Banco Santander-Chile (BSAC) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call April 28, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Corporate Participants

Robert Moreno - Head of Investor Relations
Emiliano Muratore - Chief Financial Officer
Cristián Vicuña - Head of Strategic Planning
Claudio Soto - Chief Economist

Conference Call Participants

Neha Agarwala - HSBC
Tito Labarta - Goldman Sachs
Carlos Gomez - HSBC
Daniel Mora - Credicorp
Yuri Fernandes - JPMorgan
Ernesto Gabilondo - Bank of America

Operator

Good afternoon and welcome to Banco Santander-Chile's First Quarter 2023 results Conference Call. We are joined by Emiliano Muratore, Claudio Soto, Cristián Vicuña and Robert Moreno.

I will hand over to Emiliano to begin the presentation.

Emiliano Muratore

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Banco Santander-Chile's first quarter 2023 results webcast and conference call. This is Emiliano Muratore, CFO and I'm joined today by Robert Moreno, Head of Investor Relations, Cristián Vicuña, Head of Strategic Planning and Claudio Soto, Chief Economist. Thank you for attending today's conference call. Today, we will be discussing the trends and results seen in the first quarter, while tight monetary policy continues to squeeze margins, our successful digital strategy and customer-oriented product offering continues to drive strong results from our business segments.

To begin, I invite Claudio Soto to give us an update on the macro scenario beginning on Slide 3.

Claudio Soto

Thank you, Emiliano.

Given the continuous adjustment process after [indiscernible] of 2021. GDP grew by 2.4% in 2022 and contracted 2.5% in the first quarter of this year in response to tight financial conditions, and a contracted fiscal policy.

High interest rates have drained away excess liquidity from past pension fund withdrawals. The labor market remains relatively weak with low employment growth and an increasing unemployment. Real wages have contracted due to high inflation.

Political uncertainty fell after the referendum that