Inter & Co, Inc. (INTR) Earnings Call Transcript
November 13, 2025
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Good day, everyone. This is Rafael Vittore speaking, Investor Relations here at Inter, and I'd like to extend a warm welcome to everybody joining Inter & Co's third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Before we begin, a few housekeeping items. A Portuguese-language version of this call is being offered. To join that one, simply click the globe symbol located in the bottom right corner of your Zoom window and choose the Portuguese room. Kindly note that everyone attending is in listen-only mode, and that this conference is being recorded. You're welcome to send in questions online at any point today through the Q&A box on the webcast. A recording will be made available afterward on the IR section of the company's site. With me on the line today are Inter's Global CEO, João Vitor Menin; Alessandra Issu, who leads our Brazil operations as CEO; and Santiago Stel, our Senior Vice President and CFO. Throughout this call, we'll share financial information that isn't prepared under IFRS. While these figures matter a great deal to the company, they don't qualify as financial measures under IFRS definitions. You can find reconciliations linking them to IFRS figures in both our earnings release and the appendix of our earnings presentation. One more reminder: what we discuss today may contain forward-looking statements, and those shouldn't be treated as promises about how the business will perform going forward. For more on that, please see the forward-looking statements disclosure included in the company's earnings release and earnings presentation. Up first, João is going to walk us through Inter's strategy and give a business overview. Then Alessandra and Santiago will guide everyone through the financial and operating results in greater depth. Following that, we'll take questions from callers. At this point I'll hand things over to João. Go ahead, João. Thanks, Rafa.
Hi, everybody. I'm thrilled to tell you that we've delivered one more outstanding quarter of expansion, all while keeping up the work of building Inter for what lies ahead. For us, this particular year carries great significance. It's the tenth anniversary since Brazil's very first digital account went live; this brings both pride and a chance to look back, recalling 2015 and the obstacles we had to push through to reach our current position. What fills us with even greater pride is that our essence has stayed intact. We generate value for each and every stakeholder and genuinely practice what we preach when it comes to making Brazil's financial system better and more inclusive. When it comes to our clients, the philosophy of no hidden fees, and even more crucially, our sustainable credit offerings, provide an inclusive and reachable path to satisfy their financial requirements. That's what took us from nothing to 41 million clients over this incredible journey; as for regulators, by being the trailblazer that introduced the first digital bank in 2015, we function as an ally in creating a superior financial system. One that delivers efficiency, transparency, and a focus on clients; as for our shareholders, carrying out our six thirty thirty plan with discipline lets us achieve an appealing mix of profitability and growth, securing value over the long haul, which our rising ROE demonstrates. As for our employees, Inter stays an exciting, vibrant place to work, where our team members feel empowered to innovate, develop, and add to meaningful change daily. While we mark a decade of innovation, our disruptive spirit remains unchanged. Inter is built for the future, and I think the coming decade will be even more thrilling than the one we just had. As we mark our ten-year anniversary, I'm certain our mission statement served as the secret ingredient that made this achievable. Our mission statement could not be clearer: to create a world where interactions between people generate more value; this mission sums up what motivates us daily; we build products, services, and solutions that make life simpler, give people power, and forge stronger ties. Be it through innovation, flawless execution, or putting customers first, each interaction delivers meaningful value. Our mission is firmly embedded in our culture, which rests on four core pillars. The first is customer centricity, always putting our clients' needs first and providing excellent experiences. We constantly keep our eyes on what's ahead. Second, we lead with genuine innovation to foresee what our clients will need. Third, our operational excellence means we pursue flawless execution in every single thing we do at Inter. And fourth, our winning mentality by going the extra mile and reaching great results together as one team. By embodying these pillars daily, we're laying the groundwork to turn our mission into reality. With these pillars as our basis, my focus for what comes next is unmistakable: keep innovation thriving inside the company by harnessing AI, hyper-personalization, and rolling out new features in our app. Right now, we already have 380 AI initiatives running at Inter. To put that in context, at our 2024 Tech Day, the number was only 80. Next, we're pushing forward with worldwide growth, building on relationships with global clients by introducing additional offerings, and looking into fresh markets so we can expand our international presence. The third area is putting resources into our people — helping our leaders grow, recruiting specialists from the industry, and consistently fostering the cultural foundations that set Inter apart. I feel immense pride in what we're creating and in our capacity to deliver real value to each and every client we work with. Now that all of this is covered, I'll hand things over to Shange and Santi, who are going to walk through how we performed operationally and financially. Shange, the floor is yours. Thanks, João. Greetings, everybody. With our fundamental pillars as our guide,
We're set to deliver yet another exceptional year in terms of execution. Among Brazilian financial institutions with more than 20 million customers, we're expanding at the quickest pace, as we go after what we consider to be our rightful market share. Our Net Promoter Score stays in the excellence zone, at 85 points. Such results stem from customers engaging with our platform very often. During September, daily logins exceeded 20 million, which works out to 14,000 each minute. Typically, we handle 20,000 financial transactions every minute, amounting to more than 850 million over just one month. Engagement at this level demonstrates how effectively our platform operates and confirms the value generated through synergy across our seven verticals; during the third quarter, we achieved record-breaking performance for newly active clients and accounts opened. We brought in 2 million new clients — our largest figure to date — surpassing the 2022 record. That strengthens how clients perceive Inter's compelling value proposition. Our dedication to quality stays firm. Among those new clients, 1.2 million became active, lifting our overall activation rate to 58%. I want to emphasize three elements that give us confidence about what lies ahead. To begin with, we've enhanced the cost dynamics of onboarding, and that shows up across the entire onboarding funnel. A number of improvements are assisting us in raising the count of new accounts. Next, we've been operating an efficient journey for activating clients early, which explains why we can steadily lift our activation rate. And lastly, combining those two elements produces a rapid payback of roughly two months once clients onboard. Such engagement converts into sizable transaction volumes. Our active clients conducted more than BRL 412 billion in transactions on our platform, expanding roughly 30% compared with a year earlier. A significant share of that volume originates from PIX, a robust signal that clients treat Inter as their primary bank. Turning to our credit cards, volume hit a fresh record, exceeding BRL 15 billion for the very first time. That amounts to 20% growth year over year. This rise in TPV levels holds steady across every cohort, yet our more recent clients deliver striking results, transacting more and quicker than those who joined earlier. Now for our credit vertical, I have three main points to highlight. First, we stay disciplined in our high-growth strategy, honoring ROE targets and maintaining a balanced ratio between secured and unsecured loans. Approximately two-thirds of our portfolio is secured, while one-third is unsecured. Second, private payroll loans stand out as the year's biggest highlight, and our outlook on this product remains very positive. We got to a BRL 1.3 billion portfolio with more than 300,000 clients. That demonstrates the power of our digital distribution and our capacity to scale a new product rapidly. We're additionally observing operational gains stemming from data prep and the HR departments of companies, which boosts product quality and our confidence regarding the delinquency levels we'll witness over the long term. Additionally, we anticipate that customers using FGTS loan offerings will shift over to this particular product, since their profiles are alike and because of the fresh regulatory adjustments introduced during recent months. And third, a couple of quarters back, I brought up the idea of overhauling our credit card lineup as a major priority for this year. We are advancing well when it comes to transitioning customers away from being solely transactors into our interest-earning portfolio. IEPs currently make up more than 23% of our credit card portfolio, compared with 20% a year ago. This shift is occurring via important efforts such as PIX financing, reassessing limits each month, and introducing new installment plan options. Santi is going to share additional specifics regarding our robust loan book results. When it comes to market shares, staying consistent is what matters most; we have consistently relied on our PIX market share as an internal yardstick. Our aim was for other offerings to achieve that very same degree of accomplishment. During this quarter, I am pleased to report that two of our main products have exceeded that target. To begin, home equity for individuals. Owing to the outstanding efforts of our credit and distribution teams, we are now the second-largest underwriter of this product in Brazil; our market share in portfolio balance has hit 8.9%. Next, FX transactions. The achievement here stems from strong engagement with our global account and the excellent UX of this offering. We have arrived at 8.4% of market transactions. I have called attention to two products, yet this advancement can be seen throughout all of our businesses, with steady expansion each consecutive quarter. I feel certain that we will continue to reinforce our standing in the market and that an increasing number of products will exceed the PIX benchmark.
To finish,
I want to really highlight that these remarkable results come from our seven verticals and from how we keep pushing on innovation. Every vertical adds to our growth, operating smoothly and connected with one another to boost client value and compound our profitability; that ecosystem is the reason Inter is one of a kind and keeps us moving ahead; so now I'll hand things over to Santi, who will take us through our financial performance. Thanks, Shande. And good morning, everyone. Turning to our loan portfolio, we posted yet another quarter of strong results. Our loan book expanded 30% year over year, with quarterly growth speeding up to 9%, or 36% on an annualized basis. Within secured lending, growth was strong, mainly driven by private payroll loans. On the credit card side, the restructuring plan Shande described, along with underwriting and collections that keep improving, makes us comfortable sustaining expansion at a rate starting from 30% year over year. When it comes to SMBs, we have prioritized profitability over expanding the loan book, even though we expect to accelerate growth before long thanks to the centralized invoice discounting clearing house—duplicatas escriturais in Portuguese—that the Central Bank plans to introduce early next year. And once again, we outperformed the market across our core portfolios. So we're looking at three areas here: private payroll, home equity, and credit cards. When it comes to payroll and personal loans, we've moved quickly to capture the opportunity in the private payroll space. Within just half a year, we constructed a portfolio worth BRL 1.3 billion starting from nothing. The broader market — factoring in public sector lending along with other personal loans — expanded by 22%, but our growth came in at 38%. On mortgages, our digital distribution approach helps distinguish what we offer, and we've achieved 37% growth compared with the prior year, bringing that portfolio to 9 billion reais. As for home equity, we rank second among originators, with a 33% increase from one year ago — comfortably above the 21% growth the market recorded. On the credit card side, we hit 30% growth, all while sticking with our cautious stance on underwriting risk. Like Shande mentioned, we're also making good progress in reshaping that portfolio to boost its profitability further. Now for asset quality. This quarter, our metrics came in strong. The fifteen to ninety day NPL ratio held steady at 4.1%, and the ninety day past due figure saw a 10 basis point improvement, dropping from 4.6 to 4.5%. When we look at credit card NPLs by cohort, they kept performing well, which confirms the gains we've made in our underwriting and collection models. And lastly, NPL formation and Stage three formation were 1.65% and 1.46%, respectively, which aligns with historical patterns. This chart shows how our cost of risk has moved, landing at 5.35% for the quarter. What's mostly behind the recent climb is the new private payroll portfolio, since it calls for provisions made upfront. You can see that coverage ratio reflecting the added provisions tied to it. Over on the right, there's an illustrative chart laying out the return profile for this new portfolio. That's essentially where we've been deploying capital throughout the year, growing the portfolio, and we've now moved past the breakeven point; from here on, we anticipate profitability at the high end. Our funding franchise turned in yet another excellent quarter, rising 35% compared with a year ago, reaching BRL 68 billion. The main driver was tank deposits, helped by the higher Selic rate and by the strong uptake of my piggy bank. That's our product that simplifies fixed income investing for clients. Transactional deposits, which are a core competitive edge for our platform, also posted a solid quarter, up 1.3 billion reais, or 7%, in this quarter. And finally on this page, our active clients, for the very first time, averaged more than 2,000 reais in deposits — a major milestone showing the trust clients place in our platform when they park their deposits with us. That robust funding franchise feeds straight into a key competitive edge: our cheap cost of funding, which came to 68.2% of CDI this quarter. This quarter, we rolled out an added measure that fixes the number of business days, which makes quarter-to-quarter comparisons more consistent; measured that way, we reached 65.1%, our best level this year to date. When operations run well, that translates directly into healthy top-line growth. Specifically, net revenue totaled 2.1 billion reais, up 29% from the same period last year and 8% higher than the prior quarter. Growth in our credit portfolio drove most of this quarter's results, with NII climbing 39% year over year. That gain, as mentioned before, came from strong performance across private payroll, credit cards, mortgages, and home equity portfolios. As Shande demonstrated, as our cohort matures, deeper client engagement is accelerating monetization. During this period, net ARPAK landed at BRL 33.2, which illustrates the opportunity we have, because clients who've been with us longer are already generating roughly BRL 90. Pair that robust monetization with a serve cost of just BRL 13.1, and the result is the strongest gross margin per active client we've ever posted — BRL 20.2. As Shande demonstrated, stronger involvement from customers is accelerating how quickly we monetize across cohorts. We feel certain that successful new offerings, private payroll among them, will continue driving monetization upward in upcoming quarters. Now let's discuss our net interest margins. Both NIM 1.0 and NIM 2.0 — with the second one excluding noninterest receivables related to credit cards — keep growing each quarter and are reaching new highs. Looking at the page, you'll see our risk-adjusted NIM has climbed roughly 14 basis points per quarter on average. In this particular quarter, private payroll along with credit cards provided a favorable boost to earnings, reflecting the way that portfolio has been restructured.
However, we
We saw reduced inflation, and that affects our real estate portfolio through its cost of funding. When you put all those effects together, our NIM kept widening on both a pre-cost-of-risk and post-cost-of-risk basis. And finally, we keep making better use of our capital structure alongside our assets, with the assets-to-equity ratio rising to 9.4x from 7.9x compared with a year earlier. Turning to expenses, this quarter gives us a like-for-like comparison thanks to the Pinterpak acquisition in 2024. Because we stay strongly focused on controlling costs, total expenses grew 5% versus the prior quarter and 16% versus the same period a year ago. That increase is roughly half the rate of our yearly net revenue growth, which shows how powerful our business's operational levers are. The sequential rise in personnel costs comes from mandatory yearly salary adjustments plus bonuses tied to our rising earnings. With our business still growing quickly, we keep concentrating on renegotiating agreements with key vendors so we can lower our cost per transaction and boost efficiency further. On ratios, what our cost discipline produces is an efficiency ratio that improved to 45.2% from 47.1% in this quarter. That 190 bps gain is quite substantial and shows that the operating leverage in our digital banking model holds a lot of promise. Last, I want to call out how far we've come on profitability. In this quarter, our ROE hit 14.2%, and we posted a record net income of BRL 336 million — a genuine milestone for us. What makes this quarter matter even more is that we achieved that profitability while making heavy investments in innovation, upgrading the client experience, and driving better operational excellence. Those efforts create a solid base as we keep positioning Inter as a world-class financial institution. Thanks, everyone. I'll hand things over now to João for his closing comments. Thank you, Shande and Santi.
Having listened to their remarks, one thing stands out: our robust ecosystem is operating without a hitch. Plus, when it comes to the shifting banking landscape that Brazilian regulators are molding, our position could hardly be stronger. Their emphasis on credit that lasts, offerings built around the client, and bringing down the expense of borrowing lines up exactly with Inter by design.
concept.
Our attention is squarely on wrapping up 2025 with real drive, which puts us in position to kick off 2026 with energy; our dedication to pressing ahead remains firm, delivering value to clients, shareholders, partners, and employees. Rafa, at this point let's begin the Q&A portion. Thanks, everyone.
At this point we're going to begin the question-and-answer portion. Each participant may ask one question plus one follow-up. Tito Labarta is first in the queue. Tito, your microphone is live, so please proceed.
Okay. Thanks, Rafa. Santi. I appreciate you taking the call and my question. I suppose what I'm asking about is more focused on the longer-term guidance you provided. That sixty thirty thirty. Correct? Since, well, you know, the trends look quite healthy. Correct? NIM is growing, risk-adjusted NIM is growing, loan growth is performing well, efficiency is getting better, and ROE has reached 14%. However, just to consider, you know, to reach that 30% within the next two years, what else would need to push that? I mean, you said that you're achieving this ROE even while investing heavily in the business. Do you anticipate some of those investments will start to decrease or will they gradually reduce and that will lift the ROE? Just because when I look at the trends. Correct? I mean, NIM, I believe you said previously, ought to keep growing through next year. Still repricing the loan book. But just assist us in bridging from where you stand now to that longer-term perspective you had given before and, you know, what could fuel that ongoing ROE improvement? Thank you.
João Vitor here, Tito. Appreciate the question. Let me begin by saying we're genuinely pleased with everything we've managed to accomplish using this six thirty thirty plan as our guidepost over roughly the last 3 years. Looking back, we started at a 0% ROE at that point and reached nearly 15% ROE at present on a running basis for 3Q; that really underscores the profitability gains we've made. Then, regarding its first figure, the 60 — meaning the 6 million customers we set out to reach — this quarter turned out to be our strongest ever when it comes to adding clients; and October was likewise our best month in 3 years. So we're truly excelling at drawing customers into our ecosystem. On the efficiency ratio as well, this quarter performed quite well. We brought it down by nearly 200 bps. So you can see we're headed the right way. As for ROE, which is what you asked about specifically, honestly, we recognize the environment is challenging given that Selic differs from the conditions when we made our six thirty thirty plan projection. Consequently, our credit portfolio exposure right now sits below what it should have been. Still, we anticipate some very favorable trends, including the private payroll loan arriving next year and the factoring clearing house, which will greatly assist us in expanding our exposure to SMEs — something we're quite thrilled about; and given all of that, predicting whether we'll hit 30% ROE in 2027 or at a later point is difficult. What matters, though, is that the trajectory looks solid and the team remains dedicated. And finally, we genuinely possess ample and highly favorable room to expand our credit portfolio going forward. I often remark that growing 30% year over year is nice, yet the bulk of portfolios we currently operate in remain in single digits — low single digit — for market share; we see that situation, and perhaps we reach 30% ROE by the close of 2027, or maybe sometime during 2028. So we're very dedicated, very enthusiastic, and I think the platform is finely attuned for us to continue delivering the six thirty thirty.
No. That's really useful, João Vitor. Thanks for that. Let me try posing it in a somewhat different manner, and perhaps restate a bit of what you just told us. Do you figure the main obstacle is more on the macro side, simply because, as you pointed out, rates stand at 15%? Is that the largest thing working against hitting that 30%? Since when it comes to execution, I mean, it looks like you're carrying out all the things you laid out. Correct? So just what the greatest danger to getting there might be.
Tito, yes. Yeah, I'd put it this way: right now, what's holding us back most is the Selic. That means, for example, the payroll segment isn't growing as fast, and everything else isn't growing as fast either. Still, like you said, whatever sits within our control, we're handling well. In other words, we're pulling in deposits. We're making the asset side better. We're getting more efficient by being stricter about costs, and we're trying to apply AI to streamline how we operate. So that's where we are. As I see it, today our largest headwind is the rate in Brazil.
All right, that's quite clear. Your assumption is correct. Fine. Excellent. I appreciate it a lot, João Vitor, and well done on those results.
Our next question is from Gustavo. Gustavo, please go ahead.
Hello. Are you able to hear me?
Yes. Alright, so good afternoon, and thank you for hosting the call, and congratulations on the strong results. What I want to ask about is specifically that elevated cost of risk we observed during the quarter. You said it relates to private payroll loans. Why did we see the NPLs completely under control? So what I'm asking is whether this represents a new baseline for cost of risk that we should expect going forward, or whether the coverage ratio increase you made this quarter is sufficient for the quarters ahead? Thank you. Good morning, Gustavo. Thanks for your question.
Yes. So here's what happens in the sequence of factors: as we build a new portfolio, cost of risk rises first because we have the expected credit loss model, and we must provision upfront. Then as quarters pass, delinquency begins crossing the ninety-day threshold, and the NPL comes after. We haven't yet seen that NPL rise, or it was still very minimal given the book's life is near six months at this point, and most of it was built during the latter part of those six months, meaning in this most recent third quarter; so the NPL ought to begin catching up somewhat, and the cost of risk will probably stabilize quite near the present level of roughly five and a half percent. Once more, as we've said repeatedly, our goal is maximizing risk-adjusted NIM, not minimizing cost of risk. That's the metric we pursue in a sustainable manner, as we say at Inter by design. By giving our clients products that genuinely benefit them and tend to reduce their cost of, or borrowing cost compared with alternative processes available in the market; so we believe we're achieving the outcome there the right way. The coverage ratio also anticipates that in order to assist with the cost of risk. But stage three and NPLs are what come afterward. We ought to see that rise somewhat over the next quarters without pushing the cost of risk further up to the level we reported this quarter.
Thanks, Santi. I want to ask a second question about the private payroll loan, since despite the greater risk cost you referenced for this product, you presented a good slide, a good chart, showing it broke even during Q2 and is now profitable. So, can you tell us how much profitability this product is currently generating? Also, is there additional space to boost the profitability of the private payroll loan? Thank you.
At this point, it's extremely high; we're beginning to observe delinquency, or the cost of risk, moving toward the high single-digit range in earlier cohorts; thus, the initial months had elevated levels, and as time passes and the system operates the way it was initially intended, the cost of risk then lands in the high single digits. At a high single digit, this is well above a 30% ROE. Our expectation is that competition increasing will likely push the interest rate on the asset side downward; currently, we're observing it at a high threes percent each month. And at that interest rate level, the ROE, as I said, sits far above the 30% threshold. Among all the products in our portfolio, it has the highest ROE. Pleasingly, the loan book stands at 1.3 billion and still rising, so it's beginning to shift the NIM in a favorable direction. As I noted in the earlier question, this is a product that gives clients an option to move away from costlier alternatives. And with this one, they're able to use their income to cover their everyday needs or their financing needs far more effectively, which is what we refer to as the Inter by Design. So it's genuinely a win-win product. Credit goes to the regulators for designing it. We believe the TAM is very significant. It ought to be several times larger than the public payroll one, since private sector employees outnumber public sector employees by three times. We'll watch how much more it grows going forward; and up to now, we're quite happy with what we've achieved.
All right. Fantastic. Thanks, and nice work on the execution.
Mario Pierry has our next question. Kindly proceed.
Hey, everyone. Good morning. Nice job this quarter. I have two things to ask. The first concerns your net interest margin growth. Correct? Your margins are rising by 10 to 20 points each quarter, just as you mentioned at the start of the year; partly, that mirrors certain repricing that was carried out on your portfolio previously. So, have the complete advantages from that repricing already appeared? And ought we to view margins from here on as being steadier? Particularly given that the loan book's composition is changing. Right? For instance, I'd assume, correct, that the rates you apply to the private payroll product are below those on a credit card; so explain to us how you view the net interest margin's future, and I'll pose my second question afterward.
Mario, good morning, and thanks for asking; so three factors push NIM upward: first, repricing; second, an improved mix; and third, rising investment yield. Those make up the three factors. Regarding repricing, we've completed a very substantial portion of it since beginning this a few years back. Unexpectedly, we did more with mortgages than with payroll. Mortgages grew more than public payroll. As you know, it carries a longer duration; and regarding payroll, a meaningful portion of our loans still carry rates fairly close to one, 1.2% per month; those have room to rise through repricing. So that element remains. It's no longer the biggest force behind new expansion like it was during the early days of the sixty thirty thirty, yet some potential persists. I'd estimate that roughly one-third of those portfolios still have room to increase in interest rates. And the positive aspect is that with public payroll, which hadn't expanded for several quarters, specifically public payroll, it has expanded across the last two quarters; and thus, that speeds up the repricing or the rise in its yield; regarding an improved mix inside the loan book, the two primary forces were FGTS equity in earlier years; this year leans somewhat more on private payroll and credit cards. The reshaping that Shande referred to. On investment yield, too, we've been making gains in that regard; but we still need to achieve further progress on optimizing capital. We haven't yet undertaken many very complex structures in terms of or structured records to optimize capital beyond what we could. That's one more lever that might join the list of three I mentioned earlier. But pulling it all together to give you a concise answer, Mario, I believe the pattern of NIM expansion still has plenty of space to keep improving. We've addressed this point during earlier calls. Looking ahead across the coming 4 quarters at minimum, we expect the risk-adjusted NIM to keep following the same trend we've observed over the previous quarters.
Alright, that's understood. Moving to my follow-up, on slide 19, you indicate growth outpacing the market across every product. What's behind that confidence? When we speak with the large established banks, they appear more worried about where the economy is headed; they look like they're pulling back risk on their lending portfolios. Meanwhile you're doing the reverse. You're attempting to speed up expansion — perhaps now is the ideal moment to grow, when rivals are decelerating, you can likely land excellent customers and appealing spreads. So to start, the question becomes: what makes you at ease expanding your loan book at a 30% rate while everybody anticipates the economy slowing? And also, how do you figure you'll sustain that expansion once the conventional banks begin speeding up once more? Thank you.
Hello, Mario. Shande here. Thanks for asking. There's quite a bit to address. I'd say the initial point concerns what we term our right to win; we're positioned quite strongly to expand generally and to grow within the markets where we operate. A sizable customer base, our brand keeps getting stronger over time. And the products exist; from these products we move to the next part of why we think we can continue growing. That's regarding Inter by design. Our credit portfolio is arranged with two-thirds in secured lending, one-third in unsecured. Inside secured lending, we're referring to Brazil's biggest credit markets, covering mortgages, plus payroll loans. Every one of these products is expanding. And regarding mortgages in particular, we observe a drop in the balance of savings accounts in Brazil when tied to mortgages, and that's genuinely positive for Inter; we've been originating mortgages at market-based pricing for over ten years; that gives us assurance we'll continue growing both mortgages and home equity as the whole market ought to shift toward a more market-based solution that we see as far more sustainable over the long term; so that handles mortgages, payroll loans as Santi already noted. With the customer base, with the digital experience, and by competing in a market that ought to reach somewhere between 250 and 300 billion, we should continue growing. Credit cards, one more area where we've been expanding quickly and we think we can remain there. And on this, we discuss share of wallet a great deal. We still occupy a fairly modest portion of our customers' share of wallet. And as our underwriting gets better, as we continue making every enhancement we've been making across underwriting, growth, and UX, our penetration will keep growing; so with all that said, a great deal of this comes down to sustained strong execution, and our team keeps getting stronger, and we'll stay at it to maintain these growth levels we've been observing.
That's quite clear, Santi. Many thanks.
Pedro Leduc has the next question. You may proceed.
Thanks, everyone, for hosting the call. Congratulations on the progress made thus far. My question concerns credit cards; we've been monitoring this closely. Basic arithmetic—interest less provisions—was negative, at breakeven. This quarter it turned positive, and now it's positive on a sustainable basis; so perhaps you could tell us what you've learned and which measures produced this outcome? And given these apparently much healthier ROE levels for the product on a standalone basis, could we anticipate a more significant penetration gain among your client base, which remains fairly underpenetrated, I'd say. So I'm merely attempting to gauge whether this product now sits at economics that appear fruitful enough for you to push it out somewhat more aggressively. I'd guess it might expand ahead of the total loan book in 2026 once more, perhaps even quicker than its expansion this year, taking into account as well the income tax boost that many of your clients will receive? Thank you.
Hello, Pedro; Shande here. Thanks for the question; so, yes, we're quite optimistic about what has been occurring in the credit card portfolio. So as you're aware, we've been developing on a 360 view. So both the credit team becoming increasingly mature and models becoming increasingly mature, collections likewise. And the product team is highly engaged in driving this evolution that we witnessed across these recent periods. So this is the first point to make: the foundation for maintaining strong execution has been laid, and we're quite optimistic about that. When we look at the portfolio metrics, we return to the reshaping we also discussed during the call. So roughly 2 quarters back, we began noting that the share of interest-earning portfolio at Inter was asymmetrical relative to the market. We stood at just around 20% interest-earning, and the plan is to grow this. So the outcome we observe in interest stems entirely from the execution—or the sound execution—of the portfolio reshaping. We're now above 23% interest-earning. And as we execute, we ought to see this interest-earning portfolio grow. And the positive aspect regarding the lessons learned—and you inquired about the lessons learned that I want to emphasize is important to explore—is that as we boost the interest-earning portfolio, and we aim to reach, say, 25, 26%, we're simultaneously assisting clients. Previously, we lacked the quantity of collection products that we possess today, and as we roll them out, we assist clients through moments when they require additional time to pay. So it's genuinely a win-win for the portfolio. And we'll continue on this to achieve this initial goal of an interest-earning portfolio at 25, 26%. Thank you,
Also, what about possibly introducing additional arms into your deck?
On that point, I'd say Shande was laying out why we feel more assured about extending credit to additional cardholders, and that's what we're doing. Yet at the same time — tying back to my API question regarding the market, about not being overly aggressive when underwriting credit — we always tie that kind of question to Inter by Design, where the aim is to explore collateralized credit solutions more: private payroll, receivables for SME companies, which will roll out next year. On the credit card side, Percept, honestly we think we're expanding at the right pace. I mean, we're growing a lot, I'd say, though we don't want to simply go all in on that product. We know this is the product that takes the biggest hit when the economy isn't doing well. So, as we always put it, we like generating alpha on our credit portfolio. To try getting away from the data. So even if employment isn't doing well next year, or whatever the interest rate is — too high. We don't want that exposure. What we're attempting at Inter: we are building credit exposure, as you can see, expanding 30% year over year, yet doing so cautiously, with a good balance between unsecured and secured — which today is one-third to two-thirds — and that's how we intend to keep going ahead. So I wouldn't expect Inter — you should not expect Inter to grow massively in our exposure to credit cards going forward. I'd say we want to compound our portfolio increase news, and sentiment, but without making enforced errors. So consumer finance is a segment where we need to be cautious. So that's how we were running the business for the years to come. Okay?
The following question comes from Yuri Fernandes. Yuri, the floor is yours.
Thanks, Rafael. Hello, João. I'm sharing the
And congratulations on the journey as well.
A follow-up, and I think João already
I want to clarify a couple of things I raised regarding stage three and stage two. For stage two, what I'm asking is what caused the quarter-over-quarter rise in your total balance? My sense is that the prior quarter came in somewhat low, or perhaps that's just the base. I'm not certain what took place in the second quarter, but the stage two balance rose 28% from the prior quarter. So I'm simply trying to figure out what was behind that. As for stage three, your new stage three formation was largely flat. It ticked up only slightly. Yet once we look at it product by product, and we examine personal loans alongside credit cards — typically we view those two together, correct? Since refinancing sometimes sits within personal loans and similar categories — those two products combined are up 20% versus the previous quarter. And I believe Pedro took real pleasure in bringing up interest income, because ultimately, while you're setting aside more provisions, you're also pricing for the risk, and your interest income comes in higher. But since we're at a point where people are growing somewhat more worried about asset quality in Brazil, what drove this rise in formation for those two products? The private payroll, meaning personal loans? Is there anything going on with credit cards? And once more, I think João was quite clear in stating that he's cautious and that now isn't the moment to be extremely aggressive on cards. What I'd really like is to grasp a bit better the movement here in stage two and stage three. Thanks. To begin with stage three, you're right that when you break it out by product, it differs, yet it's the personal loans category, which contains private payroll, that moved from 2.1% in the previous quarter to 3.4. The rest, credit cards included, held steady. Versus the prior quarter. So private payroll was the driver, and that's the primary one for stage two as well; it's actually even more evident in stage two, since the tenors — no — of what stage two captures over the portfolio's life, this being a portfolio that's six months old. It's more dominant by now within stage two and stage three; but private payroll is the driver behind both. We expect stage three to become more proportional in upcoming quarters on 98 NPL, and likewise as the portfolio keeps expanding in size.
No. No. Thanks, Santi. And about the stage three you mentioned at really ninety days, up to two at an absolute figure, the rise in private payroll is due to operational risk, too high and, you know, like, this ought to be the level because it was they're attempting to grasp because given this is a new product, stage two is fine, but I won't be anticipating stage three to be an issue for this product. Right now.
It falls inside the expected losses that we had, nothing unusual in terms of the expectation. It's how we modeled it, Yuri. And separating operational risk from credit risk in a product is very early stage. Sometimes it's a bit blurry. But as we said, we are converging to a high single-digit delinquency level in this product. And with that, the return profile is, as I mentioned, in a better question, north of 30%. So it's accretive for the results.
No, no. Thanks. Appreciate it, Sergio. Got it on your response, and nice work on the pricing—those losses, you know. Thanks.
Thank you.
We'll take our next question from Marcelo Mizrahi. Marcelo, the floor is yours.
Hi, everybody. I appreciate the question, and congrats on a really strong quarter. I'd like to ask about the fee business. Over the past few quarters we've noticed a slowdown, particularly in the most recent one, when it comes to fee growth. Could you walk us through your thinking and your approach on this? There's a lot being invested in insurance, in the international account. So what makes you think growth is decelerating? And what will it take to speed it back up? Thanks so much.
Marcelo, this is João. Thanks for asking. Santi is going to go deep on the figures, the KPIs, and the economics a bit later. But let me just point out that ever since we launched our digital account, we've been working to add more and more service business on our end, which brings us more fees and an improved fee ratio; back then we were operating in the 25 to 30% band. What's happened is that since we're expanding more on credit lately, thanks to private payroll, mortgage, and all the items we just went through on this call, that ratio has come down. A few one-offs are in there, which we'll address. The key point, though, is that five of our seven verticals center on fees. There's FX, as we talked about, the global account. There's investments, insurance, LIOT, our loop program, and our inter shop. So this sits in our DNA — launching new products — and we'll continue doing so, widening the addressable market for it. How the split between fees and NII plays out going forward, we can't say. Because, as I said once more, we're expanding quickly on NII; even so, we still see a solid opportunity to remain in that 25% range ahead; and, once again, I'm confident that as some of these verticals mature further, we think that could become a tailwind for us. So Santi will speak to the quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year shift in those metrics. All right? Thanks. Good morning, Marcelo. Just to add
João, on the fee side we faced a pair of one-time items that hurt us. The first was the closure of I m design, a graphic design business we had jointly owned. That company was picked up a great many years back, and it cost us 15 million reais on the fee line. The second involves the $4.09 6 effect from deferred fees tied to credit, adding roughly another 15 million reais. Combined, those two non-recurring items would have delivered an extra 30 million reais of NII, putting us on a comparable basis with the same third quarter a year earlier. On that basis, growth would have come to 7% rather than 1%. So this is a line expanding more slowly than NII, as we noted. NII keeps rising at roughly 40%. Over the last five quarters, we saw growth at that level. Fees are lagging somewhat behind, yet we hold strong expectations that this will become a major engine of revenue growth and profitability.
All right. Thanks.
A quick follow-up on the fee income topic. We get that these results reflect the softness, but would it be reasonable, as all of you said, that moving forward we could still see net fees expanding around 20%? Or does that seem too optimistic?
Hello, Nika. Santi speaking. Yes, so when we break it down a little by line, credit card makes up the largest piece of fees, and it is closely tied to TPV growth. As Shande demonstrated, TPV increased percent. Therefore this fee line is expanding along with it. One interesting point to note is that the Intershop ecommerce platform now has a significant portion of monetization being generated through NII via buy now pay later, as we say it in Portuguese. That makes it a fee driver of NII directly. I mean, FX is doing really well. It remains a smaller line, yet it is rising extremely fast. Taking all of that into account, we believe somewhere in the twenties or approximately 20% is a reasonable assumption. That is below NII, but it is still a larger and important part of our revenue base.
All right, that's great. Now, regarding the private payroll, we've already covered that quite a bit. Still, based on what you've said, it sounds like conditions have been getting better. The collateral isn't completely operational yet. The FGDS collateral has slipped into next year, yet the trajectory appears positive. Are you noticing increased competition — perhaps not from the established banks, but from other smaller participants growing somewhat more aggressive, given that the product looks far more viable than it did 6 months ago?
I was acquainted with her. So I'll speak briefly — this is Alex here — and I appreciate your question.
When it comes to payroll loans, we're looking at this product overall, and what we're seeing makes us quite pleased. Regardless of which angle we take, we're satisfied — take underwriting capacity, for instance; we're expanding our underwriting. We're making changes to our credit model and credit policies, and that's been pushing underwriting volumes higher each day. So we're quite pleased on that front. On the collections side, we're seeing progress too. As Santi said, over the longer term we ought to converge toward high single digits, which is far better than our original forecast or how we first calculated this product's profitability. As we said earlier, we had a scenario reaching up to 15%, and now what we see long term is high single digits. Considerably lower, with a considerably higher ROE. And on the competitive side, we don't see any worries so far. As we also said earlier, we're discussing that potential portfolio of $250 to $300 billion, which currently stands at close to 90 billion. So there's plenty of expansion ahead. What we intend now, and what we intend over the coming quarters, is to keep absorbing as much demand as possible; on a static basis, market share sits at 2.1, but on an underwriting basis, we're running at a far larger share of the market, probably nearing the 10% range. Of market share. And we'll stay at it. And João will also follow up on the question, Neha.
Hi, Neha. João speaking. Just more of a high-level
Regarding competition, as you raised: we believe Inter is in what I'd call a favorable position when it comes to battling it out in Brazil. We possess things the established players also have — a huge client base, the full range of products — plus things that belong only to the fintechs. Things like digital distribution, strong NPS, solid service. And on top of that, we hold something the traditional banks have but the fintechs lack: a really attractive cost of funding. Bring all of that together, and honestly I think we sit in a sweet spot, positioned between the old-line banks and the fintech competitors, growing north of 30% year over year. And once more, we've spent a great many years constructing this platform to reach exactly that place. We began right at the start, with the fundamentals — a sound banking approach. So we began acquiring the client. We began doing digital distribution. We started to build a very strong deposit base. So all of that is now in place. So competition, in my view, isn't a problem. As I said. And once more, to restate it, we're positioned to keep generating alpha when it comes to credit underwriting — and not only that
Fort. Appreciate it.
Many thanks, everyone, and quite a compelling result when it comes to net adds along with deposit expansion. That should support your continued preservation of the funding advantage you brought up. Thanks again. That wraps up our Q&A portion. At this point I'll hand things over to João so he can deliver his closing remarks. Thanks, Rafael.
Thanks to all of you for joining us during this final hour. I also want to express appreciation to our employees. Our team is quite strong, putting in effort daily so that we stay ahead of rivals and move toward the coming chapter. My thanks go out to every shareholder who has stood behind us from 2000, the year we took the company public; I look forward to seeing you before long, just a few months from now, when we talk through the 4Q results. Thanks so much. Enjoy the rest of your day. Bye-bye.
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