we brought from Itaú in Brazil. We expect to finish deploying such methodology during 2025. Additionally, during 2024, we have been consistently changing our mix of retail and wholesale participation in our loan portfolio, diversifying our portfolio while sustaining the size of our loan portfolio and our margin was fine.

In terms of cost of credit, in 2024, our NPLs have shown a downward trend, finishing the year in 2.0% versus 2.1% in the end of 2023. We have improved our recovery capability and sustained 153% coverage ratio. Our cost of credit ratio during 2024 1.2% coming from 1.5% at the end of 2023.

During 2024, we have been able to improve our cost of credit with clients. We do introduction of products achieving the first completion in growth in foreign trade and second in credit card. We have grown 16.3% in demand deposits, while the market grew 6.7%, and 56.9% in AUM, while the market grew 36.4%, achieving 90.5% of deposits in AUM over loans growing 11 percentage points year-over-year.

Additionally, we have strengthened our funding strategy, growing 4% of deposits to loans reaching 70.8%. We have increased our fees generating services, achieving 15.3% of commissions over operating revenue. In addition to being the big banks of our clients, we have strengthened our capabilities as an adviser to our clients, positioning ourselves with several investment banking clients.

We have been consistently improving our digital capabilities, increasing the number of transactions made over the Internet and the app and being the #1 app in users reviews in all app stores for two consecutive years.

We have sustained our position as the best bank in NPS according to services by distinguishing ourselves in both personal experience and digital experience. We have sustained our strong internal culture, modern, digital, ethical, performance driven and open to learn with 85% in NPS.

Through our sustainability actions, we have consistently taken care of our clients, our employees and contributed to the Chilean society. We have decreased our financial margin decline in the fourth quarter of 2024, mainly due to the valuation of derivatives of the trading desk, partially offset by the position the positive U.S. variation in our banking book. We have also reduced our net exposure after hedge, consistent with our inflation expectations for 2025. We had a positive trading desk result in the full year of 2024. We were able to move our noninterest expenses below inflation and to reach a consolidated CET1 fully loaded of 10.6% of the end of 2024 with a 210 basis points buffer over the minimum capital requirement. Finally, we have no additional capital charge for the second consecutive year. All the above led us to a resilient return on tangible equity of 14.1% in Chile. Finally, our Colombian operation performed better than its peers and improved its ROE with consistent control of the cost of credit. [indiscernible] to follow our presentation. Thank you.

[Unknown Executive]

Thank you, Andre. So let's move on to Slide 5. We show our performance and focus in terms of loans during the year. In 2024, the credit activity of the financial industry showed virtually no real expansion. The commercial loan portfolio closed the year with a real reduction of 1.9%, reflecting the low economic growth with decreases in various economic sectors, except for mining. Consumer loans grew by 4.5% at the end of the year, reflecting the difficulties of expansion in this sector due to low economic growth and its effect on job creation.

Similarly in the housing sector, real growth of 1.7% was observed maintaining the trend of recent years affected by high interest rates, rising mortgage prices and weakening household income. In this context, despite the low growth in loans in the year, we were able to maintain the loan mix built through our transformational process, which also influenced our growth in 2024. In addition to focus on transactional products that strengthen customer relationships have shown positive signs. For example, we have closed the year with leading growth trends in foreign trade loans showing the highest growth in the industry in the last 12 months and in credit card loans showing the second highest growth in 2023 and in 2024 comparison with our relevant competitor.

In terms of our digital offering, 87% of the credit card advances were contracted via our digital channel, the app and the web. In the fourth quarter, 64% of our foreign transactions were made via digital channel. This goes in line with the satisfaction shown by our clients with our app and web channel.

Moving on to Slide 6. We can see that our efforts to strengthen the relationship with our clients is paying off. The first pillar of those efforts is the growth in demand deposits. We grew 16.3% in the last 12 months in demand deposits compared with the banking industry growth of 6.7%. In terms of average current account balances, while the banking industry grew by 4.4%, we show a 9.5% growth in 12 months. In time deposits grew in line with the industry, and 94.7% of the transactions we've through our digital channel in fourth quarter 2024.

In the last 12 months, our assets under management grew by 56.9%, 1.6x faster than the industry. We have consistently show this higher than industry growth in the latest quarter earnings presentation. This stood at us in the top 1 position in terms of assets under management growth in relation to peers and top 2 in market share growth compared to our peers and other asset managers in 2024. In the fourth quarter 2024 88.1% of these transactions we've made through our digital channels reinforcing the satisfaction of our clients with their experience in this channel. We were also granted Salmón award during the year for the best performance in two categories, reinforcing the quality of our asset management.

The chart at the bottom of the page shows that the growth in deposits and assets under management are contributing to strengthen the relationship with our clients, evidenced by the 11 percentage points growth in the deposits and assets under management to loan ratio while enhancing the bank's self-funding capacity, evident by the growth of [ 4 percentage ] points in the deposit to loan growth.

Slide 7 [indiscernible] modern view of our [indiscernible] as mentioned in this call since 2024 we work in the [indiscernible] bank in 12 months growth in foreign trade loans with a 22.7% growth being recognized by global finance as leader in trade finance. In terms of investment banking, we still within the top 4 banks in mergers and acquisitions growth having participated in six deals totaling $2.96 million in 2022 and 2024. We also won top 2 in equity capital market with two deals amounting to $253 million in 2024. In debt capital market transaction, we ranked 2 in terms of local transaction volume with a market share of 23.1%, and ranked 3 in international transaction with six deals amounting to $2.1 billion. Our expectation with clients and investors has also been enhanced by the quality of our macroeconomic analysis and equity research team which has been recognized by the Institutional Investor magazine as one of the best in Chile during 2024.

In December 2024, we reported a significant growth in market share for both spot and derivative spreads. Specifically, we achieved an increase of 415 basis points in spot trading and 866 basis points in derivatives trading compared to December 2023. This year, our brokerage business saw a significant 12-month growth in secondary market transactions with an 86% income in securities [indiscernible] compared to the industry's 5%, and a 31% rise in fixed income transactions compared to industry's 14%. The fixed income transactions with our statutory portfolio.

Now I thought we saw how the different [indiscernible] across the bank and to [indiscernible] in our financial margin with clients despite the decrease in the average monetary policy rates during the year, as you can see in the first chart of the top right side of the page and to a steady growth income return and [indiscernible]. In addition to a [indiscernible], we saw a solid risk environment during the year with persistent NPL levels in the first half of 2024, starting to improve in the second half of the year as still in the chart at the top left side of this slide. We continue to see noninterest expenses growth below inflation during 2024 in line with the forecast that we had for the year. All that said, we achieved a return on tangible equity of 14.1% in our Chilean operation in 2024, in line with our expectation.

Now in the next slide, we show some of our most important distinguishing factors, which allow us to achieve results and will allow us to continue leveraging our strategy moving forward. On Slide 9, we are proud to share one of our most value distinguishing factors. We continue to be in the leadership in terms of NPS according to Servitest survey conducted by IPSOS across all segments. In 2024, we achieved the top 1 position for the third consecutive year in the retail segment, top 2 position in the SME segment and top 1 position in the companies segment and also in the top 1 system in the high net worth individual segment.

Among our most important qualities in leading these results, we sent out in quality attention given to our customers, website and at and app channel, our capacity of giving solutions and response to our client needs, reputable and adaptability of our services, and the offering of services and products, placing the client at the center of all our efforts is not only a key pillar of our processes, but also one of our core values after.

In terms of achieving our strategic goal, maintaining the top position in driving satisfaction will be in the Chilean banking industry for three consecutive years is pivotal for securing our leadership. The significant accomplishment on workforce our dedicated efforts to our customer satisfaction and represent a substantial milestone in our journey towards principality.

On Slide 10, we are also proud to highlight that our brand and our culture are key factors supporting our position. Itaú is the largest financial institution with one of the most valuable brands in Latin America which enable us to grow and to enhance our offers to our clients. This year, we have been engaged with different initiatives to deepen our brand penetration in Chile and be closer to our clients supporting sports tournaments and with dedicated campaigns to enhance our client's financial education with the [indiscernible] campaign. Our unique and proven culture that challenges and stimulate our employees to excel with also at the center of [indiscernible] that enables us to achieve our goal. This included in recognized ranking among top companies to work such as The Great Place to Work in several categories. Top of Mind Index, Best Internship Experiences by First Job, Top Employer of, Merco Talento, Equidad Chile, and Employers for Youth shows that our culture is unique. Our internal employee net promoter score both in line with distinctions having achieved an all-time high levels of 85% of November 2024.

Moving on to Slide 11. You can see that sustainability is also good factors in the core of our business. In 2024, for the sixth consecutive year, we are also part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index MILA Pacific Alliance. We have also climbed 4 points in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment by S&P Global in 2024, achieving a score of 70 points out of 100. We also outperformed the Chilean banking industry in business ethics, financial inclusion, human capital management, and in climate strategy and decarbonization strategy. In terms of our Net Zero goal, we have consistently decreased the total greenhouse gas emissions in our operations in 2019. Our diversity and inclusion initiatives this year have impacted more than 200 girls and women directly through programs such as scholarships and post-degree co-financing, incentives and support to women in STEM and in finance mentoring and others. We also disclosed financial inclusion, charitable support and disaster relief program impacting more than 351 women and 3,300 children through several initiatives generating a positive contribution to society.

Now on Slide 12, we took that our focus on cost control is also one of our important and distinguishing factors. In the chart on the top right side of the page, you can see that our net interest expenses has been consistently growing throughout the banking industry's growth and less than the average growth of our peer growth. In the right side of the page it shows the yearly growth of our cost in the last 3 years as compared to banking industry broken down by personnel, administrative costs, and depreciation, amortization and impairment costs in the chart at the bottom. You can see that the growth in personnel and in administrative costs show downward trend since 2022 related to the efficiencies sales in the period. In terms of depreciation, amortization and impairment, the growth trend shows the impact in the development of investments made and their execution highlighting the increase associated with technological investments.

On Slide 13, we showcased another important distinguishing factors that enable our position in capital. And part of Itaú Unibanco Group, capital is in our DNA. We are at the top 2 bank in Chile with the largest factor of minimum regulatory requirements in CET1 with a solid capital management. In the latest regulator's assessment process it was determined for the second consecutive year that no capital targets should be imposed on us for Pillar 2 reflecting our comprehensive and proactive risk management and how it is reflected in prudent capital management.

Moving on to Slide 14. On the fourth quarter of the year, consolidated, recurring net income with CLP 90.8 billion, a 4% increase year-on-year. Consolidated RoTE showed 49 basis points decrease year-on-year with 10.6%. Consolidated financial margin with clients decreased by 5.5% year-on-year, reaching CLP 335.3 billion. Consolidated commissions and fees reached CLP 56.5 billion [indiscernible] at 19.4% growth year-on-year. Total noninterest expenses grew by 1.2%, reaching CLP 204.6 billion. Consolidated credit portfolio CLP 27.9 trillion, while the consolidated efficiency ratio improved by 1.3 percentage points to 52.8% year-on-year. The consolidated CET ratio reached 10.6%, a 25 basis points increase year-on-year.

On Slide 15, you can see that financial margin with the client experience an increase of 0.8% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous period. This growth is explained by a higher margin loans and an increase in the performance of the liability portfolio, allowing that to offset the decline in commercial spread and derivatives and FX with clients activities in comparison to the last quarter. [indiscernible] for quarter of 2023, the financial margins clients decreased by 2.7%, which [indiscernible]

In the fourth quarter, the financial margin with the market decrease by CLP 1.6 billion compared with the previous quarter, mainly due to the negative effect on the valuation of the systems in derivatives managed by Trading desk. However, made on the greater valuation in the U.S. recorded in the quarter an increase was observed in the results of in the management of the bank's net asset [indiscernible] mark and the currency, which partially mitigated the lower results of the derivatives.

It is worth mentioning that the bank's net flow of assets, liabilities and derivatives contracted in inflation as of December 2024, shows a reduction compared to the gap observed at the end of the previous quarter, consistent with the inflation expectations for 2025. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the financial margin with the market decreased by [ 100.4% ] This reduction is due to negative effect on the ALM management derived from the lower growth of the loan portfolio and the decrease in results due to the U.S. readjustment which register a variation of 1.3% in the fourth quarter 2024 compared to 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2023. In addition, movements in the rate cuts modestly affected the valuation of derivatives position managed by trading in the fourth quarter 2024.

Now on Slide 17, we saw that in the fourth quarter of the year, commissions and fees income reached CLP 47.4 billion representing an increase of 7.3% compared to the previous quarter. This increase is mainly explained by higher insurance brokerage supported by the higher activity in consumer credit origination observed in the last quarter of the year. Additionally, we saw higher results increase cost related to the commercial strategy and active carry out in the context of the bank's new value offer in both [indiscernible] on quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparison.

In the fourth quarter, credited before, the positive trend in investment management performance continue achieving a growth of CLP 592 million in asset management commission quarter-over-quarter. Compared to the same period in 2023, there was a 22.1% increase in commissions and fees income. This increase is explained by higher income driven by the materialization of higher volume of factoring services provided to our corporate business clients, and higher credit fraud solutions resulting from the decrease is the disbursement related to the bank's loyalty program and the strategies carried out in the context of the application of the bank's new value offer in this product.

Additionally, compared to fourth quarter 2023, 59.9% increase in asset management commission stood out at from the sustained growth in volume and average assets under management. This movement helped counteract a 30% decrease in insurance brokerage affecting our product growth in [indiscernible].

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the operator. I apologize but there will be a slight delay in today's conference. Please hold in the call, we'll resume momentarily. Thank you for your patience.

[Unknown Executive]

Thank you. Apologies for this drop. I will resume on Slide 18. So in the fourth quarter of the year, the cost of credit totaled CLP 68 billion, a decrease of 14.8% compared to the previous quarter. This reduction is mainly due to the impact of specific events recognized in the third quarter 2024, such as the recognition of an impairment of a title associated with the Itaú corporate business.

Additionally, we made a reversal of additional provisions amounting CLP 53.1 billion, which were constituted in previous years to anticipate impacts from higher post-pandemic delinquency and the effect of the application of the new standard consumer metrics as those impacts were less significant than expected. Likewise, among the movements recognized in the last quarter, the increase of credit recoveries associated with commercial operations of retail banking, a decrease in consumer write-offs and the recognition of gains derived from the materialization of sale of assets received in payments stood out.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the cost of credit show a reduction of 18% due to events recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023, such as the recognition of higher consumer write-offs and rating changes applied to Itaú corporate clients. Additionally, in the fourth quarter of 2024, there was a decrease in the constitution of credit provisions influenced by the lower growth of the loan portfolio and containment of delinquency carryout throughout the year, which began to have more significant effect during the second half.

Complementing the above, in the fourth quarter of 2024, sales of assets receiving payment were completed, positively impacting the recovery results. In the fourth quarter of the year, the net provision for credit losses of the loan portfolio show a decrease of 22 basis points compared to the previous quarter because of the improvement in the cost of credit for the quarter, which also led to a decrease of 29 basis points in this index compared to the same period of the previous year.

Considering the above, the net provisions for credit losses on the loan portfolio remained within the target range defined in the forecast 2024, showing a positive downward trend. The total allowance for loan losses including additional provisions, increased by 1.2% compared to the previous quarter as a result of a reversal of additional provisions observed in the third quarter of 2024 since the average loan portfolio did not represent a significant variation in the last quarter, reaching CLP 23.2 trillion. Given the above, the ratio of total allowance for loan losses, including additional provisions on the loan portfolio stood at 3.11%, 3 basis points lower than the third quarter 2024 indicator and 21 basis points lower than the recorded on the same date of 2023.

The NPL coverage ratio totaled 153% in the fourth quarter of the year, showing a growth of 11 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, given the movement of the reduction in the NPL portfolio of the commercial loan portfolio recorded in recent months. Compared to fourth quarter 2023, there was a 3 percentage point in the coverage ratio due to the 2% reduction in the NPL portfolio, while the stock provision, including the additional ones totaled a decrease of 4.2%.

NPLs ratio show a decrease of 18 basis points compared to the previous quarter, reaching 2% because of the lower level of the NPL portfolio mentioned above, while the loan portfolio grew by around 2% in nominal terms. Compared to the fourth quarter 2023, there was a reduction of 8 basis points in the ratio given the positive movement of the NPL portfolio recorded in recent months, which is complemented by a 2.1% growth in the loan portfolio level.

Regarding the composition of the nonperforming loan portfolio, in the fourth quarter of 2024, a general decline was observed in the commercial and consumer loans portfolio indices, explaining the 18 basis point decrease in the total loan ratio. In relation to the composition of the portfolio, the decline observed in the consumer loans stood out, which considers a 5.1% reduction in the NPL portfolio, while the loan portfolio grew by 3.2%. Considering the trend represented by the delinquency indices, it is expected that consumer loans will remain stable, having surpassed the period of greatest pressure, partly due to the performance of the refinance portfolio during the pandemic period.

On the other hand, the mortgage delinquency index remained stable in the last quarter of the year, showing an increase of 29 basis points compared to the same period of the previous year, reflecting the adjustment of interest rate that has impacted on the performance of the fixed rate mortgage loan portfolio. Meanwhile, the NPL ratio for commercial loans rose to 2.16%, 26 basis points lower than the index observed in the previous quarter and 29 basis points lower than the same date in 2023.

On Slide 19, we observed that personnel expenses in the fourth quarter show a slight increase compared to the same quarter in 2023. as a result of a compensation between the effect of adjustability that affects salaries and lower severance expenses recorded in fourth quarter 2024, considering that headcount adjustments were mainly made during 2023.

Administrative expenses totaled CLP 68.9 million, representing an increase of 19.3% compared to the previous quarter. This variation is explained by an increase in the volume of transactions associated mainly with derivative operation, credit card and foreign currency transactions, which resulted in a rise in processing and disbursement expenses related to the commercial management carryout in addition to higher donations made in the last quarter. Compared to fourth quarter 2023, administrative expenses show a decrease of 3.3%, supported by improvements derived from services contracted negotiations completed during the year as well as the recognition of higher expense recoveries for operational losses recorded in the last quarter of 2024. This movement helped counteract the effect of the increase in commercial and operational expenses derived from the growth in volume of transactions mentioned earlier.

Depreciation, amortization and impairment expenses totaled CLP 16.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, showing an increase of 15.9% compared to the previous quarter and 16% compared to the fourth quarter 2023. This is due to the activation of various projects associated with technological improvement that are currently in progress. Our efficiency ratio in Chile in 2024 stood at 42.5%.

Moving on to Slide 20. We show that we have maintained a solid capital position with a margin with respect to regulatory minimums, our CET1 ratio fully loaded has increased during the last quarter by 16 basis points, achieving 10.6% and increased by 25 basis points year-on-year. In addition, we have issued $200 million AT1 bond in December, improving our capital base by an additional 65 basis points. In February, we have issued an additional $100 million AT1 bond. The impact on the AT1 is in our Tier 1 ratio is of approximately 32 basis points.

Our liquidity ratios are also well positioned among peers and significantly above regulatory limits in line with our risk appetite and funding strategy. We have maintained a solid capital position with a margin with respect to regulatory minimum.

Finally, as mentioned before in this presentation, for the second consecutive year, we did not receive an additional capital charge for Pillar 2 by the CMF.

In this context, we can see on Slide 21 that the bank in Colombia showcases stable and better credit ratios despite the environment and low economic activity and still a high deterioration of the consumer portfolio and constructor segment. The ROE of our Colombian operations improved 2.6x compared to 2024 due to our focus on the comprehensive relationship with our clients and the strategy deployed in the latest years of streamlining our operations and focus on specific segments. In Colombia also maintained robust capital and liquidity ratios in comparison to its peers and the banking industry.

On Slide 22, we outlined our guidance for the Chilean operation. We expect a loan growth of around mid-single digit, in line with market expectations. As for commissions and fee, we expect a growth of around 5% to 10%. We anticipate our average rate of financial margin with clients to remain stable with the interest rate. For cost of credit, our plan is to maintain a range between 1% and 1.3%. We expect costs to grow below inflation levels in line with our cost control drive. Finally, we expect an RoTE for 2025 to be in the range of 13% to 15%.

On Slide 23, we recap the key messages of this presentation. Despite the industry's low growth in loans in 2024, we were able to maintain the loan mix, which we are pursuing since the deployment of our transformational path. Our distinguishing factors, brand, presence, culture, sustainability, cost control and capital management will allow us to leverage our strategy moving forward and to achieve sustainable results. The strong results we have achieved in growth in transactional products in our focus deepen the relationship with our clients is consistent with our strategy of principality. We are building upon our transformation in order to continuously deliver an enhanced balance structure and capital base, moving towards the sustainable profitability levels we are seeking for the future.

With that, we conclude the presentation that we have for you today. Thank you, everyone. So now we will gladly take any questions that you might have.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Alonso Aramburu of BTG Pactual.

[Alonso Aramburú, analyst]

I was wondering if you can give us maybe some guidance as to what to expect in Colombia for this year. You've had a nice improvement, especially this quarter on cost of risk. Do you believe that's a level that's sustainable? And with that, can you get ROEs maybe closer to the mid- to high single digits this year?

[Andre Carvalho Gailey, executive]

It's Andre Gailey. We believe that our Colombia operation will keep improving this year slightly. We still have a very challenging economic environment and high interest rates, even though we expect a 550 basis points drop over the year. Our cost of credit will keep improving and -- but we expect some pressures on costs due to more efficiencies we are seeking for the year.

[Alonso Aramburú, analyst]

Okay. And when you look at loan growth in Colombia, what kind of loan growth should we expect or are you expecting?

[Andre Carvalho Gailey, executive]

We're expecting a very small loan growth.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions at this time. With that, I will now turn the call back over to Andre Gailey, CEO, for final closing remarks. Please go ahead.

[Andre Carvalho Gailey, executive]

Well, thank you, everyone, for the questions, and have a very good day.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes your conference call. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.