Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Bladex 2026 Investor Day. Today's call is being recorded. All attendees will be in listen only mode during the presentation. The presentation is available for download at bladexday.com. Following the management presentation, we will have a five-minute break, after which we will begin the Q&A session. If you would like to ask a question, you may do so either via audio or by submitting a text question through the Q&A function. You may submit text questions at any time. We also value your feedback. A brief survey will be available following today's event. Before we begin, please note that statements made during this call regarding the company's business outlook, operational, and financial projections and goals are forward-looking statements based on the current beliefs and assumptions of management and any information currently available to the company.
These statements involve risks and uncertainties as they relate to future events and actual results may differ materially. Investors are encouraged to consider factors related to the macroeconomic environment, industry conditions, and other risks that could impact results. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Carlos Raad, Chief Investor Relations Officer of Bladex. Sir, please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. My name is Carlos Raad, and I am Bladex Investor Relations Officer and Head of ESG. It is a pleasure to welcome you to our Investor Day. In many of my meetings with investors, the same point keeps coming up. Given the progress Bladex has made in recent years, is most of the story now behind us? Our answer is simple. No. What we have built over the last few years has been very important, but in many ways, that was the foundation for what comes next, and today is about that next stage. Let me briefly walk you through today's agenda. We will begin with opening remarks from our Chairman, Miguel Heras.
After Miguel, Jorge Salas, our CEO, will open the day with a high-level view of what we set out to do in 2022, what we have delivered, and what comes next. He will also lay out the three pillars for the next phase of the strategy. Growth with price discipline, higher non-interest income, and lower funding costs by building an operating deposit base. From there, the day will continue through three blocks. First, commercial initiatives. Jorge will stay with us for that first block and speak about transactional services, a natural space for Bladex and an important opportunity for growth. Samuel Canineu, our Chief Commercial Officer, will then cover the asset side and how we continue to strengthen our product offering while keeping price discipline. Eduardo Vivone, our Head of Treasury and Capital Markets, will discuss how treasury is evolving into a broader client revenue engine.
Second, we will then move to our guardrails. Olazhir Ledezma, our Chief Strategy Officer, will speak about execution and efficiency and how we make sure our investments are well designed and properly implemented. Alejandro Tizzoni, our Chief Risk Officer, will then cover the risk framework that supports this next phase, always within conservative risk appetite that defines Bladex. Finally, Annette van Hoorde, our CFO, will connect these strategic pillars to sustainable ROE. After the presentations, we will open the floor for Q&A. Miguel, please go ahead.
Thank you, Carlos, and good morning. When I became Chairman in 2019, the board and management shared a clear conviction. Bladex has strong fundamentals, but we needed to modernize our operating model so we could seize the opportunity ahead of us profitably, sustainably, and with greater impact for the region.
From the beginning, the board worked closely with management to support that transformation, combining strategic ambition with the discipline and risk culture that have always defined Bladex. At our Investor Day in 2022, we turned that conviction into a roadmap, the 2022-2026 plan. That commitment was clear, to strengthen our business model, diversify earnings, invest in new capabilities, and reinforce Bladex's role in facilitating trade across Latin America. Today, as we move into the final stretch of that plan, I am very proud of what the team has delivered during the first phase of this transformation. Record performance, a stronger balance sheet and funding profile, growing fee-based revenues, and meaningful progress in the platforms that will support the next stage of growth. The most important change is cultural.
Today, more than ever, Bladex is one cohesive team with stronger collaboration across the organization, a culture of execution, and greater accountability.
That is why the 2030 plan we will discuss today is far more concrete than it would have been four years ago. We are building on proven results. Our values have been essential to that progress. They are not abstract statements. They are a compass that guides decisions every day. Excellence, integrity, commitment, creating value and growth. Those values are grounded in a corporate purpose beyond profitability, creating bridges between Latin America and the world so our clients and our region can grow and prosper. It is a purpose that creates pride and belonging within our organization, and it reinforces our long-term commitment to expanding trade across the region. Today is both a celebration and a transformation. The transformation of the past few years has strengthened the foundation of the bank.
This phase is about scale, expanding our platform, deepening client relationships, and broadening our role in trade finance in Latin America. As we enter the final stretch of our strategic plan, we are launching our 2030 plan, the next steps in Bladex's evolution to become a true trade bank of Latin America, not only a specialized trade lender, but a more transactional trade banking platform, closer to clients, broader in solutions, more digital, and increasingly fee-driven, while maintaining the discipline in risk management and capital that has brought us here. I have full confidence in our executive team and the broader leadership group. They have earned that confidence through consistent execution, and they are ready for what comes next. To our investors, thank you for your trust and engagement. We value the dialogue and remain committed to engaging openly and consistently.
We look forward to your questions throughout the day. Thank you again for being here. Jorge, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Carlos, for setting the stage, and thank you, Miguel, for your support and guidance during the last few years. Welcome, everyone. This is a very exciting moment for all of us at Bladex. I am glad to share that today there are 3 x more participants connected to this event than in our previous Investor Day almost four years ago. Let's go back to that day for just one moment. When we presented these 2026 targets back in 2022, we made a clear commitment, maturely grow the portfolio, more than double the profitability, and make the bank more efficient, all while maintaining high capital and increasing reserve coverage.
These goals were clearly ambitious, especially given Bladex's prolonged period of limited growth and returns prior to the pandemic. The plan was never based on taking more risk or changing the nature of the franchise. On the contrary, it was clear to us that our unique competitive advantages were being vastly underutilized, and we saw a significant opportunity to lean into our strengths to drive growth and profitability without changing the risk profile of the bank. The results speak for themselves. We did not simply move toward these goals. We exceeded them, and we did so one year ahead of plan. This was not just aspiration. It was strategy and disciplined execution. Equally important, we did not just increase earnings. We improved earnings quality, and we did so intentionally and by design.
The vision that brought us here required Bladex to ensure we had a new management compensation system, more clear, better aligned with long-term shareholder value, and one that rewards not just growth, but the kind of growth we wanted to build. The growth that strengthens the bank, deepens clients' relationships, and creates more value across each engagement. In parallel, we redesigned several key processes, the outcome dramatically faster onboarding times and processing times. That, in turn, allowed us to substantially expand customer base while maintaining the same client profile, the consequence more clients, same standards, better efficiency. The results were clear in our revenue mix. Deeper client relationships driven by increased cross-selling translated into a fourfold increase in non-interest income. Once again, this was not accidental. It was intentionally designed to structurally improve the earnings model, and it's the foundation for what comes now.
We see the market's reaction to our results as a critical validation of how Bladex executed its strategy to date. We are very proud to have been able to deliver increasing returns to our fellow shareholders. Our stock price has tripled and the total shareholder returns have outperformed all comparable market benchmarks. The confidence and the support of our investors have driven our trading liquidity to nearly triple in recent years with very strong momentum in 2026. This recognition is also reflected in the expansion of our analyst coverage from zero to five . We deeply appreciate our analyst coverage, all of whom are here today. The obvious question now is how do we plan to continue delivering high quality earnings at scale?
In order to answer that question, let me just zoom out and explain how our strategic focus has evolved up until now and how we'll continue to shift towards 2030. The 2026 plan had three revenue drivers. First and foremost, lending spreads. We improved margins through better pricing discipline, product mix, and aligned incentives, all without compromising credit quality. Second, funding. We held spreads stable through materially increasing the deposit base that shifted from 40 to 60% of total funding. This shift in deposits is fundamental to the next phase of our strategy. Third, non-interest income, which grew significantly and now makes up a greater portion of our earnings. The first part of the plan was driven largely by better execution on the asset side together with stronger funding base and growing contribution of fees.
Looking ahead, our model does not change, but our emphasis does. Simply put, our 2030 strategic plan should enable Bladex to experience continued spread improvement from a progressive reduction in our cost of funds, supported by capturing a share of our clients operating deposits. At the same time, as transaction volumes climb across our trade finance and treasury platforms, we expect non-interest income to become an even larger contributor to the earnings mix. Our 2030 strategic plan will be driven by three growth engines, disciplined growth, lower cost of funds, and higher non-interest income. These are the three pillars that will shape the rest of today's presentation. As we continue with today's presentation, please remember to keep this framework in mind. Each commercial initiative we address aligns with at least one of these three pillars.
Before going into the initiative themselves, let me step back and explain how the market opportunity is real and why is it relevant for Bladex. We see strong potential for a specialized bank with a set of structural competitive advantage operating in a vast market with clear white spaces. First, let's consider total market size. The revenue pool generated by banks operating in Latin America is roughly $70 billion. If we narrow that broader revenue pool to the dollar-denominated market, the segmented addressable market is roughly $22 billion. As a dollar lender, this is our core market, one where our commercial model, our funding access, and the capabilities are more relevant. Today, Bladex generates about $300 million in revenue while competing only in the trade finance and the lending segments, with an estimated market share of roughly 4% of those two specific segments.
Under this new plan, we intend to broaden our participation, expanding into cash management services by capturing operating deposits, and also start penetrating the market segment through selected treasury solutions for our clients. This is not a move away from our core. On the contrary, it aims to increase share of wallet among well-established and long-standing. Of course, a large market by itself is not enough. The real question is whether we have a differentiated right to win, and the answer is yes. We have structural competitive advantages that are hard to replicate and have been proven already many times.
From the funding perspective, this includes direct access to Latin American central banks, reflecting their ownership stake in Bladex, strategic presence in New York with direct connectivity to the Federal Reserve, solid credibility across domestic and global capital markets. Commercially we have profound knowledge in long-standing relationships with the region's top banks and corporations. These relationships are further underpinned by a deep origination expertise and the ability to tailor solutions with speed, judgment, and flexibility. These strengths are reinforced by a strong regional brand supported by more than 40 years of operating history and investment-grade rating. The next phase is not about redefining what Bladex is. It is about further capitalizing on the strengths that already define this franchise. Our 2030 vision can be best understood through the lens of three simple pillars to unlock value for our investors. One, disciplined growth. Two, a lower cost of funds.
Three, higher non-interest income. These three pillars of value creation are guided by our disciplined approach to cost efficiency and strong risk management expertise, our guardrails. Today we are committing to continued disciplined execution that can achieve 16% to 17% sustainable return on equity through strong earnings quality and lower structural volatility. That is the financial ambition behind our 2030 vision. Now I'd like to introduce something that is both natural but transformational for Bladex, transactional banking. I will now explain how transactional services will help reduce our cost of funds through the growth of operating deposits, and also how we'll increase non-interest income as a broader part of our client relationships begins to generate fee-based revenues. Until today, the trade flows that Bladex finances don't flow through the bank. We provide the credit. Other banks handle the transactions, keep the deposits, and collect the fees.
We're simply not capturing the broader transaction flows related to the activities we support. That's the opportunity. Our goal is to evolve our lending business into a broader transaction banking solution through the addition of transactional services. We know what it requires, investing in new cash management capabilities, disciplined oversight of non-financial risks, particularly AML/BSA. And three, evolving our client service model while preserving the personalized approach that defines how we serve our clients today. This is clearly the next step for Bladex, and one that can be pursued with the same rigor that has defined the transformation of this bank so far. As we progressively introduce transactional services, we expect to capture a share of the operating flows that today remain outside of Bladex. Over time, this is not only about adding services.
It is about improving the funding profile of the bank, improving the earnings mix, and making the model stronger and more resilient. Our objective is to deepen the relationship we already have with our two main client segments, financial institutions and top LatAm corporates. We believe we have a clear and differentiated right to win in both segments. The next phase is not about changing our client base. It's about becoming more valuable to the clients we already know well by offering them additional solutions that fit our model. Let me start with financial institutions. We will expand our correspondent banking product offering to include cross-border third-party payments. We have deep, long-standing relationships with a very substantial portion of the banks that operate in Latin America. We have extensive knowledge of the region's macro dynamics, and we also have direct access to the Federal Reserve.
These are meaningful advantages in a business where trust, connectivity, resilience, and execution are critical. Let's talk about the market. From a correspondent banking perspective, we segmented the market in three broad archetypes. At one end are the underserved institutions, typically smaller banks often operating in a single country with a limited supply of correspondent banking relationships. At the other end are the sophisticated institutions, larger banks with broader capabilities and already well served by a strong network of correspondent banks. Between those two extremes sits a middle segment where there is a clear market fit for Bladex. The main idea here is that this market is not uniform. Because client needs vary significantly among these groups, using a segmented strategy is essential to compete effectively so that we can concentrate our efforts where our value proposition is stronger. Our primary focus will be the partially served institutions.
These are clients with real correspondent banking needs, but without the same level of coverage or attention that the largest and more sophisticated banks typically receive. That said, we are not excluding other archetypes. Where the fit and the economics make sense, we can also serve clients at both ends of the spectrum. We believe the opportunity is particularly attractive today because corresponding banking has become increasingly selective. That creates room for a focused regional player with strong relationships, deep regional knowledge, and the ability to respond with agility and the additional advantage of balance sheet support. Our lending products create the case for reciprocity, and that gives us stronger foundation to deepen the relationships and increase cross-sell over time. This is not something we expect to build overnight.
The approach is gradual from one existing client to five corresponding banking clients by the end of this year, growing to 15 to 30 by 2030. Measured, selective, client by client. If executed well, this segment could contribute between 5% and 7% of total deposits by year 2030. That is a meaningful contribution, but the key point is how we get there with the right controls, the right economics, and the same rigor that has guided the rest of our strategy so far. On the corporate side, the logic is similar, but the opportunity here is even more concrete. We already disbursed around $23 billion a year in loans. The trade products we provide are typically linked to transactional services that Bladex does not offer today. As a consequence, these flows are not captured by the bank. Our starting point here is very clear.
We have been lending to most top corporations in every country in the region for decades now. When we disburse our lending facilities, the funds are credited into the client's account at other banks. Once again, we finance the flow, but the transactional activity and the deposits sit outside the bank because we simply don't offer operating accounts yet. That's the gap. That's the opportunity. Similarly, evolution of this initiative happens in stages. We begin by disbursing into Bladex accounts rather than other banks. We will then introduce basic cash management solutions around those disbursements, deepening the relationship over time to the point where the flows associated with our supply chain finance solutions also move through Bladex accounts. This is not a binary shift. It's a gradual process of bringing more of the client's operating activity into the bank.
If we execute well, we believe that by 2030, deposits generated in this segment could represent 3% to 5% of total deposits. Ultimately, it is pretty straightforward. By adding transactional services, our vision is to capture meaningful flows and balances in Bladex accounts from both corporate clients and financial institutions. Taken together, our objective is for operating deposits to represent between 8% and 12% of total deposits, and transactional fees to be between $3 million and $5 million, all by 2030. That matters because operating deposits carry a lower cost than market-based funding, and that should translate into a meaningful improvement to our cost of funds. Just as importantly, they are part of a broader shift in the model.
One where Bladex captures more of the flows it already finances, generates more fee income, and builds a more diversified earnings base over time. With that, let me turn it over to Sam, who will speak about how we plan to increase the value generated by our lending products. Sam, go ahead.
Thank you, Jorge, and good morning, everyone. I am Samuel Canineu, Chief Commercial Officer at Bladex. I joined the bank five years ago with a clear mandate: transform our commercial engine and unlock the full revenue potential of this franchise. Today, I'll share both the results we have delivered and the growth strategy ahead. My presentation has two parts. First, the outcomes of phase one, where we have proved that growing the loan book and expanding margins are not mutually exclusive. Second, the product-level engines that drive our 20-30 commercial strategy across four verticals, structured trade finance, letters of credit, syndications, and project finance and infrastructure. During phase I, the commercial team had one clear objective, scale the loan book while widening spreads. We delivered on both fronts decisively. As Jorge outlined, early delivery of our 2026 strategic plan was not accidental.
It was the result of a deliberate effort. In our case, it included an overhaul of how we originate, price, structure, and manage our portfolio, transforming what had been a straightforward trade lending operation into a diversified multi-product platform serving several hundred clients across more than 20 countries. Total loans grew from $5.7 billion to $9.2 billion, a 1.6x increase and the primary engine behind the doubling of Bladex's commercial portfolio. We achieved this while sustaining a strong credit profile in an increasingly competitive environment, keeping non-performing loans at historically low levels. At the product level, structured trade finance and working capital solutions more than doubled, growing from $900 million to $1.9 billion.
Project finance and infrastructure, launched in 2022, reached total exposure of $1.4 billion by year-end 2025, and the volume arranged by our syndicated loan franchise scaled to $4.9 billion in 2025, 7x the historical average. Equally important, our average lending spreads expanded by 86 basis points to 2.94%, even as credit spreads across the market compressed to historical lows. While competitors accepted lower yields to maintain volume, we have taken the opposite approach, growing volumes and commanding better pricing simultaneously. A fundamental premise of our strategy is that every asset on our balance sheet must earn its place. Every transaction is evaluated through a dynamic pricing model that captures real-time market data and counterparty-specific risk. We add new products only when they are margin accretive and aligned with our risk appetite.
Our incentive model ties compensation directly to risk-adjusted returns, aligning the team around value creation, not volume. Credit performance is explicitly incorporated into the scorecard, ensuring risk discipline at every level. Our structural advantages compound over time. First, a fast-turning book. Almost two-thirds matures within 12 months, providing continuous repricing opportunities. Second, uncommitted credit lines with very frequent reviews allow us to adjust exposures up or down faster than our competitors. Third, a flat organization structure with frequent credit committees and full board empowerment, enabling fast decision-making that clients are more than willing to pay a premium for. Fourth, a broad geographic reach across more than 20 countries in the region ensures that we're present wherever our clients need support. Lastly, a strong capital and funding base allows us to capture every attractive opportunity we detect.
All of these features are becoming increasingly difficult for competitors to replicate. Importantly, contingencies grew even faster than loans during this period, reflecting our deliberate decision to position letters of credit as a central pillar of our strategy. This acceleration underscores the capital-light, fee-driven direction we're building toward. Phase I proved that disciplined growth and margin expansion can coexist. Now let me take you through our 2030 strategy. Our 2030 strategy rests on three pillars, disciplined loan growth, reducing cost of funding, and expanding non-interest income. My focus will be on the first and third, where commercial execution impacts more directly. On loan growth, we will continue expanding within our proven risk-adjusted return framework, now at a greater scale across structured trade finance, syndications, and project finance.
On non-interest income, where we see the single greatest incremental opportunity, we will scale both Letters of Credit and syndication fees. We have identified key drivers, and they are already in motion. Let me now focus on each of these four product verticals that bring these pillars to life. Structured trade finance is deeply embedded in our DNA, but we have fundamentally reimagined how we execute it. To be clear, this is distinct from our traditional Letters of Credit business. Here, we provide complex working capital solutions, supply chain finance, inventory, and receivables monetization tailored to multinational corporations and large local and regional players. The results speak for themselves. We've doubled the size of our book while almost tripling our client base and almost doubling spreads. The transformation is evident. Five years ago, our trade finance offering was simple.
We focused on basic bilateral loans, on discounting single invoices and bills of exchange for a limited client base, concentrated by geography with non-recurrent transactions. Pricing was tied to market conditions, and we had no product-driven alliances. Today, we deliver a sophisticated suite of trade finance solutions for each of the main working capital accounts. Our client base has broadened considerably with continuous onboarding. Revenue is more recurring, spreads are steadier, and the business is significantly less vulnerable to economic cycles. A key enabler has been our alliance strategy. We have forged partnerships with leading fintech platforms and specialized originators that elevated vendor finance from a niche product into a strategic client enablement tool. Today, our alliance-originated business generates approximately 1.5 x the margin of legacy vendor finance, with much higher recurrence and more stable profitability.
During our Investor Day in 2022, we outlined plans to establish four strategic alliances. I am pleased to report an exceptional execution rate. Three of the four alliances have been successfully launched and today are a meaningful part of our business. The fourth, a marketplace initiative, was discontinued at a negligible cost after it failed to deliver on its promise of new client acquisition. We're disciplined not only on what we pursue, but equally in what we choose to exit. We have also partnered with banks to access their working capital programs and are currently piloting a couple of new alliances with non-banking institutions. Bladex remains a highly attractive partner, giving our competitive advantage. At the same time, we remain selective, preferring to scale existing relationships where we still see significant growth potential.
In this slide, I have included a few examples of programs we have built with some key clients. Each of these solutions share a common feature. Conventional bilateral lending to these clients would not clear our return hurdles. Instead, each structure solves a specific problem for the client, whether in payables, inventory, or receivables, that incentivizes them to pay a premium over standard lending. Given time constraints, I will highlight the inventory solution in the top right. A major utility client in the Dominican Republic had worked over six months with a global institution without finding a viable solution that preserved existing commercial contracts with its suppliers. In contrast, we structured a solution through a trading company that extended payment terms while suppliers were paid as usual, with no changes to the commercial contracts.
Given its effectiveness and simplicity, we were able to capture 100% of the purchase volumes and have already begun replicating this model across other countries. By solving real problems with more sophisticated structured trade and working capital solutions, we expect a further 50% expansion in this vertical, targeting a total of around $2.7 billion by 2030. Let me walk you through the main growth drivers in more detail. On technology, like we did with letters of credit, we will implement a platform to automate processes and enhance the client interface. Our experience with CGI gives us an edge. On alliances, we will continue scaling our existing partnerships to access new clients and markets while selectively onboarding new alliances where we see a compelling fit. On securitization, we're off to a strong start.
We have already structured several transactions, not only in U.S. dollars, but also in Mexican and Chilean pesos, and have successfully distributed a number of them to investors. We see significant potential to grow this franchise further. On commodity finance, we have rapidly expanded from a limited number of counterparties a few years ago to a large number today, maximizing our access to trade invoices for discounting. Today, we work with virtually all global regional commodity traders active in the region and are positioning ourselves to cover their full transactional flow. From imports at origin outside Latin America to the final buyer inland, creating significant cross-sell opportunities for letters of credit and lending. In cash management, as covered by Jorge. A key opportunity is capturing payments from our supply chain finance programs, tapping in the billions of dollars we finance annually.
Having covered structured trade finance, let me now turn to Letters of Credit. Letters of Credit are among our most capital efficient products and a powerful lever for improving return on equity. As off-balance sheet instruments, LCs generate fee income without consuming risk-weighted assets in the way that loans do. Total LC fee income grew from approximately $12 million in 2021 to nearly $32 million in 2025, a 2.6 x expansion. This was driven by expanded commercial coverage, now with dedicated resources also in Brazil and Mexico, a broader suite of tailored solutions, meaningful cross-sell from newer product verticals, and improved monetization. Our clients increasingly view Bladex as their primary LC provider for intra-regional and Latin America to the rest of the world trade corridors, a position that creates significant stickiness and recurrence. End of period LCs balance doubled to $1.5 billion in 2025.
Transaction volumes tripled, and we meaningfully expanded our active client base. Aligned scorecards embedding LCs into the broader commercial agenda enable a cultural shift, as prior to 2021, LCs were not actively offered as a standalone product. We fundamentally changed that. Looking ahead, our target is to double LC fee revenue to approximately $60 million by 2030. We see clear levers to accelerate. First, launched in 2025, the new corporate portal built with CGI has fully automated internal execution and increased capacity. We're now starting to onboard corporate clients to a self-service front end, a meaningful competitive advantage in a historically analog business. Second, we will continue deepening LC penetration and cross-sell. Today, only 25% of our clients have letters of credit with us, yet we estimate that nearly 60% of our client base uses LCs.
That gap represents substantial upside potential in volumes through increased penetration, client penetration alone. Third, we're expanding structured and tailor-made LC solutions. These transactions occur less frequently, but tend to be larger in size, highly profitable, and more recurrent. We have been steadily increasing origination in this segment. Fourth, we will grow letters of credit participations alongside our syndications and project finance deals. This has been a powerful engine of our more recent growth, and we still see significant potential. Fifth, integration with cash management. Most of our letters of credit involve payment to an exporter or seller, creating natural payment flows. With cash management capabilities, we can capture a portion of the several billion dollars of LCs we open annually as a captive business.
Finally, we will expand wallet share with our higher grade clients through a combination of smaller ticket, better priced transactions and higher volume and more competitively priced ones. Now let me turn to loan structure and syndications. Our syndications franchise has undergone a genuine transformation. What makes Bladex distinctive is our originate to share model. Unlike other banks that originate purely to distribute and hold nothing, we keep a substantial portion of every loan we generate. Participating investors value this practice deeply, confident that when we bring a deal to the market, we have real conviction in the credit. Out of over 100 syndicated loans closed historically, only one has required restructuring. That track record has made us the preferred partner for over 100 banks and institutional investors, with some having effectively outsourced part of their credit process to us. The scale of the transformation is significant.
The average annual volume we arranged up to 2020 was approximately $670 million. In 2025 alone, we arranged almost $5 billion for our clients. It's important to note that this includes the Block 58 oil project for Suriname's national oil company, Staatsolie, a $1.4 billion transaction that was the largest fee event in Bladex's history and earned us multiple awards. Even normalizing for that exceptional deal, the growth multiple remains very substantial. A few years ago, we were nowhere near having the capability to lead a transaction of that scale and complexity. Total syndication fee grew nearly five times to over $20 million, showing material growth even normalizing for the one-off Staatsolie deal. What is important to highlight is that in 2025, we activated an entirely new revenue stream for Bladex through secondary market distribution.
Given our excess capital position, it was traditionally more profitable for us to originate for our own balance sheet. That equation is changing as we grow and reach capital efficiency, as we did in 2025 before the AT1 issuance. Our new established available-for-sale book allows us to warehouse loans and sell them at a gain on the secondary market later. Particularly on deals we syndicate, we can anticipate market appetite and time sales strategically, generating incremental fees, while also enabling us to reduce risk exposure and manage our capital buffers proactively. We target over 50% growth in syndication fees to $30 to $32 million by 2030, giving a number of concrete drivers. First, higher underwriting capacity. Today, we can underwrite up to $400 to $500 million in a single transaction. Second, a larger and more experienced team that strengthens our execution and coverage capabilities.
Third, expanded product and industry expertise. Our new verticals, particularly project finance, generate transactions that require syndication and command higher fees. Fourth, strengthened co-lead credentials. Regional and global investment banks value us as a co-underwriting partner because we bring deep regional knowledge without competing in their DCM or M&A businesses. Fifth, enhanced agency capabilities through our growing team. Sixth and final, also particularly important, our new established Available-for-Sale loan book. Over time, we expect this to evolve into a full-fledged credit trading book, which could account for up to 30% of our syndication income by 2030. Client credit profile within the Available-for-Sale book is on average stronger than the rest of the portfolio. For each of these positions, we maintain the readiness to hold to maturity in the event we cannot sell at a gain.
Now, let me move to the last of our four growth verticals, project finance and infrastructure. Project finance and infrastructure is our newest vertical, and one I'm particularly proud of. Launched from zero in 2022, by year-end 2025, we completed 41 transactions with total exposure reaching $1.4 billion. An important clarification, not all of this exposure is pure project financing involving construction risk. Nearly half is made up of infrastructure deals from a sector standpoint. Mostly corporate with very predictable revenue streams, some with contract revenues that allow for higher leverage given cash flow visibility. Pure construction risk project finance remains within the boundary of 5% to 7% of our commercial portfolio, as indicated at our 2022 Investor Day. In many cases include completion guarantees from sponsors.
In just three years, we moved from pure participations to selective lead roles, building track record, developing industry expertise, and establishing relationships with key infrastructure sponsors across the region. Growth exceeded our initial expectations, reflecting strong client demand and the strategic hire. Given the macro backdrop strongly supports continued expansion and the key drivers identified, we're targeting project financing infrastructure portfolio of around $2.5 billion by 2030. Latin America faces significant infrastructure gap across energy transition, near shoring, transportation, and digital connectivity, while several global players have pulled back, creating space we're well-positioned to fill. We combine structuring sophistication of global players with deep regional understanding and the trust that comes from a permanent presence in the region. The risk-return profile is compelling. Low defaults correlation during crisis, strong collateral, higher fee generation, and long-term tenors that add stability to our otherwise short-duration portfolio.
Our plan is to capture growing regional infrastructure needs through multi-product integration, layering syndication, LCs, working capital, and derivatives alongside core financings, lead lending to boost fees, and selectively adding local currency solutions. With that, I have covered our four product verticals. Let me bring it all together. Over the past four years, we have fundamentally transformed the commercial engine of this bank, scaling every product vertical, expanding margins in a compressing market, and building entirely new capabilities from ground up, all while sustaining a strong credit profile. Looking ahead, we will continue scaling smart, building a commercial franchise that is more resilient, more profitable, and more deeply embedded in our clients' operations than at any point in Bladex history. The growth drivers are already in motion, firmly within our execution capability and well-diversified. We're not reliant on any single product, geography, or revenue type.
The first phase was about proving our ability to execute. The next phase is about scaling that execution and unlocking the full potential of our commercial platform. Thank you, and I will now hand the presentation over to Eduardo Vivone, our Executive Vice President of Treasury and Capital Markets.
Thank you, Samuel, and thank you all for joining us today. I'd like to focus on how treasury fits into Bladex's broader strategy and how its role is evolving. In 2021, Treasury operated primarily as a funding provider and investment management unit focused on balance sheet optimization and funding diversification. Between 2022 and 2024, we delivered on our 2022 Investor Day commitment by materially expanding our deposit base, strengthening funding resilience, and enabling asset growth while maintaining a disciplined cost of funds. By 2025, Treasury entered the next phase, executing Bladex's first client derivative transactions. While the revenue contribution in this first year was relatively modest, these tightly scoped pilot operations validated demand and confirmed we can extend risk management capabilities into client solutions in a capital efficient and well-governed way. The key priority here is direction.
Treasury is expanding its mandate in a progressive, disciplined, and repeatable way, evolving from balance sheet optimization toward a scalable, client-oriented revenue engine. From 2021 to 2024, the priority was resilience, strengthening the funding base, and ensuring flexibility across cycles. As we moved toward 2025, that foundation remained firmly in place while Treasury's mandate began to broaden. We're starting deploying new capabilities through pilot derivative transactions and early client solutions, generating an initial contribution to non-interest income. Looking ahead toward 2030, the focus is scale. Treasury evolves from pilot activity to a scaled client-facing offering, generating sustainable non-interest income and delivering a measurable impact on funding efficiency and ROE generation. As we will see, this is a deliberately paced evolution underpinned by a progressive expansion of Treasury's role, fully aligned with Bladex's long-term strategy.
That progression brings us to the practical question: Where does Treasury create value across the franchise? Treasury supports the franchise across disciplined growth, funding efficiency, and non-interest income. Our contribution is concentrated on two core levers. First, FX and derivatives, generating fee-based non-interest income. Second, local and multicurrency funding, improving funding efficiency, and enabling local currency lending without FX exposure as a complement to our traditional dollar-based offering. These are not standalone Treasury products. They're integrated solutions embedded within lending, project finance, and syndications in direct support of client transactions. FX and derivatives extend pricing and risk management capabilities. While multicurrency funding captures relative value funding opportunities, reduces costs, and supports local lending, together reinforcing disciplined and sustainable growth. Scaling safely and consistently also requires the right infrastructure. With this objective, we're implementing a new treasury platform, Nasdaq's Calypso.
A key advantage this new platform provides is time to markets, which allows us to unlock new opportunities across both client activity and funding execution. On the client side, speed matters. Clients expect swift, seamless execution, particularly when FX and hedging solutions are embedded within financings. Faster execution improves relevance, conversion, and overall client experience. Speed is equally critical when capturing time-sensitive funding and currency opportunities where market windows can be brief. The ability to act quickly and consistently is what allows those opportunities to be realized. The platform enables this by providing real-time visibility across FX, interest rates, and liquidity positions, enhancing pricing accuracy, execution speed, operational efficiency, risk governance, and responsiveness across currencies and tenors. This is fundamentally about unlocking new profitable opportunities, allowing Treasury to execute faster and more consistently while scaling a disciplined, well-governed way that supports non-interest income growth and funding efficiency.
Unlocking these opportunities requires not only the right platform, but also a disciplined execution model. Our approach is deliberately phased and client-anchored. Capabilities scale progressively through client needs linked to lending, trade, and project finance rather than through standalone activity, ensuring growth remains resilient, repeatable, and aligned with the franchise. We began in 2025 with client-driven pilots delivered back-to-back with financings, which validated demand and confirmed our business case. From there, the rollout progresses in phases. The first phase, starting in the second half of 2026, focuses on expanding flow-based activity and product coverage, supported by close coordination with risk, IT, and relationship management. The next implementation phase, planned for the second half of 2027, introduces greater product sophistication, including nonlinear solutions alongside expanding multicurrency and local currency funding and lending capabilities.
The result is a progressive controlled rollout under a strong risk governance framework, unlocking new opportunities step by step while remaining fully aligned with Bladex's strategic focus and risk appetite. All of this brings us to the quantified impact of the model we have described. By 2030, treasury is expected to generate nearly $1 billion in incremental multicurrency funding and a tenfold increase in derivative-related fees, reaching $10 to $12 million annually. It is important to clarify how these figures were derived. The $10 to $12 million range is not aspirational. Projections are based on a bottom-up assessment conducted by our strategic planning team, business team, and treasury.
Starting from our active client base with project finance and syndications identified as the primary drivers, though not the only ones, we estimated underlying volumes and applied conservative pricing and capture assumptions to arrive at a realistic income potential. Nonlinear products are included in the 2030 range, but their contribution is weighted to the later phases of the ramp-up. Early years are driven primarily by linear client anchored solutions, with product sophistication increasing progressively as scale, infrastructure, and risk governance mature. Local funding is different in nature. Its value is opportunity-driven rather than volume-driven. What matters is the ability to act quickly when opportunities arise, particularly in funding and currency execution. We are already doing this in markets such as Mexico, and the new platform significantly enhances our ability to capture these opportunities through faster execution and improved time to market.
The combination of these elements results in disciplined capital light growth with a direct and measurable impact on earnings diversification, funding efficiency, and ROE generation, fully aligned with Bladex's long-term strategy. Let me close this section by reinforcing the core message and what it means for you as investors. Treasury is evolving in a disciplined, deliberate way from balance sheet optimizer to client-oriented revenue engine without changing Bladex's risk profile or capital intensity. This delivers diversified earnings, improved funding efficiency, and stronger returns, supported by governance and phased execution. FX and derivatives expand non-interest income in a capital light way. Multicurrency funding improves funding efficiency and execution. As Sam noted, local funding opens opportunities on the asset side of the balance sheet, particularly in working capital solutions, project finance, and infrastructure. Finally, the new platform allows us to capture opportunities more consistently and at the right time.
Importantly, this is not about doing everything at once. It is about sequencing growth thoughtfully, scaling proven capabilities, and introducing additional sophistication only when the infrastructure, controls, and economics fully support it. The result is a treasury model that is more predictable, more resilient, and more scalable. One that contributes directly to earnings diversification, funding efficiency, and ROE generation, and supports sustainable long-term value creation for shareholders. Thank you. I will now hand over to Olazhir Ledezma, our Head of Strategic Planning.
Good morning, and thank you, Eduardo. I am Olazhir Ledezma, and I'll walk you through how we have driven efficiency and productivity across the bank. As the Chief Strategy Officer, my focus has been on ensuring we execute with discipline and efficiency while the business scales. Over the past few years, we have demonstrated that productivity and efficiency gains are not at odds with growth. On the contrary, we have been able to achieve our commercial and financial objective while significantly improving the way the bank operates. It was possible thanks to a focused execution agenda. We translated the strategy into concrete priorities backed by a strong governance and disciplined resource allocation. There are three main levers we have in this transformation. First, we converted strategy into a clear set of initiatives, each with specific objective and defined accountability.
To ensure consistent execution, we established a strong PMO supported by a clear governance model with regular oversight at the executive committee level and quarterly visibility at the board level. This allows us to continuously prioritize initiatives, reallocate capital and operating resources when needed, and stop efforts that no longer create strategic value. Second, we have taken a disciplined approach to capabilities. As we knew, we'd need to either hire for critical skills or develop them internally through reskilling and workforce evolution. That has allowed us to build the talent base required for the next stage of transformation. Third, we redesigned our compensation model. As Jorge mentioned earlier, this was a fundamental shift in how we align incentives across the organization. Today, the model is simpler, more transparent, and better aligned with value creation at both the individual and company level.
We introduced balanced scorecards that clearly link personal performance to a strategic objective, ensuring everyone understands how their work contributes to the overall success. This means the model combines short-term performance with mid and long-term strategic objectives, ensuring that a meaningful portion of compensation reflects progress against a multi-year agenda. Moreover, we extended performance shares to our entire executive segment, including middle management, expanding from 4% of the employees in 2021 to approximately 20% today. This redesign has strengthened alignment, commitment, and execution across the organization, and is a key reason why we're able to deliver consistent results while transforming the bank. The results are visible in operating metrics revenue. Revenues per employee grew from $707,000 to $910,000.
That's a 60% increase, while our cost to income ratio improved from 38.3% to 26.7%. These are not isolated efficiency gains. They are evidence of a structurally stronger operating model, which is now the foundation for our next phase of growth. As we look forward to 2030, we have identified four areas that require continuous strengthening to sustain the trajectory. First is commercial excellence. As our product offering expands and our channels evolve, we must continue upgrading the service model and scaling commercial capabilities through better methodologies, process, and technology. It's essential to drive growth with consistency and quality. The second is data readiness. We need to continue strengthening our data architecture so that the organization become increasingly modern, integrated, and truly data-driven in the sense that every decision from process improvement to product pricing is informed by integrated real-time data.
The third is the ongoing modernization of our technology platform, not only through tools and systems, but also through internal processes that improve speed, scalability, and resilience. This includes completing implementation of the new platform, such as Nasdaq and CGI, investment that will double our processing capacity without doubling cost. Fourth, we're deploying artificial intelligence across the organization with a pragmatic approach. Our focus is on capturing everyday efficiencies in daily activities, while selectively investing in a limited number of larger initiatives where we see a clear, attractive return profile. Together, the four enablers will support the next wave of productivity improvement while reinforcing execution capacity across the bank. Let me now walk you through how we plan to invest behind these priorities. To deliver this agenda, we intend to maintain technology spending at around 7% of revenues.
This allow us to invest strategically while protecting our efficiency ratio. In practical terms, this means continuing to prioritize investment that support our core pillars, fee income growth, loan balance growth, payments, and enabling capabilities in technology, data, and AI. Importantly, this is not simply about maintaining spend, it is about maintaining discipline. Let me be clear, this is not about capping investment, it is about maximizing return on every dollar we invest through rigorous prioritization. We operate on a strong governance model in which most initiatives are business-led with close partnership from technology and with a clear business case behind each investment. Prioritization and portfolio review take place on recurring basis through a formal project portfolio committee. We're also reinforcing execution through strategic partnerships with leading global providers, which I said before, CGI and Nasdaq, and by combining those partnerships with agile delivery models.
These partnerships allow us to access best-in-class capability without building everything in-house, accelerating time to market while controlling costs. At the same time, we're expanding the use of AI tools and agent to capture everyday efficiencies across the organization, while carefully selecting only a few of larger AI initiative each year where the impact is measurable and the return on investment is compelling. This balanced model. Disciplined investment, a strong governance, a strategic partnership, and selective AI deployment is what give us confidence in the sustainability of our efficiency gains going forward. The final pillar, and perhaps the most critical, is our people. In the first phase of the transformation, the priority was to strengthen the organization by filling critical roles and by adding a structure in area that were essential for execution, such as the PMO and key technology capabilities.
In the second phase, particularly across 2024 and 2025, the profile of hiring began to shift. The majority of new capabilities have increasingly come from areas such as data, advanced analytics, AI, and the management of the new tools being deployed across the organization. Looking ahead, that trend is expected to intensify. A growing share of the talent we will bring will be focused on capabilities we do not yet fully have at scale today. The evolution in the workforce is a critical enabler for our long-term productivity agenda. As a result, we believe efficiency per employees can continue to improve meaningfully, rising from approximately $900,000 per employee to close to $1.2 million per employee by 2030. This represent a 40% improvement, building on the 60% gain that we have already delivered.
In closing, the message is straightforward. We have already proven our ability to deliver growth and a stronger financial performance while becoming more efficient. Going forward, we will continue doing so through disciplined execution, selective investment, capability building, and a sharp focus on productivity at scale. Thank you, and I will let Alejandro to continue with the presentation.
Good morning to everyone. Over the next 10 minutes, I will show you how we are scaling our franchise while preserving the low-risk investment grade profile that has always defined us. Risk discipline is one of two strategic guide rails in our 2030 plan, and today you will see how we have strengthened our capabilities, defined clear boundaries through our risk appetite framework, and build the controls needed to continue growing and managing higher complexity, all while keeping our structural discipline intact. In 2021, we made three commitments to preserve our intrinsically low risk model, to upgrade our risk talent and capabilities, modernize our end-to-end risk infrastructure, and to strengthen our governance architecture.
By 2025, we have delivered on all three while maintaining our core risk profile preserved with stable investment grade rating at BBB, among the top 10 banks from LATAM, a high quality credit portfolio with very low NPLs, conservative capital levels, and a predominantly short tenor U.S. dollar credit portfolio with our FX risk that allow us to reprice and rebalance with agility across cycles. Within that same discipline, the commercial portfolio evolved exactly as planned. Still short tenor with 67% maturing in the next 12 months, but with a duration extending from 11 to 16 months, FI concentration declining from 42% to 27%, and a healthier balance driven by corporations, plus the addition of project finance, 6% of the portfolio with Tier 1 sponsor as a new stable segment. In parallel, we transformed the risk function.
We built specialized teams in project finance, derivatives, and fraud and insurance, while we strengthened the local credit teams in key strategic markets, expanded cybersecurity talents, upgrading our defense-in-depth model and monitoring architecture. We kept an active participation of operational risk in all major strategic initiative to assess risk mapping since inception, and formally integrated ESG and climate risks into our credit processes. We reinforced model risk governance, upgraded our methodologies for new products, and elevated our economic reserve function to anticipate sovereign, macro, and sector trends more proactively. We also upgrade governance. We built a comprehensive CAMEL-based risk appetite framework with over 30 KPIs, deepened board engagement, and embedded risk by design into all major strategic initiative. Finally, we modernized our analytical infrastructure across all risk, while start the certification of our core processes to international standard like ISO 27001.
In short, we preserved our low risk DNA while materially upgrading our structural capacity to scale with discipline. The upgrade to talent, governance, methodologies, and tools ensures that the risk function is not just a control function, but a strategic enabler of disciplined growth, fully aligned with our long-standing culture of prudence and our investment-grade profile. Growth without boundaries is risk. Growth defined within clear structural limit is strategy. Our CAMEL-based risk appetite framework with over 30 KPIs defines not only how much risk we are willing to take, but how we take it and under what conditions. It spans every dimension, capital strength, asset quality and liquidity, earnings stability, market sensitivity, operational resilience, fraud, cyber posture, and ESG consideration, among others. For each dimension, we define three levels. Appetite, where we operate normally. Tolerance, our early warning threshold. And capacity, our hard limits.
All calibrated under stress scenario and aligned with both regulatory expectation and rating agency methodologies. It brings broad and granular scope, multilayered structure, integration of quantitative and qualitative guardrails, forward-looking calibration, and it's embedded in strategic execution, guiding portfolio composition, funding strategy, product development, among others. Importantly, this framework is not a static document, and it ensure that as a complexity increase, discipline does not dilute. This framework is approved by our Board Risk Committee and monitored continuously. It's not aspirational, it's operational. As we move toward 2030, inherent risk will increase because the business model become broader and more complex. Our objective is not to eliminate that complexity, but to manage it within clearly defined boundaries. The 2030 plan represent an evolution in complexity, not a shift in our risk philosophy.
Even as the franchise scales, financial risk remains stable, supported by greater diversification, disciplined underwriting, and strengthened analytical capabilities. In credit risk, expansion of structured trade, working capital solutions, and project finance reflect a broader product suite, not a shift into riskier client segments, nor an increase in inherent credit risk. Conservative underwriting remains the foundation. Even as the loan book grows, our client base remains fundamentally the same, high-quality corporates and financial institutions. What changed is the breadth of solutions we provide, not the risk profile of the counterparties. This product can bring natural concentration dynamics typical of wholesale banking. We're managing this proactively by deepening sector expertise and strengthening active credit portfolio management through diversification, ensuring mitigations, allowing us to actively shape the portfolio as we expand.
In market and derivative risk, greater client demand, back-to-back hedges linked to lending, and enhanced local funding without taking FX risk, require more sophisticated measurements. We are deploying an integrated Calypso Nasdaq platform, as Eduardo described it before, to strengthen risk forward-looking views of potential future exposure and credit valuation adjustment, supported by capital-efficient and conservative sensitivity limits as well as independent validation. Where we see the largest directional increase is in non-financial risk, driven by scale, transactionality, enhanced product offering, digital integration, and third-party connectivity. This is where we are investing the most to ensure residual risks remain contained. In operational and business continuity risks, higher transaction volumes and increased straight-through processing raise the risk of breaks, control failures, and service interruption, particularly during periods of change, peak activity, or incidents. Our response, new end-to-end platforms are materially strengthening our control environment.
As manual activities are replaced by automated controls, we are reducing operational errors, shortening cycle times, and simplifying workflows, driving discipline and efficiency. At the same time, strengthened BCM and BIA framework, embedding operational risk team early in strategic initiative and deploying an integrated third-party risk management framework extend resilience across a broader ecosystem. In technology and cybersecurity, scaling digital channels, APIs, and real-time payment increase exposure. As mentioned by Olazhir, we are investing in building an IT robustness and advancing under ISO-aligned processes, strengthening our defense in-depth posture, and evolving the Bladex portal with maker checker controls, strong identity validation, and real-time monitoring. We complement this with deeper penetration testing and stronger oversight of critical vendor through independent scoring and SOC 2-aligned standards. In compliance, AML, and financial crime, payment and corresponding flows structurally elevate interim risk.
We are strengthening KYC process, onboarding discipline, and corridor selection governance to ensure clients, products, and geographic risks remain within appetite as transaction volume growth. A core pillar of the roadmap is the implementation of a new platform that will enable more robust transaction monitoring capabilities across corresponding banking and third-party payments, including alerting, screening, and case management, building a scalable and automated financial crime framework. In fraud and reputational risk, greater channel exposure requires real-time detection. We are implementing a fully governed real-time model with rule-based detections over patterns, velocity, geolocations, device intelligence, and beneficiary risk through the new platform fraud model. In data model and AI governance, analytical complexity increases model and data quality risk.
We are reinforcing model risk management, independent validation, back testing and explainability, and implementing stronger AI governance standards across the bank. Finally, across all risk type, we are progressively embedding AI, centralized and decentralized agents into monitoring early warning anomaly detection, scenario analysis, and decision support allowing the risk function to operate with higher frequency, greater granularity, and faster response times while keeping overall residual risk aligned with our conservative appetite. Let me be clear, interim risk does increase under the 2030 strategy, particularly in non-financial risks. We'll be managed through a gradual and orderly escalation process supported by strengthened capabilities and always preserving our risk discipline and control framework. The bottom line is that we are scaling a more complex franchise while preserving the same discipline risk philosophy.
As the bank scales in sophistication and transactionality under the 2030 plan, our structural risk profile remains firmly intact. Bladex continues to operate under the same low-risk DNA that has defined our business model for decades, grounded in discipline, strong governance, and a deeply embedded risk culture. The evolution to our more structured solutions and higher operational complexity builds upon these foundations, ensuring that the core strength of the model remains central as we grow. Our portfolio continues to be predominantly short-term and U.S. dollar-based, preserving our ability to reprice, rebalance, and de-risk it rapidly through the cycles. Country and industry diversification remains core pillar of our model, limiting concentration risk, and providing resilience against idiosyncratic shocks across Latin America. Our underwriting discipline and conservative credit standard remain unchanged even as we scale project finance, structured trade, and working capital solutions.
Through a disciplined active credit portfolio management framework, we actively manage portfolio concentration and capital consumption by embedding originate to distribute optionality and selectively using insurance, preserving balance sheet flexibility. Capital strength is a defining feature of our risk posture. Tier 1 ratios above 15% reflect a robust solvency profile well above regulatory and rating agencies expectations, supporting growth without compromising prudence. In liquidity and funding, operational deposits broaden our liability base. That's a positive evolution. We maintain strong liquidity buffers, access to the Federal Reserve discount window through our New York agency, and CAMEL-based metrics enhanced by behavioral analytics and depository stability. The risk function operates under a risk 1.5 model, a proactive second line that engages early, challenges effectively, and embeds risk by design into every new product, process, and platform. We are scaling thoughtfully without altering the structural risk profile that defines these institutions.
That structural discipline underpins the financial trajectory you are about to see. With that, I will turn it over to our CFO, Annette van Hoorde de Solís, to walk you through the financial outlook and projections.
Thank you, Alejandro, and good morning, everyone. So far you have heard the strategic, commercial, and risk logic of the plan. Let me now bring those elements together from a financial perspective. Before discussing the path to 2030, it is important to start with where Bladex stands today. Between 2021 and 2025, Bladex underwent a meaningful financial transformation. Bladex today is larger, more profitable, more diversified, efficient, and resilient. Over this period, the commercial portfolio increased by 71%, while deposits nearly double, strengthening both the scale and the stability of our balance sheet. At the same time, the quality and diversification of earnings improved materially. Net interest margin expanded by 104 basis points while non-interest income increased fourfold. Operational efficiency also improved significantly with the cost to income ratio declining from 38% to 27%.
This was not simply balance sheet growth, it was a clear improvement in the mix scalability and the quality of earnings. Importantly, this transformation was achieved while preserving the strength of the balance sheet. Asset quality remains strong while capital levels stayed solid at a Tier 1 Basel III ratio of 17.4%. In other words, the Bladex of today is already a stronger and a better bank than it was just a few years ago, and that matters because the plan that we're presenting today is not built on aspiration alone. It is built on a track record of execution and on a franchise that is already stronger, more profitable, and better positioned to scale. As Jorge set out in his opening remarks, and as each speaker reinforced throughout the earlier presentations, the financial strategy behind our 2030 ambition can be summarized in three pillars.
First, disciplined portfolio growth, expanding the earnings base while maintaining underwriting and pricing discipline. Second, funding optimization, structurally lowering the cost of funds and strengthening the liability side of the balance sheet. Third, a stronger contribution from non-interest income, further improving both diversification and capital efficiency. Each of the initiatives you have heard today has a clear financial line of sight to one or more of these pillars. Transactional services contribute by increasing operational deposits, improving both the quality and the cost of funding, while also contributing gradually to non-interest income. Commercial execution supports growth through better portfolio mix, deeper client monetization, and stronger fee generation. Treasury capabilities add capital-light revenues while improving funding efficiency and balance sheet flexibility.
Taken together, these pillars support our objective of delivering adjusted ROE of 16% to 17% by 2030 through a better earning mix, stronger balance sheet economics, and a more scalable financial model. Let me start with the first pillar, disciplined portfolio growth, which remains the foundation of the earnings model. By 2030, we expect the commercial portfolio to grow from $11.2 billion today to about $20 billion. What matters most is not simply the size of that growth, it is the quality of that growth and the economics behind it. The expansion is built on continued growth on ongoing core businesses together with greater scale in areas such as letter of credit, structured trade finance and working capital solution, and structuring and syndications, businesses that deepen client engagement and support attractive economics.
We are also continuing to build complementary capabilities in project finance and infrastructure, broadening the opportunity set while remaining fully aligned with our underwriting discipline. This is a value-driven growth plan. This also matters for profitability. Our short-term lending model provides repricing flexibility while a growing contribution from higher value solutions supports spread resilience. The objective is not simply to grow in size, but to grow with the right mix so that margins remain resilient and NIM stays around 2.30% as we execute the plan, supported not only by portfolio mix, but also by funding improvement that I will discuss later. The result is a larger earning base with growth that is intentional, diversified, and fully aligned with our conservative risk framework. Balance sheet growth is only part of the story. The second part is building a broader and more resilient revenue mix.
That brings me to the second pillar, the growing role of non-interest income, which is one of the most important changes in Bladex's earnings profile. As highlighted throughout today's presentation, by 2030, fee income becomes a core pillar of profitability alongside net interest income. Growth comes from areas where we already have a clear momentum and visible execution path, trade services and letters of credit, treasury solutions, including derivatives, structuring and syndications, and fee streams linked to transactional services as well as project and infrastructure finance. These activities generate revenues that are capital efficient, scalable, and closely tied to client relationships. As a result, non-interest income is expected to nearly double, increasing from $68 million in 2025 to approximately $125 million by 2030, contributing to a more diversified earnings profile.
The structural shift is even clearer when you look at the mix. As Sam noted earlier, non-interest income in 2025 benefited from extraordinary syndication activity, so a better baseline is the average for the first plan from 2021 through 2025, when non-interest income represented about 15% of revenues. By 2030, we expect that mix to increase to around 20%, making fee income a more meaningful and durable contributor to the bank's earnings. So far, I have spoken about how we improve revenue quality. Let me now turn to how we improve funding economics. The third pillar focuses on the liability side of the balance sheet, and it represents one of the most powerful drivers in the plan. Through transactional services and treasury initiatives, we are increasing operational deposits and strengthening local funding capabilities.
At the same time, the bank continues to optimize funding mix, currency, and tenor, reducing reliance on more expensive wholesale sources. Together, these actions are expected to lower our structural cost of funds by approximately 20 to 30 basis points, improving margin resilience and supporting the profitability of growth. What matters is that this goes beyond funding in the narrow sense. Operational deposits improve not only pricing, but also the quality, stability, and strategic value of the liability structure. In that sense, this is a structural improvement in the economics of the balance sheet, one that supports NIM resilience, strengthens the returns on growth, and contributes meaningfully to the ROE expansion. Of course, growth in revenues only creates value if we can grow the franchise efficiently. To scale these pillars effectively, operating leverage is essential, and cost efficiency remains one of the key guardrails of our 2030 financial ambition.
Our approach is to invest with discipline in capabilities that improve productivity and support revenue growth. Most of these investments are tied to a specific initiative in technology, data, trade execution, treasury infrastructure, and process automation, improving client experience while supporting scalable growth. In the near term, this creates an investment cycle, so efficiency may not improve linearly in every year, but over time, revenues should outpace cost growth, allowing us to sustain efficiency as a structural advantage. Bladex also benefits from a unique operating model, broad regional reach across Latin America without the fixed cost of physical branch network. That makes the franchise inherently more scalable and supports positive operating leverage over time. This is really about investing with discipline so we can scale efficiently, translate growth into operating leverage, and keep the efficiency ratio within our 25% to 27% target range.
As we scale the franchise, strong capital remains one of the anchors of the plan. Our capital allocation approach balances growth, resilience, and shareholders' returns. As shown on this slide, Bladex has consistently maintained ample compliance with regulatory requirements while preserving strong capital levels under Basel III framework. As we execute the 2030 plan, we intend to operate with Tier 1 Basel III capital in the range of 15% to 16%, consistent with our internal capital risk appetite and supportive of disciplined growth. That capital strength is not incidental. It's one of the conditions that allow us to grow with resilience across cycles. In addition, our strategy is designed to be largely self-funded and capital efficient. We expect to reinvest a meaningful portion of earnings to support growth while continuing to return value to shareholders through dividends.
For planning purposes, our assumptions reflect a payout ratio of around 40% over time, with actual dividends continuing to be approved and declared by the Board on a quarterly basis. Our Tier 1 capital is now supported by both common equity and the recent AT1 issuance, which give us additional flexibility to support growth while preserving common equity strength and dividend capacity. In summary, our capital philosophy is to support disciplined growth, preserve resilience, and continue delivering value to shareholders. When we bring together the three pillars introduced earlier, disciplined growth, lower cost of funds, and higher non-interest income, the financial logic of the plan becomes clear. This bridge show how those pillars translate into our target adjusted ROE. The first two pillars come together through net interest income.
Disciplined growth expand the earning asset base, while a lower structural cost of funds improve the economics of that growth. Together, these two levers strengthen the net interest income and supports the profitability of the balance sheet. The third pillar is non-interest income. As discussed earlier, a greater contribution from fees increases the share of revenues that are more diversified, more capital efficient, and more resilient over time. This is why non-interest income becomes such an important part of the earnings profile by 2030. Of course, part of these benefits are offset by the cost of scaling the franchise, including the investments required to support growth, as well as the cost of risk and operating expenses associated with our larger and more scalable bank. When you bring these elements together, the result is a path toward adjusted ROE of 16% to 17% by 2030.
Our plan also assumes a normalized U.S. dollar interest rate environment, and as rates normalize, some of the temporary benefits from capital carry will moderate, and that dynamic is fully reflected in our assumptions. Just as importantly, this improvement is not driven by higher leverage or greater risk appetite, but by a better business mix, deeper client relationships, continued asset quality discipline, and a strong capital as core priorities of the plan, making profitability more sustainable and less sensitive to rate movements. Let me close by bringing the 2030 financial ambition into clear focus. By 2030, we expect to scale the franchise with discipline, expanding the commercial portfolio to $18 to $20 billion, while preserving the underwriting, pricing, and capital discipline that defines Bladex.
At the same time, we expect interest margin to remain around 2.30%, supported by the resilience of our short tenure model, a better business mix, and continued improvement in funding structure. We also expect non-interest income to continue growing, becoming a more meaningful and durable contributor to profitability. All of this is expected to be achieved while maintaining a strong efficiency levels in the 25% to 27% range, even as we continue investing in the capabilities that make the franchise more scalable. Taken together, these drivers support our objective of delivering adjusted ROE in the range of 16%-17% while maintaining Tier 1 capital between 15% and 16%, consistent with our commitment to resilience, balance sheet strength, and disciplined growth.
From a macroeconomic perspective, these targets are built on planning assumptions that include a normalized interest rate environment with Fed funds in the low 3% range, moderate Latin American GDP growth of approximately 2.6%, and continued expansion in regional trade flows of around 5% to 6%. In sum, the financial profile we're building is that of a bank with higher quality of earnings, stronger client economics, lower rate sensitivity, and greater capacity to compound value over time. That is what underpins our confidence in the plan and in the returns we believe Bladex can deliver through 2030. With that, let me hand it back to Jorge for his closing remarks.
Let me just close by summarizing today's presentation in five main points. First, we delivered an ambitious growth plan one year ahead of schedule, and we did so while also putting in place the integrated platforms that are essential to scaling this franchise. Second, the market opportunity in front of us is substantial, and we believe we have a differentiated set of structural advantages that allows us to participate more broadly in that opportunity and deliver sustainable returns in the mid-teens over time, increasingly less dependent on swings in market rates. Third, perhaps the most transformative aspect of this next phase is the introduction of transactional services. This should support a structural improvement in our net interest margin while also strengthening fee generation over time.
At the same time, while this is a natural evolution of our business and a standard capability across banking globally, it is new for Bladex, and it brings a new set of challenges for which we are realistically planning and preparing. Fourth, disciplined execution of these capabilities, together with a gradual and risk-based scaling of transactional activity, will be critical to managing the emerging non-financial risk appropriately and to preserving the quality of service that has historically differentiated Bladex in the region. Fifth, our purpose has not changed. We remain committed to connecting Latin America with the world, and the essence of our business has not changed either. We remain a niche, selective, low-risk bank with a diversified short-term credit portfolio focused on blue-chip corporates and financial institutions across the region. No foreign exchange risk, no deviation from our conservative credit profile.
The business model is not changing. It's scaling. As our chairman said at the very beginning, Bladex has gone through a deep cultural transformation. That transformation has been essential to what we have achieved so far, and it is equally important to our vision of becoming a true trade bank for the region. Now, consistent with that cultural transformation and with the 2030 vision we have shared today, after 20 years, Bladex is updating its brand identity. Our new identity is simply a reflection of our evolution and a bold expression of where we're headed. We chose this day and this specific moment to unveil our new identity for the very first time.
This concludes the management presentations. We will now take a five minute break before proceeding with the Q&A session. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. If you would like to ask a question, you may do so either via audio or by submitting a text question through the Q&A function. You may submit text questions at any time. To ask a question via audio, please click on raise hand. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by selecting lower hand. Our first question comes from Ricardo Buchpiguel with BTG.
Hello, everyone, and congrats on the event. I have two questions here. First related to this goal on expanding to cash management and transactional services, I wanted to hear more details. Why do you see Bladex as key right now in these segments, right? Also, if you could comment in which countries are these advantages stronger? Also, where do you believe would be the main challenges on this front? That will be very helpful. For my second question, it would be interesting to understand a little bit more on how the plan will evolve throughout the years, right? Looking at the next five years, does it make sense to expect the investments you mentioned in terms of OpEx to function similar like a J- curve?
You initially have some ROE pressure initially, and then you see the benefits of the plan more in the future or since a lot has already been done on related to this plan, we should expect more incremental raise over time? Or what, how can we think about this?
Thank you, Ricardo. Very good questions. Let me start with the corresponding banking questions and how are we competing with the big banks. Then I'll hand it over to Olazhir , who will talk about the investment part that we have already done. The point with a corresponding bank here is that the business case for Bladex looks very different than for the big banks, for the big global banks. That's true not only from a risk perspective, but also from a commercial perspective.
The banks that we are planning to serve from the payments and corresponding banking side are banks that we know very well, that we've been servicing them from the lending side for years. Not only that, but we also have feet on the ground. We know them very well. We can assess the risk very well. Perhaps even more importantly is the commercial side. The fact that we've been lending to these banks for years builds a case for reciprocity. That's not true in most cases for the big banks. Also, and this is also very important, they value personalized service, which the big banks typically do not offer for the type of banks that we are going to serve.
Also, scale here plays almost like the opposite role. Being a small bank, clearly, we value more operating deposits than the big banks does. That's basically our approach. As I said during the presentation, we are targeting the banks in the middle segment that are not the underserved nor the bigger banks that typically have a much larger offer. I guess that's the answer to your first question. To your second question, we have been preparing for this phase of the plan for years now.
As a matter of fact, most of the basic infrastructure is already in place, and it needed to be in place to do the interfaces with the platforms that are already running. I guess, like 40% of the total spending is already in place. I don't know, Olazhir, if you want to complement.
Jorge, thank you. Well, basically, we will continue doing what we have done, which is basically we only will be additional investment when we know the revenues are gonna be there. You can expect to have the growth in revenue going before a potential growth in investment and expenses. As Jorge said, we have already invested the majority of what we need to keep growing, especially in the cash management arena. We don't see like a J-curve as you mentioned before.
Perfect. Thank you, guys.
I don't know if I answered your question.
Thank you, Ricardo.
Our next question comes from Andres Soto with Santander. You can open your microphone
Good morning, Jorge team. Thank you for the presentation. Very, very interesting and very, very complete. Thank you very much for that. My first question is regarding, you know, the size of your ambition. You clearly mention your target is to gain at least a shared deeper penetration with your existing customers. You are not going to look customers elsewhere, right? I would like to understand what is your current assessment of what is the market share of Bladex today, and with the plan that you are presenting, what is the target and which country segments will be the priority for you?
We get this question a lot. Actually it's given that our portfolio's 70% is maturing in less than a year, it's difficult to predict how the you know, country shares are going to look you know, a year from now. But I'm gonna let Sam complement that a little bit more.
Well, thanks for the question. I think when we conceptualize, let's say, how big we can grow profitably, I think we focus very much on the existing client base, what are the current demands that we're not serving, as well as our target client base. Today, for example, as I mentioned during my presentation, take the letters of credit business. Today, 25% of our clients we currently have onboarded on the letters of credit business, but yet almost 60% of them have letters of credit. If, let's say, if we have 100% penetration within our client base, the ones that use the product, we can in theory double our volumes.
Of course, that's easier said than done, but we don't expect to double with the existing clients, but there is quite some room to grow. That is true for almost every product that we currently have in our portfolio. I think our ambitions are very much tied to how much profitability or how we can continue to have the same profitability, continue profitability in terms of margins, in terms of fees. If our ambition was to grow by volumes, then volumes could be much bigger than what we have presented. It comes with a mix of between volumes and profitability, of course.
That's exactly right, Sam. This is more about share of wallet with existing clients than just growth for the sake of it.
Perfect. My second question is regarding when I look at your plan, I see the commercial portfolio growing. The average growth that you're expecting over the next five years is at around 11%. Similar number for revenue, similar number for expenses. I would like to understand in terms of the timing of this, what we are going to see first. Is going to be expenses first and revenue later? In terms of revenue, which are the ones that you think are the sort of the low-hanging fruits here? What are going to be more pushed back to the end of the plan? In that regard, from this strategic plan, where do you feel is going to be the easiest to achieve, and where do you see the main challenges going forward?
I guess very good questions, Andres. I guess the main point that we wanna share here is that we are favoring risks and controls and also quality of service during our ramp-up. It will be a risk-based ramp-up, so you will see the benefits more after you know, 2027, 2028, you'll start seeing. Having said that, there are a lot of opportunities that we foresee, particularly on the asset side as Sam mentioned. Also on the investments, again, about 40% of the investments have been done already.
As Olazhir said a minute ago, we're not seeing I mean that the ROE is gonna suffer in 2026 that much. As you probably recall, we already gave guidance for 2026, and we are already looking at between 14 and 15 ROE for this year. That's almost 100 basis points below what we have today. I don't know, Annette, you want to comment on the rate side?
Yeah, no, sure. Just to add to the investment cycle. I mean, the strategic plan is based on the three pillars, and each of them work together and in different intensity throughout the execution of the plan. Currently, yes, we are gonna see an investment cycle reflected in our efficiency ratio guidance that we gave for this year differently from the one that we're providing for the end of the plan.
For 2026, the guidance is around 28%, while we're expecting the efficiency levels at the end of the plan to be between 25% and 27%. That reflects the putting into production of the different platforms that we are implementing. We already have the trade platform in production, and we're in the process of scaling those initiatives that will add more non-interest income to our revenues. Towards the end of this year, we are also launching the treasury platform that will also allow us to increase both interest fee, interest income, I'm sorry, fee income, as well as supporting the growth of our portfolio.
With that, we will see an investment cycle at the beginning of the plan, and also seeing the benefits of having invested in this platform towards the end of the plan, where we see a higher ROE than we're providing for 2026 guidance.
If I may add, I think it's very. When you look at the last four years or the last five years when we launched the 2022 strategy, I think everything that it has to do with structuring, solution-based, and not necessarily relying so much on technology, this should have a more gradual linear increase. That's valid for our structured trade finance and working capital solutions business. That is valid for our project finance infrastructure, for our syndication business.
Everything that depends more on technology, which is, for example, the letters of credit business with our new platform, the derivatives business that Annette mentioned, as well as the cash management, they tend to take longer to scale like, I think I like to emphasize that at Bladex for everything we do, we pilot, and the pilot's already profitable. We don't invest a lot to later collect revenues. This has been the case throughout our first plan, and this should be the case throughout our second phase of the plan.
In other words, taking a step back, you'll see of the total additional revenues, you will see more fees at the beginning, and the benefits on the cost of funds, you will see more towards the end because of the risk-based ramp-up.
That's very helpful. Thank you, guys. Finally, just a follow-up, what are going to be the guardrails that you are going to use in order to decide how much expense you are going to dedicate to this? Is it going to be efficiency? Is it going to be measured as cost to income? Is it going to be ROE? What is the level at which you will decide not to spend more and focus on regaining profitability?
Well, let's have Olazhir take that one on the guardrails.
Yeah, sure. Well, the main focus for sure is the ROE. That's the purpose that we have. In the meantime, what we want to make sure is every investment will have a short payback. We usually aim for 12 to 24 months, and that way we kind of make sure that we have a quick return. Then definitely you have to have a solid business case. As long as we have the cost to income, we estimate the cost to income, the levels that Annette mentioned, and we're aiming for the ROE, that we're looking forward.
In other words, as Sam said before, there's no deviation from the way that we've done things up until now.
Perfect. Thank you very much, and congratulations again.
Thank you, Andres.
Our next question comes from Iñigo Vega with Jefferies. On your 2030 BPS plan cost of funding reduction, can you share some of the main assumptions behind it? For instance, what % of your deposit base becomes non-interest bearing? Also, is there an upside on the 2030 BPS estimate, and how does your cost of funding would compare with peers in the market?
Yes. Very good questions, Iñigo. The most important thing to keep in mind here is all of our deposits today are interest-bearing deposits, and all of them are at SOFR plus a spread. To the extent that we start building operating deposits, we're gonna get deposits at, and balances at SOFR minus a spread. Now, we are expecting to pay on those. Most banks, especially the bigger banks, do not pay for those deposits in their accounts. We are expecting to do so. I guess the other point I wanted to make, it's not just how much we're paying.
It does matter, but the mix on the funding base, I think it has a very important strategic value for the franchise because we'll structurally enhance our margins. I don't know, Annette, if you want to compliment.
I think you’ve said it quite well. I think just to emphasize on the cost of the deposits, it is more of a relative value that we are bringing to a balance sheet or in the liability side of the balance sheet. We currently offer to the deposits that we capture. These represent surplus liquidity that our clients have, so they do expect market rates on those. The operational deposit balances are gonna be driven more on the transactionality, the number of transactions that go through our platform, and also the relationship that we have with those clients. Pricing is not a fixed number. It is more driven by the volume that these operating deposits bring, and also with the relationship that we have with those clients.
Yes. We're gonna have the luxury, thank you, Annette, of being competitive on the pricing, on the pricing side, because how much we value. Now, having said that, the target is deliberately conservative. It is so because we are. I mean, this is a standard service offered by probably all the banks in the world, but we recognize it's new for us, so we are playing it very safe, especially at the beginning.
Okay. Our next question comes from Ricardo Buchpiguel. As you model ROE into 2030, what are your assumptions about share repurchases? Would other future potential transactions, like the AT1 in effect, allow for a higher level of share repurchases? What are other constraints around buybacks?
That's for you, Mrs. CFO.
Maybe I'll frame this more from a point. The plan currently, as you mentioned, we did issue an AT1 at the end of 2025, and that was a strategic decision that the bank made. It was not only to support the growth resulting from the different initiative that resulted from the 2026 strategic plan, but also to prepare the bank for the growth of the upcoming plan. We do not want capital to be a limitation of the growth that we're planning to achieve. Yes, the AT1 is currently part of our capital structure, and it does allow us, the way we issue these AT1, does allow us the optionality to reopen the transaction if needed.
However, it is important to mention that the 2020-2030 plan does not include any additional capital actions in order to support the growth that we're projecting. In addition, it doesn't include taking into consideration any buybacks. It does take into consideration supporting the growth of the bank in a very conservative way, maintaining capital ratios around 15%, and also keep returning value to our shareholders.
Yeah. Buybacks are optional, but are not a core driver of returns in our base case.
Ricardo has a follow-up question. Can you describe? How do you view any incremental risks of introducing derivatives to customers?
Alejandro, you wanna take that one, or?
You want it, sir? Yes, thank you for your question. We've been preparing on the second line of defense. We bring new resources with a lot of track record doing derivatives. We settle down our risk appetite. We define what type of derivative we're gonna do in this first stage, plain vanilla derivatives, like interest rate swap, cross-currency swap. Mostly tied to transactions that we underwrite, like in project finance or medium-term transactions that we do originate. We do consider this as a cross-selling product. We do assess our clients. They fulfill their questionnaires. We take in consideration the main risk measurements that the industry use, this potential future exposure, the CVA. We settle down limits.
I think, obviously, I think as a new product, it's a new risk. We're preparing ourselves now, as Jorge mentioned. Risk discipline is first. Settle down the limits, bring in internally the capabilities, and after that, I think scaling. In this case, we're gonna have, as Eduardo mentioned in his presentation, Calypso Nasdaq platform that is an end-to-end. It brings also a risk model and will give us and enhances the capability to scale transactionality. Eduardo, you wanna talk about that?
Yes. Probably what I would like to add is that this is precisely why this is a phased rollout. I mean, we're advancing step by step because we want to make sure that before we deploy the next step, we are in full control of all the risk management and governance model that we have to we want to implement. Also, it's important to highlight that this is a client solution-driven model. This is not proprietary trading. We're just converting the instrument we have been using so far to manage our own risk into client solutions that we will deliver to our clients. The purpose, the model we're developing is not a proprietary trading model. We are not planning to compete on trading with major derivative houses.
It's essentially client-driven, and the fact that we are rolling it out in a phased fashion is precisely because we want to maintain a very tight control on the whole initiative step by step.
I want to add that if you look from our clients' perspective, we're talking about derivatives that are used to hedge. Hedge, by nature, is to mitigate a risk that our clients have in their underlying business, being it
Currency risk being interest risk. If anything, I think we're helping our clients by giving the full solution to hedge risks that they have, and today are being done by somebody else. If we do it, we guarantee that it's done and it's done in the right way. I think, on the net basis, of course, mitigating all the markets and operational risks that we have, which we are well prepared to do, I think this reduces the risk of our client base.
Well said, Sam. I mean, these are all products that our clients have been asking for years now. I mean, they're really surprised that we don't offer them. That includes correspondent banking, that includes transactional services, that includes derivatives. The main point I wanna share here is this is something that we know for a fact that the demand has been there for decades now. It was a matter of adding the capabilities, not changing the risk profile.
Thank you. Our next question comes from a private investor. Could you help us understand the risk-adjusted return profile of this strategy? The incremental profitability looks relatively contained compared to the risk being added.
Yes. You could look at it that way. Maybe Annette can share more on this. The main idea is that our 2030 base scenario does include lower market rates than what we have today. Also, 2025 was, as Annette said before, impacted by a one-off transaction. If you normalize that, it seems like, you know, 150 basis points additional. If you look on our 2026 base case, it will mean almost 250 basis points.
Correct. Yeah. I think that those considerations are very important to take into account. First, 2025, what we're showing in our presentation as a starting point, it does include a higher interest rate environment that we're still benefiting from in the ROE level. Also, as we have mentioned in our market calls, 2025 also had extraordinary transaction that increased our fees in a significant manner from. I think for practical purposes, the guidance that we have provided for our 2026 year is a more normalized ROE that reflects most of the normalized interest rates that we were pricing into that guidance, and also reflects other factors such as the full year impact of the AT1 issuance and the impact of the investment cycle.
If you look at it that way, we're starting from a starting point between 14% and 15% ROE, adjusted ROE. We are growing our ROE through the net interest income as well as non-interest income, providing an incremental impact around 200 basis points. This is also offset by the cost of risk of growing the balance sheet as well as the operating expenses and investments that we're doing. That bring us to the 16% to 17% ROE range.
Okay .
Okay. Yes. We have a follow-up on that. How are you going to compete with global banks in correspondent banking?
Yes, I think I touched on that before when Ricardo from BTG asked. I mean, the essence is that the economics for us look very different than for the big banks, and especially because we value more operating deposits. We are able to do almost a tailor-made service for our clients, unlike the bigger banks, and that's the essence of it. Also, obviously, we value more those deposits, so we can have the luxury of even paying interest on them.
Thank you. This concludes today's Q&A session. I would now like to turn the call back to Jorge Salas for closing remarks.
I just wanted to say, thank you everybody for connecting today and look forward to the execution of this plan. Thank you very much.
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