Bladex, Inc. Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Bladex second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. A slide presentation is accompanying today's webcast and is also available on the investor section of the company's website, www.bladex.com. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of today's presentation. Please note today's conference call is being recorded. As a reminder, all participants will be in listen-only mode. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Jorge Salas, Chief Executive Officer. Sir, please go ahead. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss Bladex's results for the second quarter of 2026.

I will begin with the key highlights for the quarter. Then Annette, our CFO, will walk you through the financials in more detail. After that, I will come back and provide a quick update on our strategic execution, our view of the macro environment, and our outlook for the rest of the year. Finally, we will open the call for questions. Let me start with the headline. We are thrilled with our performance this quarter. Not only because we reached record levels across several areas of the business, more importantly, because we're starting to see the strategy we shared with you all at our Investor Day translate into tangible results.

We delivered strong commercial execution, further strengthened our funding base, and continued to broaden our revenue mix just like we anticipated. The commercial portfolio reached a record of $13 billion, up 8% from March, 20% year-over-year, and 17% since year end. Both loans and contingencies also closed at new heights. This is exactly the kind of disciplined capital deployment we had in mind when we completed the AT-1 issuance last year. We're putting the capital work to support growth while maintaining a strong capital position. On the funding side, deposits reached a record of $7.9 billion, 8% sequentially and 20% since December. Funding kept pace with the expansion of the commercial portfolio. Our diversified deposit base continues to provide a solid foundation for balance sheet growth.

Turning to revenues, net interest income reached another new high, increasing 4% for the first quarter, supported by higher average loan balances and disciplined balance sheet management. At the same time, margins remained under pressure. Net interest margin declined by 10 basis points to 2.24%, mainly reflecting higher average liquidity and continued competitive pressures on spreads. This remains consistent with the environment we discussed during the first quarter call. Non-interest income is perhaps the biggest highlight of the quarter. It is also a fundamental part of the strategy presented at the Investor Day. The focus is to diversify the bank's revenue base, which is particularly important when there's margin compression. This focus is clearly turning into visible results. Non-interest income reached a record of $25 million for the quarter, up 86% from the first quarter, and represented 26% of total revenues in the quarter.

This is meaningful progress in making our earnings less dependent on interest margins. Just a few years ago, non-interest income over total income was close to 15%. Our loan syndications team had one of the best quarters ever, the client derivative business is also starting to gain traction in line with plan. The pilot transactions continue to perform well and are primarily linked to structured transactions of our clients. Annette will take you through the composition of non-interest income and the activity in these businesses in more detail in a few minutes. Expenses, on the other hand, increased as expected as we continue to execute our strategic initiatives. Revenues, however, grew faster than costs. As a result, efficiency improved meaningfully to 24.1% for the quarter.

As we have said before, we do expect expenses to increase in the second half of the year as we continue to execute the investment plan contemplated for 2026. Provisions also increased during the quarter, mainly as a result of the strong portfolio growth and our prudent approach to risk management. Overall, asset quality remains sound. Finally, net income reached a record of $66.5 million, up 18% from the first quarter, which translates into a return on equity of 16.4%. Our Tier 1 capital ratio closed the quarter at 16.6%, still comfortably above our target and providing capacity to continue supporting disciplined growth. This was an all-around excellent quarter. We put capital to work, broadened our revenue base, and improved profitability and efficiency despite continued pressure on margins. With that overview, let me now hand it over to Annette for a more detailed review of the financial results.

Annette, your turn. Thank you, Jorge, Good morning, everyone.

The second quarter was another strong period for Bladex, with several key balance sheet and revenue metrics reaching new highs. Commercial activity and deposits continued to expand, net interest income increased, and fee generation was particularly strong, while asset quality and capital remained sound. Turning to our financial performance, net income reached $66.5 million, up 18% from the first quarter. Return on average assets was 2%, while adjusted return on equity improved to 16.4%. For the first half of the year, net income totaled $122.8 million, resulting in a return on average assets of 1.9% and an adjusted return on equity of 15.3%. Given the transactional nature of our structuring revenues, the quarterly contribution of non-interest income would naturally vary.

Even so, based on our first half's performance and expectations for the remainder of the year, we are reaffirming our full-year adjusted ROE guidance of 14%-15%. Let me now walk you through the key drivers behind these results, beginning with the commercial portfolio. The commercial portfolio ended the quarter at $13 billion, up 8% from the first quarter and 20% year-over-year. Growth was broad-based across loan and contingencies, reflecting continued execution across our core markets. Loan increased to $10.5 billion, up 8% from the first quarter and 22% year-over-year, while contingencies reached $2.3 billion, increasing 11% from the first quarter and 5% year-over-year. Importantly, average loan balances increased steadily throughout the quarter, providing the primary support for higher net interest income despite continued pressure on lending spreads. Commercial activity remained healthy across both trade finance and medium-term lending.

This quarter's strong growth was driven by strategic industries and high-quality client relationships that support sustainable net interest income generation rather than by pursuing volume for its own sake. We also continue to originate medium-term transactions with attractive risk-adjusted returns, supporting a more balanced asset mix and enhancing the quality of earnings over time. At the same time, strong trade-related activity preserved the portfolio predominantly short-dated profile, with approximately 65% of the portfolio scheduled to mature within the next 12 months. Looking ahead, we expect portfolio growth to continue at a steady and disciplined pace, consistent with our long-term strategy. Quarter-over-quarter growth was led by Panama and Argentina, with additional contribution from Dominican Republic, Peru, and Brazil. The portfolio remained well diversified across countries and industries. No single country accounted for more than 14% of total exposure.

Financial institutions represented 27% of the portfolio, while corporate exposures continue to reflect the diversity of regional trade flows. The commercial bond portfolio remained broadly stable at $226 million. Given current market conditions, we continue to prioritize lending opportunities over incremental investment purchases. This quarter demonstrates our ability to grow the portfolio while maintaining disciplined underwriting, broad diversification, and prudent capital deployment. Turning now to liquidity and the treasury investment portfolio. At quarter end, liquidity assets total approximately $1.9 billion, representing 13.3% of total assets and remaining well within regulatory requirements and our risk appetite. Our liquidity profile remains conservative. A significant portion is held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with the remainder primarily placed with high-quality financial institutions and multilateral organizations. The treasury investment portfolio totaled $1.4 billion at quarter end. It remains highly investment-grade, short in duration, and broadly diversified outside Latin America.

In addition to providing credit diversification, the portfolio serves as a source of contingent liquidity as these securities are eligible to be pledged through our New York agency at the Federal Reserve discount window. Turning now to asset quality. Overall, credit quality remains sound, supported by disciplined underwriting, broad portfolio diversification, and proactive credit risk management. At quarter end, 98.4% of total credit exposure, or $14.2 billion, remained in Stage 1. Stage 2 exposures declined to 1.1%, or $162 million, reflecting credit improvements, repayments, maturities, and the migration of our previously identified exposure to Stage 3. Stage 3 exposure increased to 0.5%, or $75 million, primarily reflecting the migration of that exposure which had been under enhanced monitoring. As part of our proactive risk management approach, we reduced the overall exposure by selling the bilateral loan component.

The remaining deferred payment letter of credit exposure was reclassified to Stage 3 and remains currently reserved. Importantly, this migration was limited to a single exposure and does not reflect a broader deterioration in the portfolio. Provisioning expense totaled $8.6 million, compared with $4.7 million in the first quarter. Stage 1 provisioning accounted for $6.4 million, primarily reflecting continued portfolio growth. The remaining provision expense was largely associated with the specific exposure discussed earlier. As a result, cost of risk was 26 basis points compared with 14 basis points in the previous quarter. The quarter also included $8.6 million in write-off related to two fully reserved commercial loans. Because these write-offs were charged against existing allowances, they had no additional impact on second quarter results. We also recorded $1.1 million in recoveries from previously written off loans.

As a result, total reserve ended the quarter at $93.8 million, providing 1.25 times coverage of impaired credits. These actions reflect our proactive approach to credit risk management, identifying potential deterioration early, actively reducing exposure when appropriate, and maintaining prudent reserve levels. Together with disciplined underwriting and a well-diversified portfolio, they continue to support a sound asset quality profile. Turning now to funding. Deposits remain one of the quarter's key strengths and continue to serve as a central pillar of our funding strategy. Deposits reached a new high of $7.9 billion at quarter end, increasing 8% from the first quarter and representing approximately 64% of total funding. Our deposit base remains well-diversified. Central bank and Class A shareholders accounted for 34% of deposits, while financial institutions represented 27%, corporations 23%, brokers 15%, and multilateral institutions 1%.

Yankee CD balances also reached a new high, ending the quarter at nearly $2 billion. Continued demand reflect the strength of our distribution platform across the America, Europe, and Asia. During the quarter, we also introduced Green Yankee CDs, with proceeds allocated to eligible green assets originated by our commercial team. This initiative further broadens our investor base while expanding our sustainable funding alternatives. Beyond deposits, we continue to selectively evaluate medium-term funding opportunities that enhance diversification, extend funding duration, and improve overall funding efficiency. Let me now turn to capital. The Basel III Tier 1 ratio ended the quarter at 16.6%, compared with 17.9% in the first quarter, and remains above our 15%-16% operating range. The regulatory capital adequacy ratio under Panama's framework stood at 14.3%, well above the regulatory minimum.

The movement in Tier 1 reflects the continued deployment of capital to support commercial portfolio growth, particularly in medium-term transactions. This is consistent with the strategy we outlined following the AT 1 issuance and with our expectations that capital ratios would gradually move toward our operating range as we put the capital to work. Our capital base continued to provide ample capacity to support future growth, absorb potential volatility, and maintain the financial flexibility expected by our stakeholders. Moving now to net interest income and margins. Net interest income increased to $73.3 million, up 4% from the first quarter. Higher average loan balances more than offset tighter lending spreads, allowing net interest income to grow despite continued pressure on margins. Net interest margin was 2.24% during the quarter, down 10 basis points from the first quarter, while net interest spread declined to 1.64%.

The decline in NIM primarily reflect higher average liquidity and continued competitive pressure on short-term lending spreads as abundant regional liquidity and strong demand for high-quality assets continue to affect pricing. Against this backdrop, we remain disciplined in our approach to short-term lending, pursuing transactions at tighter spread only where risk-adjusted returns remain attractive. These additional volumes generate incremental net interest income while preserving the flexibility to reprice the portfolio as market conditions evolve. At the same time, medium-term origination with attractive risk-adjusted returns provided an additional earning contribution and helped partially offset the pressure on short-term lending spreads. On the funding side, continued deposit growth increased the contribution of lower cost funding to the balance sheet, partially offsetting the impact of tighter asset spreads. At this time, we are maintaining our full-year NIM guidance while continuing to monitor competitive conditions, portfolio repricing, and funding costs closely.

Let me now turn to non-interest income, one of the key highlights of the quarter and an increasingly important contributor to our financial performance. Non-interest income, excluding the impact of hedging derivative, reached $25.1 million, up 86% from the first quarter. Within this total, fees and commissions amounted to $23.3 million. Letter of credits and guarantees generated $9.5 million, supported by stronger transaction volumes and increased trade finance activity. The quarter also benefited from the distribution of a letter of credit facility originated by our trade finance team. Credit commitments contributed $5.2 million, providing a stable and recurring source of income, primarily from project finance transactions and medium-term committed facilities. Structuring and distribution generated $7.9 million in up-front structuring and syndication fees. During the quarter, the team completed seven transactions across six countries, supporting both financial institutions and corporate clients.

Year-to-date, Bladex has mobilized approximately $2.2 billion, while retaining only 26% of that volume in our balance sheet, highlighting the capital-efficient nature of this business. Client derivative generated an additional $1.3 million during the quarter. As Jorge mentioned, the pilot transactions continue to perform well and are primarily linked to structured transactions for our clients. This activity continues to progress in line with the strategy we presented at the Investor Day. As a result, non-interest income, excluding hedging derivative, represented 25.4% of total revenues, reinforcing the diversification of our earnings and underscoring its increasingly meaningful contribution to profitability. Turning now to expenses and efficiency. Operating expenses totaled $23.8 million, up 8% from the first quarter. For the first half, expenses remain aligned with our 2026 plan, while revenue growth outpaced expense growth.

This generated positive operating leverage and improved the efficiency ratio to 24.1%, from 26.5% in the prior quarter. As Jorge noted, expense execution is seasonally weighted toward the second half of the year as the strategic initiatives move into implementation. At this time, we continue to expect full-year efficiency ratio to remain within our guidance range of 27%-28%. As we invest, cost discipline remains a management priority. We are allocating resources selectively with a clear focus on operating leverage and efficiency. In closing, the second quarter demonstrated a strong and balanced execution across the franchise, reinforcing our confidence in the full-year outlook and in our ability to continue delivering disciplined, profitable growth while preserving the strength of our balance sheet. This concludes my review of the second quarter financial results. Jorge, back to you. Thank you, Annette.

Let me just close with a few comments on strategy execution, the macro environment, and our outlook for the rest of the year. On strategy, the first half of the year provides a good view of how our 2030 plan is beginning to move from design into execution. The commercial growth and revenue diversification pillars are developing in line with the direction we shared at the Investor Day. Annette has just taken you through the financial detail, so I will focus more on the next part of the build, the transactional services pillar. Transactional services is a little different from the other two pillars. As I mentioned during our Investor Day back in March, this is a longer-term build because it's more intensive in terms of technology, controls, compliance, and general operational readiness before we're able to scale.

That said, the phase 1 of the new online banking platform is already in place, and we're gradually adding letters of credit clients. We're also very close to completing the onboarding of two additional corresponding banking clients. In parallel, we remain focused on end-to-end process redesign and automation. The objective here is to make sure we scale this part of the business with the right controls and operating foundations from the beginning. Turning onto the macro environment. The global economy continues to show resilience, but uncertainty undoubtedly remains high. Geopolitical trade tensions, together with renewed inflation risks, continue to create a challenging backdrop for economic activity and financial markets. In the U.S., inflation has shown signs of renewed pressure, while the labor market remains relatively strong. The Federal Reserve has adopted a more cautious tone, with rates likely to remain stable for longer.

In Latin America, the electoral cycle was an important focus for markets during the quarter, particularly because presidential elections took place in Colombia and Peru. The electoral results eased political uncertainty and boosted market confidence, but investors still concentrate on governance, fiscal performance, and policy direction. Regional assets performed well during the quarter, supported by constructive investor sentiment and tighter credit spreads. Looking ahead, our view for the rest of the year remains broadly unchanged. We are encouraged by our execution during the first half of the year and remain on track on the key priorities we established for 2026. We are realistic about the environment. Margin pressure has been stronger than we originally expected, mainly due to tight spreads, abundant liquidity, and strong competition for high-quality assets in the region.

We are managing the pressure through disciplined portfolio growth, funding execution, a broader revenue mix, and continued cost control. Given this context, we reiterate our full-year guidance. We will continue to manage the business with discipline, maintaining our focus on risks, returns, and the quality and sustainability of our earnings. That concludes our review for the second quarter. Operator, you can now open the line for questions.

Thank you very much for the presentation. We will now begin the Q&A session for the investors and analysts. If you wish to ask a question, please click on Raise Hand. If your question has already been answered, you can leave the queue by clicking on Put Hand Down. There is also the possibility to ask your question through the Q&A icon at the bottom of the screen. You may select the icon and type your question with your name and company. Written questions that are not addressed during the earnings call will be returned by the investor relations team. Our first question comes from Ricardo Buchalter with BTG Pactual. Sir, your microphone is open.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for the opportunity of making questions. I have two here on my side. You comment that the competitive environment became a little more intense on the second quarter of the year, pressuring spreads. I wanted to understand whether you continue to see this trend and if your appetite to continue growing has changed in any way for the second half of the year, particularly as your guidance now implies a sharp deceleration for the second half. Also in a way related to this, I wanted to check if you consider the opportunities that that client might bring to improve prior relationship and increase non-interest income penetration when you are deciding how much you want to grow per client. Finally, I just wanted to ask about asset quality.

The coverage ratio now closer to 120%, historically low level when you compare to the numbers since 2020. I wanted to understand if it makes sense to expect some pickup in provisions versus where we have been seeing in the last few quarters. Or perhaps only the NPL formation going downward would improve the coverage ratio in the coming quarters. Thank you. Thank you, Ricardo.

I'm going to tackle the margins questions, and then Annette will tackle the asset quality question. Yes, as you said, the margin pressure was stronger than we initially expected. There is no change in appetite. Given our business model, and given that we maintain around almost 70% of our commercial book maturing in less than a year, times like this of excess liquidity put more pressure on Bladex versus the average bank. On the other hand, the strategic plan was designed exactly to navigate this kind of environment. We've been quite successful, I think, in containing much of the compression of the short-term deals through the execution of our core strategy. More structured products such as supply chain finance, factoring, account receivable financing, commercial prepayments among others.

The proportion of such deals will keep increasing. We expect to continue growing and alleviate the periods of margin pressures like the one we have now. Same is happening with the medium-term transactions. These are syndicated in our project finance deals. They come with a pickup on spread and also with more fees. Finally, on the funding side, that's also helping us contain the NIM since we're gathering more and more deposits has grown as a percentage of the funding base. Needless to say, as we scale the transactional deposits platform, the contribution of operational deposits to a lower cost of funds will be increasingly meaningful, as I said before, but that should come in the latter part of the plan. All in all, there is more pressure on margins than we had expected. We will not change the appetite.

Again, the repricing should help when conditions change. Annette, I don't know if that answers your question Ricardo.

That's very clear. I just wanted to understand, if you're not changing the credit appetite, why not increase the portfolio guidance? Right. You're already growing around 20% this year. Not sure. I understand that the portfolio has short duration.

Yeah I just wanted to understand the idea here.

Yeah, good point. We're retaining the guidance until we have better visibility on the second half of the year. There might be upside here, but rest assured, we will not chase volume just simply to raise the number.

Perfect. Thank you. Our next question- Wait a second Our next question comes from.

Okay. We need to answer on credit quality.

Hi, Ricardo. As we mentioned in the call, credit quality remains very sound in the portfolio. Stage 1 still represents 98% of total exposure, with extremely healthy portfolio. In Stage 2, we can see our proactive credit risk management declining the Stage 2 exposure to 1.1% of our credit portfolio. This decrease was mainly due to credit improvement that we saw in the stage, repayments and maturities. As we mentioned, we moved one single exposure from Stage 2 to Stage 3. This exposure corresponds to a single client in the petrochemical sector in Brazil that we already mentioned in prior calls. This movement made the Stage 3 increase to 0.5% of the portfolio. As we mentioned in the call, this was only a single client, and the exposure to this client had two facilities.

One that was a bilateral loan, which was reduced during the quarter. The remainder, which was a deferred payment letter of credit, was moved to Stage 3 and remains very well reserved. As a result, we increased provisions, $8.6 million this quarter. Most of this, around $6.4 million, was due to the growth of the portfolio. Total reserve increased to $93 million. Looking ahead, we do not expect non-performing loans to increase from the current levels. We estimate that the coverage will move from the current 1.25 to around 1.5-1.6 towards the end of the year.

Super helpful. Thank you both.

Our next question comes from Andres Soto with Santander. Sir, your microphone is open.

Good morning, Jorge, Annette. Thank you for the presentation. I have a quick question. If you guys are okay, I prefer to go one by one. The first one is on loan growth. We saw a significant acceleration in commercial loan growth despite competitive pressures. How much of this growth is reflecting structural gains from new businesses, such as trade finance, structural lending, or is increased market activity in the countries where you guys operate? As you look into second half of 2026, do you see room for this robust growth to remain for the rest of the year?

Yes. Gracias, Andres. On loan growth, I would say that it's split evenly between our typical short-term lending, some of it with structured deals. Part of it, around half, was also long-term type deals. Mainly syndications, but also some project finance deals in Panama, in Argentina, and the Dominican Republic. As I said before, there might be a upside in our guidance of loan growth, but we're not ready to say that yet.

Understood. My second question is on the fee income this quarter, which show another record level. Can you please help us distinguish how much of this performance can be considered recurring versus one-offs, which I believe were a few over the quarter?

There are 3 types of fee income here. The syndication deals, that we don't want to necessarily extrapolate for the rest of the year. We had some deals that were expected to close on the first quarter that turned into the second quarter. It's hard to predict on the syndication deals. On the other hand, the letters of credit has been steadily growing and progressing according to plan. We're also starting to see, as I mentioned during the call, the derivatives, which is starting to gain traction. The short answer is. On the syndications, it's hard to predict. We have a good pipeline, but deals move around between quarters. The rest is, I would say, is more structural, steady growth. In any case, this was an exceptional quarter in terms of fees.

For your projections, I do not advise to simply multiply for the rest of the year because of the syndication part.

That's pretty clear. Thank you.

Jorge, can you hear me? Can I just complement? You guys hear me?

Oh, Sam. Okay. Go ahead, Sam.

Yes. Andres, this is Samuel Canineu, the Chief Commercial Officer. I just want to complement that if you look, just to put what you asked in perspective, just one year ago when we announced second quarter of 2025, then we had the Staatsolie deal in Suriname that was, let's say, a large historical one-off. As much as we can, as Jorge referred to, not multiply the revenues, the structuring fees for syndicated deals by four, I think the fact that this year, second quarter, or if we add the first semester of this year, we are, in total fees and in structuring fees, equal or above last year without depending on one single deal. Now this quarter, we actually had seven deals, which was a record within a quarter. I'm not saying that it's again to be multiplied, but shows a direction of a dependency on less individual transactions.

Of course, there were exceptional transactions this quarter. For example, the acquisition of Banistmo in Panama, which we were one of the co-lenders, and that is a representative transaction. I think the most important in that business is the direction, is that we have, with a bigger balance sheet, with more products, closer to our clients, being ready to act fast for episodic transactions such as the acquisitions, for example, or the ones that require certainty of funds. We should be more in a better position to continue the growth that we have presenting in the last few years. Sorry, back to you. Thank you.

No, thank you, Sam. It was very, very helpful. Congratulations to you on impressive commercial results. My last set of questions is related to the strategic plan. On transaction banking, you guys mentioned that the first phase of the online banking platform is already operational and that you're close to onboarding two additional correspondent banking clients. At what point should investors expect to see these to be reflected in terms of improved funding cost in your numbers?

Yes. Thank you for that question. It will be in the second part of the plan, Andres. We're still building capabilities. We have one correspondent bank working with us. Two will join this year. Between five and 10 will join next year. The meaningful contribution on cost of funds, you'll see in the second part of the plan. That means years four and five, you'll have meaningful contribution.

Thank you, Jorge. We are already four months after the Investor Day. Where will you say execution is running ahead of your original expectations, and where it has proven more challenging so far?

Yeah. It's been just four months. We are right on track. We're expecting to complete the treasury platform by the end of this year, the first part. The second part, first half of next year. Online banking is on track. Compliance and monitoring systems are also on track. Today, I cannot say we are ahead nor behind in any of the initiatives related to the transactional services pillar. Right on track. Sounds good.

Thank you so much, Jorge.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Ricardo Briz with Matheson.

Happy to see increased exposure to Argentina, and more recently, in El Salvador. Can you provide more color in the nature of exposure in these two countries? Is this mainly loans to banks and corporates? In a related note, should we expect to see some exposure in Venezuela in the next few quarters? Thank you, and congratulations on the continued solid performance.

Yes. Thank you for your question. Yes. Argentina was mainly oil and gas sector, and some of it is short-term imports of gas in their winter period. Salvador is mainly short-term financial sector related. Everything within our natural course of business. Regarding Venezuela, our position remains unchanged. Venezuela might represent an upside scenario over time, but it's not included anywhere in our current projections, and our exposure today is zero. We know the market. It was, at some point, relevant for Bladex, approximately 5% of our total portfolio a few years ago. We are continuing to assess the appropriate timing and risk-return conditions. If we re-enter, or when we re-enter, it will be gradual, selective, and always consistent with our credit, legal, and compliance framework.

Our next question comes from Juan Soto with Bancolombia. How sensitive is the current credit portfolio to a potential slowdown in Latin America trade activity or commodity prices? Operating expenses increased 14% year-over-year due to investment in technology, modernization, and personnel. When should investors expect these investments to translate into measurable effective gains?

I will tackle the first part of the commodities in Latin America, and, Annette, you'll tackle the expenses part. We've seen volatility in the oil commodity. That's the main commodity that represents a significant part of our portfolio. The net effect of higher oil prices is generally positive for Bladex. Our longer-term exposure is concentrated in competitive, low-cost producers, where high prices can strengthen the cash flows and reduce credit risk, while the cargo values can increase demand and short-term trade financing. It's overall positive. There are offsets, of course. Importers may face higher working capital needs. Inflation and profitability pressure and severe volatility can tighten the financial conditions. However, many importer exposures are the strong national oil companies that are our clients and have been our clients for decades. The short-term tenor of the portfolio allows us to reprice quickly and reposition if needed.

Overall, this is more of a tailwind than a headwind, and that's the way we see it. We're not seeing any slowdown in the region. On the contrary, we're seeing more and more activity, partially because of the shift to the right of very important countries in the region. Annette, do you want to tackle the second one?

Yeah. Regarding your operating expenses questions, I think we can say that we are already seeing tangible efficiency gains from the investment that we have done since the beginning of the initial strategic plan. We have been investing in technology, we have been investing in people. As you can see, we have bigger teams in the commercial area that are able to originate more sophisticated transactions to make sure the revenue from fee income remains steadily increasing as part of our main components of profitability. Investment in technology, we are already seeing the impact in the depreciation expense of the trade platform that was implemented last year, and that is already providing additional income to the bank.

As you can see, the trade finance, the letter of credit income that we see in the balance sheet is increasing organically in a sustained manner and also allow us to pursue other type of transactions, like the one that we did this quarter, which was the structuring of a letter of credit, a facility that supported part of a project finance transactions that we closed this quarter. We are already seeing tangible gains. Our efficiency ratios are still very attractive. What we're making sure is that we keep investing in our strategic initiative and making sure that the return on these are able to come to the balance sheet in a short term.

Yeah, just point, the investment plan, it's designed throughout the plan so that the efficiency ratio is always between the 27% and 29% ratio. You're not going to see a spike in efficiency over 30% throughout the plan.

Just to add to that, as we shared in the Investor Day, we do expect efficiency ratio, as we said in this call, to be between 27% and 28% towards the end of the year. The year 2026 and 2027, during the execution of strategic plan, is going to have increasing efficiency ratio. Towards the second half of the strategic plan, as Jorge mentioned, where we're going to receive the most impact from the operating deposits, then that efficiency ratio will decrease towards 25%-26%.

Okay. Thank you very much. That's all the questions we have for today. I'll pass the line back to the Bladex team for their concluding remarks.

Yes. Thank you all. As I said, this was an excellent quarter with record results. More importantly, we are excited to keep seeing strategy turn into tangible results. Thank you all for your participation, and have a good day. Goodbye now. This concludes today's conference call.