Grupo Financiero Galicia SA (GGAL) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to Grupo Financeiro Galicia 4th Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. This conference is being recorded and the replay will be available at the company's website at gfgsa.com. We would like to inform that all attendees will only be listening to the conference during the presentation and then we will start the questions and answers section when further instructions will be provided. Some of the statements made during this conference call will be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe hardware provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws and are subject to risk and uncertainty that could cause actual results to differ maturely from those expressed. Investors should be aware of events related to the macroeconomic scenario, the financial industry, and other factors that could cause results to differ maturely from those expressed in their respective forward-looking statements. Now, I will turn the conference over to Mr. Pablo Firvida, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin your conference. Thank you.

Good morning, everyone. I will make a short introduction, and then Gonzalo Fernández-Covaro, our CFO, will have some words. Latest figures indicate that Argentina's economy grew by 4.4% on average during 2025, and the primary surplus stood at 1.4% of GDP, with an overall fiscal result of 0.2% of GDP. The National Consumer Price Index recorded a 7.9% increase during the fourth quarter of 2025. Inflation for the year stood at 31.5%, significantly decelerating from the 117.8% recorded in 2024 and reaching its lowest level in eight years. However, monthly inflation accelerated during the second half of the year, and displayed a 2.8% increase in December, after having reached lows of 1.5% in May and 1.6% in June. In January 2026, monthly inflation rose to 2.9%, while the year-on-year rate accelerated to 32.4%. On the monetary side, the central bank expanded the monetary base by 0.7 trillion pesos in the fourth quarter, and by 13.2 trillion pesos over the year, bringing the year-on-year increase to 44.5% as of the end of 2025. In December 2025, the exchange rate averaged 1,448 pesos per dollar, reflecting a 29.5% year-on-year depreciation. As of January 1, 2026, both the floor and the ceiling of the exchange rate band began to adjust monthly in line with the latest available monthly inflation data. In December 2025, the average rate on peso-denominated private sector time deposits for up to 59 days stood at 26.6%, 6.4 percentage points below the December 2024 average. Private sector deposits in pesos averaged 104.1 trillion pesos in December, increasing by 10.6% during the quarter and 40.1% in the last 12 months. Time deposits rose 4.3% during the quarter and 44.8% in the year. Peso-denominated transactional deposits increased 18.3% during the fourth quarter and 35.2% in year-over-year terms. Private sector dollar-denominated deposits amounted to $36.4 billion in December 2025, increasing 11.7% during the quarter and 14.6% in the last 12 months. Peso-denominated loans to the private sector averaged 87.6 trillion pesos in December, showing a 10.4% quarterly increase and a 73% year-over-year rise. Private sector dollar-denominated loans amounted to $18.2 billion, recording a 0.5% quarterly decrease and an 83.6% annual increase. Turning now to Grupo Galicia, net income for 2025 amounted to 196 billion pesos, 91% lower than in the previous year, which represented a 0.4% return on average assets and a 2.5% return on average shareholders' equity. Excluding integration expenses, the result would have been 333 billion pesos and the ROE 4.2%. The result was mainly due to profits from Galicia Asset Management for 127 billion pesos, from Naranja X for 59 billion pesos, and from Galicia Seguros for 40 billion pesos, partially offset by a 70 billion pesos loss from Banco Galicia. Going to the fourth quarter, net loss amounted to 84 billion pesos, as the improvement of the financial margin was more than offset by the impact of asset quality deterioration. In the quarter, Banco Alicia recorded a 104 billion pesos loss, Naranja X a 49 billion pesos loss, while Galicia Asset Management and Galicia Seguros posted profits for 36 billion pesos and 27 billion pesos, respectively. This loss represented a minus 0.7% annualized return on average assets and a minus 4.3% return on average shareholders' equity. The net result from Banco Alicia for the fiscal year was negatively affected by the non-recurring expenses related to a merger with HSBC, without which it would have reported a 60 billion pesos profit. In addition, during the year, the financial margin was negatively affected by changes in reserve requirement regulations and by a significant increase in interest rate, which had an impact on the cost of funding. At the same time, loan loss provisions increased significantly compared to 2024, mainly due to the increase in the retail loan portfolio delinquency rates. The most relevant factors for the deterioration of asset quality were the abrupt increase in interest rate in real terms, the loss of purchasing power of customers, and the disappearance of the dilution effect on installments related to a lower level of inflation. During the quarter, the bank reported a 105 billion pesos loss, decreasing 6% as compared to the loss of the third quarter. Operating income increased, reaching 164 billion pesos, up from the 6 billion pesos recorded in the previous quarter, due to a higher net operating income, driven by improvement of financial margin, offset by higher loan loss provisions, which still showed an upward trend. Average interest in assets reached 25 trillion pesos, 3% higher than in the previous quarter, primarily due to the increase of the average volume of dollar-denominated loans, which grew 9%. In the same period, its yield increased 130 basic points, reaching 31.4%, 39.7% in the peso portfolio, and 8% in the dollar portfolio. Interest-bearing liabilities increased 4% from September 2025, amounting to 22 trillion pesos, primarily due to an increase of the dollar-denominated deposits. During this period, its cost decreased 220 basic points to 14.3%. Net interest income increased 23% when compared to the third quarter because of a 7% increase in interest income and of a 9% decrease of interest expenses. Net fee income increased 4% from the previous quarter. Mainly stood out the fees related with bundles of products and the ones of deposit accounts. Net income from financial instruments decreased 3%. Gains from FX quotation difference were 29% higher from the previous quarter, including the result from foreign currency trading. Another operating income decreased 8% in the quarter. Provision for loan losses increased 42% in the quarter and 220% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. or deterioration that was mainly focused in the retail portfolio, in which NPLs rose to 14.3%, up from 3.2% recorded at the end of the previous year, particularly affecting personal loans and credit card financing. Personal expenses reached 178 billion pesos and were 50% lower than in the previous quarter, as during that period, losses for 181 billion pesos were recorded due to the restructuring plan following the acquisition of HSBC business in Argentina. Administrative expenses were 12% higher than in the previous quarter due to a 13% increase of taxes and to a 23% increase in expenses for maintenance and repairment of goods and IT. Other operating expenses increased 10%, mainly due to a 68% higher charge for other provisions. The income tax charge was positive as the pre-tax net income was a loss. The bank's financing to a private sector reached 21 trillion pesos at the end of the quarter, down 2% in the quarter, with peso financing decreasing 1% and dollar denominated financing down 5%. Deposits reached 26 trillion pesos, 4% higher than a quarter before, mainly due to a 6% increase in dollar denominated deposits. The bank's estimated market share of loans to the private sector was 14.3%, 50 basic points lower than at the end of the previous quarter, and the market share of deposits from the private sector was 16.2%, 20 basis points lower than in the third quarter of 2025. The bank's liquid assets represented 93.2% of transactional deposits and 59.4% of total deposits, similar levels to those of the previous quarter. As regards asset quality, the ratio of non-performing loans to total financing ended the quarter at 6.9%, recording a 110 basic points deterioration as compared to the 5.8% of the third quarter. As I mentioned before, the deterioration is mainly related to the personal loans and credit card financing portfolios. At the same time, the coverage with allowances reached 97.4%, down from the 101.5% recorded a quarter ago. As of the end of December 2025, the bank's total regulatory capital ratio reached 25.2%, increasing 310 basic points from the end of the third quarter, while the Tier 1 ratio was 25.1%, up 330 basic points during the same period. In summary, during the fourth quarter, financial margin partially recovered and efficiency improved, but still asset quality and the monetary loss due to inflation had a significant impact on profitability. Despite this, Grupo Financiero Galicia was able to keep liquidity and solvency metrics at healthy levels, and we expect an improvement in profitability during 2026. Now, Gonzalo Fernández Covaro will make some additional remarks. Thank you.

Thank you, Pablo. Hi, everyone. Well, looking ahead, I mean, we believe Argentina is entering in a phase of stability, a more predictable policy framework, and renewal potential for great growth. You know, as normalization continues and structural reforms advance, the banking system is expected to play a central role in supporting investment, productive activity, and the long-term economic development. So we see positive trends for the future for the country. talking about 2026 specifically we see inflation a bit higher than our first estimation now at 23% and GDP growing at 3.7% we're keeping our projections of 25% long growth for the year but we see lower you know pace at the first half and accelerating the second half that could put some pressure to our revenues as we said in prior calls we expect NPLs in the bank to have their peak in March 26, so during March to be the peak, but the cost of risk, we are seeing that we already had the peak in the fourth quarter of 2025, and we started to see credit losses charges to the P&L to decrease in the first quarter of 2026 in the bank. In Naranja X, same trend, but with some lower pace, but also same trend. We expect to have the benefit of the restructuring made last year after the HSBC acquisition to continue to improve our efficiency ratios and to capture those positive effects during 2026. We are keeping our ROI guidance for 2026 in the low double digits range, I would say between 10% and 11%, going from low to high during the year. And regarding dividend payments, we are proposing a payment of 190 billion with pesos which 40 billion are subject to central bank approval as as usual uh that so with that i mean we we are open for for questions we are going to start the questions and answers section for investors and analysts if you wish to ask a question please press the bottom reaction and then click on raise hand if your question has already been answered you can leave the queue by

clicking on put hand out. Our first question is from Mr. Brian Flores with Citi. Mr. Brian, your microphone is on.

Hi, Tim, Gonzalo, Pablo, Etienne. Thank you for the opportunity. Gonzalo, just a quick follow-up on the 2026 guidance. So basically, you're maintaining around 25% real year-over-year growth in deposits? Should it be a bit lower? I think the last notion you provided was around 20%. So I just wanted to confirm if these ranges are still valid.

Yeah, I would say deposit between 15 and 20, but close, not material changes, I would say.

Okay, perfect. And then something that caught our attention here is that we saw a strong maybe revision of the growth strategy, right? Because you were growing very fast in the first three quarters and you slowed down significantly in the last quarter. Just wanted to check if you have changed your focus on growth. We should see maybe Galicia losing a bit of market share in 2026 as this asset quality is digested or do you think you will defend and keep it steady during 2026?

No, I mean, our goal is to keep market share and also increase it, try to increase it. But I would say that maybe at a lower pace, as I said before, in the first half and accelerating in the second half. I mean, the last quarter, yeah, I mean, you saw mainly a slower pace in the consumer lending. We still are in the same scenario in the first quarter. but you know until we until we see that that is the right time to to to to accelerate again that will be we assume later in the quarters but but but in the whole year we expect really to defend market share and to grow market share in terms of commercial we have lending we have been seeing some lower demand from customers that they are you know as you know our NPLs in the commercial portfolio in the wholesale portfolio are okay but but we are you know working with our customers and and trying to accelerate commercial lending where we see also a lot

of opportunities but to to summarize the answer the idea is to continue protecting defending market share and but but as we said we see lower growth in the first half i would say and higher growth in the second half of the year thank you uh gonzalo if i may just a very quick follow-up so in terms of potential catalysts do you think the recovery could come more from the the macro filtering to the micro or do you think regulatory this is more on the regulatory side than on the economic side i would say that the macro should start you know

accelerating the impacting the micro that's something that we haven't seen maybe last year a lot but we are expecting that the macro I mean I think it's a combination we of course expect the macro to start accelerating the micro at some point and we believe that the government should take measures to do that because it's what the country needs from regulatory side I mean we don't know what will happen so we are not betting on on changes on the regulatory side of course at some point uh they may come but but that's something that you know we we cannot manage so so we are not betting on that one thank you tim

thank you our next question comes from chito labarta with goldman sachs your microphone is open hi good morning thank you for the call and taking my question um my question you mentioned already provisioning levels should begin to come down in 1Q, although this quarter was a bit higher than expected, and we're still seeing that deterioration in asset quality. I guess, how quickly can it come down, and what does give you that comfort that you maintain the loan growth guidance, but that credit quality should improve sufficiently to be able to grow at a faster pace in the second half of the year?

Is there anything that you need to see, or you think it's just getting through the cycle another quarter or two and and things should get better or any other any risk to that i mean of course that's something that we are we are assessing and and monitoring uh anyway still 25 is is slower than than the pace that we have been becoming in the last year so it's a this acceleration from what we were coming so so it's not that we you know i'm keeping the growth of the prior years but um i mean it's a it's a we think that is part of the cycle as you said uh we are starting of course to focus in in different scores and different segments than that and that's where we're focusing so far our growth and that's that's starting to to you know to to show of course it's lower than what we want than we were happening in in the first half of last year but we believe that two things first the cycle is going is passing and also as i said to brian before we believe that the at some point the economy the growth economy the growth in the economy should start you know impacting the mic the micro and we should start seeing you know activity to rebound in in different sectors and we should see not in every sector but we of course are monitoring you know niches of customers and groups of customers where we will focus so we believe that that should come of course that if the economy doesn't impact the micro and we don't see growth in impacting the activity well of course that would be more difficult but we expect that that should happen and that's where we are seeing the growth that's while we are maintaining the growth.

No, that's helpful. And just on the cost of risk, right? Because it was a little bit elevated compared to the last quarter, and you said it should, I guess, begin to improve already in 1Q.

But can you get back to the low double digits, high single digits, maybe by the end of the Just sort of what kind of magnitude of improvement should we expect from here on the cost of and cost of risk we are seeing to end the year in eight percent i would say for the 12 months of the year of 2026 the last quarter was talking about the bank uh last quarter was 12 and a half so we are expecting that and the year was like 10 10.5 this year sorry 2025 full year 12 and a half the last quarter which is the highest and we expect to end 26 in 8 that would be the projection we are managing and we started to see that we made some updates you know of our models the variables as you know you need to do every year in the fourth quarter that contributed also in the growth of the charges so that's done and we don't expect we expect that the next update that we need to be making by the end of this year won't be increasing charges so that also explains the PICO on the last part Okay, that's great, that's very clear thank you.

Our next question comes from Pedro Offenden with Latin Securities Your microphone is open Hello Gonzalo, Pablo Thank you for taking my question wanted to ask on cost should we expect some restructuring or acquisition or integration cost throughout the year or the one-offs are largely behind that hello no one-off are largely behind as you said we'll continue of course you know we're looking for the right size of the organization and and trying to make our organization more efficient so we may see

some things here and there but not nothing material or that will be treated as one of last year so from now on everything we do is part of our normal operations so we won't have any any any big impact like the ones we had last year okay thank you and do you have some target on efficiency or administrative expenses growth for the year i mean we expected to see a reduction of around 10% to 11% year-over-year, excluding the one-off of last year. If you consider the one-off of last year, the reduction will be higher. But excluding the one-off in the expense line of last year, we see a reduction of around 10% to 11% year-over-year. And we see efficiency a bit below 40% for the year.

Okay. Super clear. Thank you.

Our next question comes from Yuri Fernandes with JP Morgan. Your microphone is open.

Thank you all. No, very briefly on margins, if you can help us understand a little bit the trajectory, because I guess the risk adjusted, the message is clear, right? This was likely the peak and NEPLs still could deteriorate a little bit in the first quarter, but the cost of risk is lower. But I'd like to understand the margins, because if your cost of risk improves, maybe we could see, you know, better risk adjusted NIMS this year. So maybe just asking, could we see NIMS more stable or not? Like what is the view given the mixed shifts towards commercial lending? And then my second question is regarding, I feel like there are two big debates in Argentina, right? One is the ROE recovery. And the second one is growth, right? Like when growth will pick up? Like, could we see more than 20? percent real growth or not uh how confident you are on those shoes you know like if you were to pick just one for 2026 are you more comfortable that ROEs they should recover to more normalized level or are you more comfortable with growth thank you okay let's go I think the first question was NIMS I mean we see as you know last four quarters we saw in December NIMS recuperating.

Remember that October, November, we are still recovering from the higher, the spike in interest rates of the elections period. We see, for the year, we see around 16.5% of the margins for the bank. Total margin for the bank, 16.4%. Maybe starting a bit higher, around 17, 18, and ending in 16 during the year, but on average for the year with the mix we are expecting, we see margins around 16.4% for the year. I mean, talking about growth and ROEs, I mean, I would say that we are, I would say, determined to protect our share in the market, so we are focusing a lot in, I mean, it's difficult to answer which are, the ones that are more sure in an economy that is still recapping and that we still depend on the economy evolution for the growth of course, I mean we need the economy to grow as expected and that the macro impacts the micro as we were saying before and that families should salaries in real terms start to recap which we expect that to happen but it's something that we depend so it cannot be guaranteed so I would say that that our guidance is we maintain the guidance because we believe we can achieve both. But, of course, we depend on how the economy evolves and not having any surprise like we have, for example, last year in the third quarter with the interest rate spike or stuff like that. I would say that still it depends on inflation. Remember that inflation accounting for Argentine banks is a big thing. The lower the inflation comes and an interest rate goes down, I would say that in relative terms, the higher the impact is when we compare with other banks in the region, for example, because at some point we may end with an inflation of 15% or 12% and still booking inflation accounting, where other countries with 8% inflation are not booking it. And if you see, it's a big portion of our P&L. So at some point, when that disappears, I would say that hopefully in 2028, that will help the Argentine financial system to improve ROE significantly. But on top of that, I would say that we can get to ROE levels about 15% next year. So low double digits this year, but including inflation accounting, we can achieve above 15% next year. And after 2028, without inflation accounting, I would say that the consolidation of the higher ROEs will be easier and more stable for the banks in Argentina because you won't have that drag on the inflation accounting that, as you know, it's a big burden for us. So, in summary, I would say that we think that we can maintain both, but of course, in both cases, we depend on how the economy continues, also in the growth in the top line, but also in the NPLs on the cost of risk that, of course, we are counting this to continue to improve because we see the economic growing and the families with enough disposable income, etc.

No, super, super, super clear. If I may, just on the growth, just to touch on deposits, I think the guidance is 15 to 20, right? Can you break down dollar and pesos on this? And I don't know, like we have another tax kind of flexibilization, right? Like the dollar under the mattress kind of debate. Can this be helpful for deposits to grow this year? So just checking if funding could be another point of this equation for growth.

Yeah, regarding the drone deposit growth, we may see something with this change in the legislation. We don't expect to be as high as the prior effect that we had with the tax amnesty that we had between last year and the year before. But some effect it may have. Remember that today our dollar deposits are almost half of our deposits. Our goal, of course, is to get more profits out of the dollar. So we are seeing how to, you know, get more margins on those. I mean, trying to increase the dollar lending. But as you know, we have some restrictions in terms of who we can lend. But that's something that we are focusing a lot because it's increased.

I know part of you remember the growth divided by dollar deposits and peso deposits. it was basically we concentrated in the peso one around 20% dollars is more sensitive to political environment this type of legislation as you said and as we are not really making a good profit on dollar deposits we really don't pay that much attention in a way We forecast more the peso financing and funding more than the dollar one that perhaps is also we cannot manage it as much as the peso funding. The peso was 20, the dollar, I think it was something like 15, but take it as a bulk number.

Oh, super clear. Thank you very much for the clarifications.

Our next question comes from Mario Estrella with Itaú. Your microphone is open.

Hi, thank you for taking the question. Well, I guess you already answered, I mean, with the evolution for the next quarters, I believe. Well, the next quarter is going to be relatively better than 2025, going from lower down rates to higher as we move towards the end of the year, right? And I understood that the drivers for that, of course, are going to be, you know, less pressure on the cost of risk side. But because, I mean, the full quarter results, I mean, in terms of NII, I believe they weren't, you know, actually they were not that bad, I would say. So my question is, I mean, with the inflation trend that we've seen, you know, the first quarter was, you know, more inflationary than expected. I mean, what are the downside risks that you see for your guidance if inflation, you know, keeps, you know, surprising in the output, right? You know, taking into account, you know, that monetary correction loss, that, you know, the full quarter was actually higher than the third one, right? So that kind of shows you the potential downside risk that we can see from much inflation, from more inflation, right?

Yeah, I mean, the downside, of course, as you just mentioned, is more inflation that, of course, affects our balance sheet. So that could be, if inflation is higher than expected, that would be a downside and I would say that we are you know focusing all our efforts in improving the cost of risk you know as you can see easily from our results margins are okay, I mean costs are okay I mean efficiency but of course the thing that is you know putting some sticks in the wheel for profitability is the cost of risk so that's main focus we have so I mean and that of course is is for the good and for the bad. I mean, we have a lot of room for improvement there, but also if the improvement is lower than... We will see an improvement. I mean, we cannot guarantee anything, but my point is we are seeing the improvement. I would say that the risk could be that the improvement is at a lower pace than expected, and that could impact results. Not getting the improvements as fast as we expect during the year, I would say that that could be a downward risk that we're facing. So far, January, we came where we're expecting, but of course, the year is long, and we're depending on a lot of things on how economy evolves, et cetera, et cetera, that I mentioned before. So on the other hand, the top line is important. I mean, even though margins are still healthy, we depend, of course, in growth and growing the top line. And, of course, that if we don't see the demand of lending because the economy has any disacceleration or whatever, well, that could also, I would say that both, those two could be downwards risks. is not our base case. We are expecting that the economy should help on that. But, of course, those two are downward risk. In the cost side, I think we are okay. We have done a good job in restructuring, as you know, last year more than 2,000 people from the HSBC acquisition. Of course, we continue to look for more alternatives to continue to improve efficiency. So we continue in that world to always find and adjust the right sizing of the organization. But I think those are more predictable or manageable by us. The other two, top line and NPS of cost or risks, in our base case, those should come as expected. But of course, if we have different evolution of the economy and also, as we were discussing before, how the macro impacts in the micro, we need to start seeing that the economic activity in more sectors moves faster. Well, that could be a downward risk, of course.

Yeah, that's very helpful. Thank you. I understood that the ROE evolution for this year would be something around high single digits and for the 27, something around 15%, right? I mean, based on improvement in asset quality, right? Is that right?

Yeah, yeah. yeah this year we say low double digits or as you know or high single it's close also yeah you're right but the idea is between 10 11 this year and next year around 15 or above and to to to to you know stabilize those in 2028 without inflation accounting but but what you are on the spot what you just described yeah okay thank you thank you so much guys our next question comes from bruno kenji with ubs your microphone is open hi thank you for taking my question

and it would be a follow-up regarding the recovery that you expected for results on next this year and when we when we look to not on hacks and lower roe levels that we saw in those fourth core results um should the the recovery on the the metrics such as npl and cost of risk be on the same pace of the bank or it could have a little delay in terms of the recovery and if that also reflects on the ROEs, do you think that there might be a lower acceleration of loans considering the portfolio of NanoHacks for the first half and then an opportunity to have a quicker recovery in second quarter if the economists have some space for personal loans and retail when we compare to the bank. Thank you.

Yeah, I would say that we're seeing improvements in NPLC in America, but at a lower pace than the bank, that's what we're seeing, but still expects also improving during the year. and the growth scenario is similar to the bank. We are seeing also higher growth in the second half. As you know, we still are stabilizing the portfolio in Naranja, which is, of course, 100% consumer, so we don't have a commercial portfolio to go there. But we are growing, of course, selectively growing, but at a lower pace during the first month of the year. And we expect us in the bank to, you know, regain, as we stabilize the portfolio, regain the growth, the faster growth. We will grow, of course, but the faster growth, closer to the mid term of the year or something like that.

It's very clear. Thank you.

Our next question is from Santiago Petri with Franklin Templeton. Your microphone is open.

Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. hi guys for the presentation can you help us understand in which segments are you expecting to grow this year, this 20-25%? Is it commercial consumer and within commercial which sector do you see that you can lend to?

I mean we are growing, I mean I would say that we were growing in the first today the mix it's more 45 consumer, 55 companies, the total in the bank, our mix I would say the first half we are focusing a bit more in commercial so maybe by the end of the year we will maybe 60-40 so this year we may see more growth in the commercial than the consumer but of course we are growing, we are going to grow both portfolio but more towards the commercial portfolio, mainly because in the first half, we are lending at a higher pace than in the consumer side, as I said before. In the commercial portfolio, of course, we are picking, you know, segments, I mean, that are less affected or not affected by the, you know, the change in the economics or the the imports opening and everything you we know that is suffering um we we are strong and we are focusing a lot in the agri business as you know we are one of the main banks in that sector and we we continue to do that and our our expectations is this year to continue strongly there we are also you know a lending in the oil and gas sector and not not just the big loans but because that's you know local bank doesn't have the balance sheet but also all the supply chain and all the you know value chain in oil and gas in mining we are also making you know deals with with you know supply chain in that sector we see we also see the automotive industry doing okay so we are also you know focusing on that and part of the of the value chain so you know we have different we We divided our wholesale operations in verticals, you know, we have online gas, we have automotive, we have other business, and we are going through all the value chains. We see commerce, you know, retail commerce that at some point, some sectors are not doing that good. So, you know, we are, you know, not growing in those ones, but we are doing a very, you know, you know, good and deep analysis in which sectors we believe that are going to be the winners in the, in this, in these changes that the economy is doing, or at least in this transition. And, and the sectors I mentioned are ones that we, that we see growth and there are others like, you know, technologicals and a lot of SMEs that, you know, do, do services, provide services, that we see them strong, that we are also, you know, helping them in the growth path. So we see room for growth in the commercial portfolio. Of course, that, as you know, there are sectors that are not doing good and we have them very clear and we are not growing in those ones.

Excellent. Thanks. A follow-up, if I may. There are some conversations, or I don't know how to name it, about the possibility of banks expanding their U.S. dollar lending to non-U.S. dollar revenue-generating entities. It is something that you see with good eyes. Are you comfortable with this changing in regulation?

I mean, two things. Regulation could change, then we'll see if we apply it or we use it or not. I mean, I would say that for us, that would be on a very cautious way. We don't believe that going massive in lending dollars to non-dollar producers will be something safe. So, of course, that would be more focused on the commercial side, the wholesale side. And if we have big local companies that are very strong or international, but big companies that even though they are not a producer, we see that they couldn't bear the valuation or whatever. Well, that would be on a case by case basis. But we are not seeing anything massive that we will start lending massively if the regulation changed massively to non-dollar producers. So my answer would be we will evaluate it cautiously and do it on a case-by-case basis, but nothing massive. At least it's what we are seeing now with this year, with how the economy is evolving in the future. If Argentina starts being more, you know, dollarized or how the dollar starts being more important in the daily trading, well, we may change our mind. But so far, our first reaction is that if this happens, we will do it on a selective basis and cautiously basis.

The questions and answers section is over. We would like to hand the floor back to Pablo Firvida for the company's final remarks.

Okay. Thank you, everybody, for attending this call. As always, we are available if you have any further questions. Good morning and good afternoon. Bye-bye.

Grupo Financeiro Galicia Conference is now closed. We thank you for our participation and wish you a nice day.