Earnings Labs

Banco Santander-Chile (BSAC)

Q3 2007 Earnings Call· Tue, Nov 6, 2007

$33.01

-1.24%

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Same-Day

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1 Week

-4.30%

1 Month

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Banco Santander Third Quarter 2007 Earnings Release Conference Call. As a reminder this call is being recorded. If you have not received a copy of today's release please call Robert Moreno at 011-562-320-8284. For opening remarks and introductions I will now turn the call over to Mr. Raimundo Monge. Please go ahead, sir.

Raimundo Monge Zegers - Director of Strategy Planning

Management

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Banco Santander-Chile's third quarter 2007 results conference call. I'm Raimundo Monge, Director of Strategic Planning and I'm joined today by Robert Mareno, Manager of Investor Relations and Strategy. Thank you for joining us to discuss the banks results and the market outlook for the bank. Afterwards we will be happy to answer your questions. Next to slides, before we begin analyzing the bank's third quarter results, a brief commentary on the recent events affecting the Chilean economy and the bank's general outlook. In the third quarter of 2007 inflation jumped well-above market expectations fuelling a rise in short-term interest rates, while long-term rates descended. The overnight reference rate set by the Central Bank increased 25 basis points to 5.75% during the quarter. At the same time, long term rates descended and exchange rate appreciated. This inflationary shock was mainly due to the rise in international fuel prices and the harsher than normal winter which caused a strong rise in food prices. We expect inflation to remain relatively high in the fourth quarter of 2007 but slowing down in 2008. Next slide, at the same time, the world financial markets were rocked by the sub-prime prices. It is important to remind the investor community of Chile's strong market fundamentals as reflected in the strong growth of international results, the ample surplus and low government debt, the relatively low volume debt compared to exports, and the high current account surplus. Most analysts expect that the sub-prime crisis should have a relatively small direct impact on the local financial market if at all. Next slide, you should be on page 5 of the webcast, given the solid fundamentals of Chilean economy, we remain optimistic about growth prospects for 2008 and 2009. The expansion of the economy…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. It appears there are no questions.

Raimundo Monge Zegers - Director of Strategy Planning

Management

Okay. Well, thank you, you all very much for taking the time to participate in today's call. We look forward to speaking with you again soon. Have a good day.

Operator

Operator

That does conclude today's program. We appreciate your participation. Have a wonderful day.