Oct 28, 2026 earnings call — New management and portfolio rebalancing
Recurring net income was BRL 2.9 billion and ROE was 11.9%.
Revenue $3.8B (est $4.0B) · EPS $0.07 (est $0.17)
Key quotes
"This platform has already reached around 700,000 clients and is having a positive impact on relationship metrics."
"The bank has already moved toward a portfolio with higher quality clients and a more balanced relationship between risk, return, and capital utilization."
"We also continue to see pressure in the agribusiness segment and among low-income individuals and, more recently, middle-income individual clients, particularly in unsecured loans."
Analyst Q&A 13
branches and staff cuts
Q (Speaker 3): The analyst asked about the reported reduction in physical branches and employees (about 12% year-on-year). He wanted to know if that process is finished or will continue given the current economy.
A: There is no management answer in this part of the transcript. The analyst question is recorded but no reply appears in this exchange.
capital allocation and P&L focus
Q (Daniel Vaz · Safra): He asked about the new CEO's mandate and legacy: what more can be done on capital to increase efficiency, and where is the biggest opportunity to recover the P&L — retail or wholesale?
A: Management said the strategy is to recover the franchise by allocating more capital to lower-risk segments and to use asset rotation intelligence. They will focus on both individuals and corporates, but with different approaches: direct capital allocation for large corporates and transactional approaches for smaller companies.
"We want to have market share, yes, across the segments that the bank serves, but we want to make asset rotation more dynamic in some areas where we operate." — Gilson Finkelsztain (CEO)
wholesale provisioning outlook
Q (Arnon Shirazi · Citibank): The analyst asked about the rise in wholesale provisioning this quarter and whether the bank expects more provisioning pressure in Q4 after changes to the risk model.
A: Management said that after removing extraordinary effects, provision volume has been stable despite a challenging macro. They could not say if additional wholesale names will affect Q4, but NPL behavior in those portfolios is now much better than in the past.
"I cannot tell you whether we will have any additional names, especially in the wholesale universe, that could impact our numbers in the fourth quarter." — Carlos Muñiz (CFO)
new CEO's main challenges
Q (Ricardo Buchpiguel · BTG): He asked what main challenges the new CEO identified, what surprised him about the franchise, and which problems are harder to fix than expected.
A: He said Santander today is more global and unified, and success requires a lower cost-to-income ratio, more digital services, and lower credit leverage for individuals. He praised the senior team and said the capital allocation strategy and pursuit of market share will continue.
"To succeed in the banking universe, we have to have a bank with a cost-to-income ratio lower, with more digital services, and maybe a lower credit leverage, especially when it comes to individuals in Brazil for the reasons that we already know." — Gilson Finkelsztain (CEO)
NII outlook to 2027
Q (Matheus Guimarães · XP): The analyst asked about net interest income (NII) under pressure and whether the bank will change policy; what to expect beyond Q4 and into 2027.
A: Management said they expect improvement in 2027, noting this quarter was affected by calendar and inflation-indexed securities and that agribusiness will still show a negative result. They also said they have been reducing sensitivity to interest rates via hedging, so losses next year should be smaller than the loss in the first nine months.
"Let me add to that, Matheus, since the end of 2024, we have been saying that we are reducing our sensitivity to interest rates." — Gilson Finkelsztain (CEO)
asset quality and delinquency
Q (Eduardo Nishio · Genial Investimentos): He asked about asset quality deterioration, provisions, the rise in delinquency for individuals this quarter, and whether legal entities will worsen or face reorganizations if rates stay high.
A: Management said deterioration is concentrated in agribusiness, A1, and low-income cards, with some recent pressure in middle-income cards. High-net-worth clients and large corporates behave reasonably well; consumer finance saw issues in used cars and low-income segments but better performance in electric/hybrid vehicles, and newer cohorts look much better.
"I think we continue to see deterioration mainly in the agribusiness, A1, and in low-income cards." — Carlos Muñiz (CFO)
NPL timing and cohorts
Q (Eduardo Nishio · Genial Investimentos): Follow-up on provisions: how are newer loan vintages behaving, and what explains the rise in over-90-day NPLs for individuals this quarter?
A: Management said newer cohorts show 15–90 day NPLs much more under control versus the system. The rise in over-90-day NPLs is largely agribusiness; excluding CPR linked to individuals the rate would be below 5%, and this had an impact of almost 60 basis points in the quarter.
client NIM drivers and one-offs
Q (Yuri Fernandes · JPMorgan): He asked why client NII fell about 30 bps this quarter and whether de-risking will cause further NIM declines.
A: Management said the quarter saw a 33 BPS spread drop mainly from FIDC impact in consumer finance, plus a small effect from lower CDI and high rates, and some one-offs. They said de-risking will continue to put pressure because spreads on high-income clients are much lower than mass clients, but they are optimistic on NII growth in 2027 while remaining cautious.
"If you look at the quarter, there was a drop of 33 BPS in this spread, and this is due to FIDC impact in the consumer finance." — Gilson Finkelsztain (CEO)
mortgages as growth driver
Q (Yuri Fernandes · JPMorgan): This is a follow-up on NII and client strategy: how do mortgage loans fit into growth and client loyalty?
A: Management said mortgage loans are an important way to increase customer loyalty and an important growth driver, even if spreads are lower. In the short and mid term there may be pressure on spreads, but longer-term profitability depends on cost of risk and portfolio quality, so they prefer resilience over chasing higher-spread lines.
SME portfolio growth plans
Q (Marcelo Mizrahi · Bradesco BBI): He asked why SME growth slowed after prior strong growth, whether 2027 credit growth will be harder than 2026, and what the flight plan is for SMEs (modeling, incentives, appetite).
A: There is no management answer in this part of the transcript. The analyst asked about consolidated portfolio growth and SME strategy, but no reply appears in this exchange.
follow-up: SME transactions
Q (Marcelo Mizrahi · Bradesco BBI): The analyst added that transactional credit may anchor growth in B1/B2 and asked for clarification.
A: There is no management answer in this short exchange; the analyst added a point about transactional credit being the anchor for B1/B2.
SME strategy: transaction-linked credit
Q (Marcelo Mizrahi · Bradesco BBI): He asked how the bank will drive SME growth and whether appetite is more cautious going forward.
A: Management said SME expansion relies on providing more services and transaction products (cash, receivables, acquiring). The relationship driver for B1/B2 will be transaction-linked and services-linked credit rather than clean credit, and success depends on the broader environment and interest rates.
write-offs and NPL divergence
Q (Marcelo Mizrahi · Bradesco BBI): He asked about the divergence between 15–90 day and over-90 day NPLs, the impact of write-offs, and typical write-off timing (360 days or longer).
A: Management said they had a slight increase in over-90 NPLs for SMEs due to a relevant Q2 write-off and that they are standardizing write-off timing to 360 days for most portfolios, except mortgage at 455 days. They said they refined these rules with regulators and auditors, extended terms for some secured loans, are writing off clean lines faster (around nine months), and expect these effects to normalize through 2027; they focus on short-term NPLs since those are not affected by write-off changes.