Bolsa Mexicana de Valores SAB de CV

BMV:BOLSAA

Greetings, and welcome to Bolsa Mexicana de Valores Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Ramón Güémez, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you, Mr. Güémez, you may begin.

Thank you. Good morning. And welcome to Bolsa Mexicana de Valores Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Before proceeding, I would like to provide a brief safe harbor statement. This presentation contains forward-looking statements and information related to Bolsa that are based on the analysis and expectations of its management as well as assumptions made and information currently available at Bolsa.

Such statements reflect the views of Bolsa related to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the current results, performance or achievements of Bolsa to be somewhat different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, changes in general economic, political, governmental and business conditions, both in a global scale and in individual countries in which Bolsa does business, such as changes in monetary policies, in inflation rates and prices, in business strategy and various other factors. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, the actual results may vary considerably from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected or targeted. Bolsa does not intend and does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

I would also like to remind participants that today's call is being recorded and a replay of this call will be available online on February 13 at Bolsa corporate website, www.bmv.com.mx. During this call, all figures are in Mexican pesos and compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, unless stated otherwise. The call is intended for the financial community only, and the floor will be open at the end to address any questions you may have.

Joining us for today's call are Jorge Alegría, Chief Executive Officer; Claudio Vivian, Chief Information Officer; José Manuel Allende, Chief Capital Formation Markets and Information Services Officer; Gabriel Rodríguez, SIF ICAP CEO; Alfredo Guillén, Managing Director of Equity Markets; José Miguel De Dios, Managing Director, Derivatives Markets; Luis René Ramón, Manager Director of Commercial and Marketing; and myself, Ramón Güémez, CFO.

With that, I'll turn the call over to our CEO, Jorge Alegría.

Okay. Thank you, Ramón, and good morning, everyone. I hope you are all doing well today. As you know, we released our earnings results and our slide yesterday evening, which provides comprehensive details for the fourth quarter of 2024 results, which we will be discussing during this call. The copies of our press release and a slide deck are also available at bmv.com.mx under the Investor Relations stack.

I would like to begin this call, congratulating our colleague, Luis René Ramón, whom you all know very well on his promotion. But that after several successful years as our Information and Investor Relations Officer, he will now step into a new role in the company as Managing Director for commercial and marketing. In this role, he will help us better understand customer and market needs so that we can better adapt our product offering and our value proposition and so help develop the Mexican market and our businesses. This is part of our strategy implementation together with a soon-to-be released news on the market data and data division that we are also creating as part of the Bolsa Mexicana new strategy going forward. Please join me in wishing Luis Rene luck in his new position. So congratulations to Rene.

During the call, I will review our financial results and offer a brief insight on the quarter and also on the overall market environment. Following that, I will provide updates on our ongoing projects, changes in regulations and the competitive landscape as well. Finally, we want to conclude with a Q&A session where you can ask any questions via the conference call line.

With that in mind, let's review the financial highlights and moving to Slide #3, please. I am very happy to share with you that we have a very good quarter, very good report with a double-digit growth in several lines like revenues, EBITDA, net income and earnings per share. Revenues were a little over MXN 1.1 billion, growing 12%. Growth was driven by larger volumes in cross-border transactions, increased trading and the effect of the conversion on the derivative markets from the old TIIE or the relevant interest rates in Mexico to the new benchmark announced by the Central Bank and this called the derivative constantly transformed to the new reference rate. EBITDA was up 13%, reaching MXN 671 million with a 59% margin helped by our focus on disciplined cost management. Net income increased 14% and earnings per share were MXN 0.83, up 16% when compared with the fourth quarter of '23. As I said, this has been a very good quarter.

Now let me go over the full year results, which recovered significantly as well after a slow first half of the year, and we will move also on each business line. On Slide 4, and as you may recall, we can -- we had a very slow start at the beginning of '24. However, full year results now are showing a strong set of numbers with record-breaking figures in revenues and net income. Also, earnings per share showed double-digit growth, reaching MXN 2.92. Revenues were MXN 4.16 billion, increased 6%, with growth coming from our Post-Trade businesses, stronger activity in the cash equity market and also the conversion, as I mentioned, to future contracts because of the new reference rates. Expense growth was kept at 5%, increasing by less than MXN 100 million. With this, EBITDA grew 6%, registering a margin of 57% same as that of 2023. Net income amounted to a record-breaking MXN 1.637 billion, slightly above our previous record of 2022 and 9% above the '23 results. We are fully aware of the tough challenges ahead.

We remain committed to operational excellence, and we will continue to be looking for top line growth opportunities and keeping sound cost management is as outlined in our strategic plan.

Now please turn to the next slide, we can discuss revenue by business line. Our revenue distribution remains well diversified, capital formation for the listing of equity, debt and alternatives as well as its annual maintenance contributed this year with a 12% of BMV Group's revenue. Transactional business, which consist of equity trading and clearing, derivative trading and clearing and OTC trading generated 35% of revenue. Information services made up of data analytics, indices, valuation and financial risk management, had an 18% weight. Meanwhile, the Central Securities Depository-Indeval, which is responsible for custody, settlement and global market services, mainly cross-border transactions, participated about 29% of our revenues.

Moving to Slide #6, we can start discussing equity trading and clearing. Revenues in cash equities trading were up 21% when compared with the fourth quarter of last year. The average daily credit value at BMV was recorded MXN 15.3 billion, up 10%.

Trading in the global market or SIC grew 33% with a 54% increase in the number of transactions, while on the other hand, local market activity decreased by 2%. Our market share for the quarter was 78%. We believe the 2-point reduction in market share reflects the recent price change by our competitor. Regarding clearing in CCV, revenue was up 4%, while the total average daily trading volume for both Mexican exchanges were up 11%. The difference you raised is explained by a higher number of cross trades in the quarter which requires registration but not clearing services.

Now let's go to the next slide to review the Derivatives segment. Revenue in the derivatives trading and clearing was up in the quarter mainly due to higher margin deposits and the nonrecurring effect of the contract of TIIE contract conversion to the new reference swap rate. Both of these effects registered in Asigna our derivative CCP. The average daily notional value for dollar futures was $325 million, up 5%, while the open interest increased 14% to now MXN 8.4 billion. This is explained by high open interest on the December maturity.

And on the other hand, the average daily notional value of swaps decreased 25% when compared with the same period in '23, reaching MXN 2.9 billion due to the impact of the new reference rates, that is something that traders are starting to accommodate in their technology and their desks. However, open interest increased 54% to MXN 1.3 billion, also explained by the interest rate conversion. In Asigna, the average margin deposits were MXN 54.1 billion for the quarter, showing an increase of 46%, while the full year number was MXN 47.6 billion, and this is attributed to a record high in the open interest of swaps and the excess margin deposits. We need to remember that we also have a nonrecurring impact from the conversion of contracts to the new reference rate that we have discussed this several times before.

Let's move to our OTC trading results on Slide 8. In SIF ICAP, OTC trading and value-added services revenues decreased MXN 13 million or 7%. SIF ICAP Mexico dropped MXN 7 million as in past quarters, primarily due to the lower CO2 emissions compensation via the carbon credits from our medical Mexico CO2 platform. Meanwhile, revenue from SIF ICAP Chile was down MXN 6 million due basically to FX fluctuation.

On Slide 9, we have our figures for capital formation. Listings revenue decreased MXN 1 million, 3% lower due to a lower number of issuance in long-term debt and CKDs or CKD offerings. As for this quarter, in short-term debt, 321 issuance were placed in the fourth quarter to -- when compared to -- in the fourth quarter of 2023. While in long-term debt, 19 issuance compared to 34 issuances last year. There were no equity listings on our follow-ons during this quarter. However, it is relevant to mention that we listed during the year 2 [indiscernible] in 2024, one of them in the last month of December. And even though there were no public offerings listings reflect some recovery in the activity in the equity markets. And also important to mention Fibra Prologis and Fibra Monterrey conducted primary public and private offerings to certificate in the first quarter of the year for MXN 17.5 billion, as you may recall.

Regarding maintenance, revenues were up 9% in fourth quarter of '24. And this is because a number of outstanding issues at the end of 2023 was higher than the previous year. Additionally, as of the end of 2024, there are 505 outstanding issuance versus 485 at the end of 2023. So this should translate in higher income for this item for this 2025.

Moving to the CSD on Slide 10 on Indeval's revenue, were up 35%, driven by an increase in assets under custody, conversions, settlements and the number of cross-border transactions as well as a favorable rate. In the quarter, total assets under custody increased 12% to MXN 38.5 billion. As before, in the local market, the pension fund market -- this reform continues to show its effect. Assets under custody from pension funds are growing, and we can see in the numbers, we foresee a gradual but sustained benefit from this initiative over the next 6 years. As for the global market, both FX and market performance played an important role in our results.

Finally, on Slide 11, let's discuss Information Services. Information Services revenues composed of Market Data and Valmer reached MXN 206 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, up MXN 24 million or 14%. The depreciation of the Mexican peso had an important impact on this growth as MXN 20 million are explained by FX. Excluding the exchange rate impact, revenues increased by MXN 4 million, which is explained by MXN 1 million growth in market data and MXN 3 million growth from Valmer due to new clients and billing of past services.

So overall, as you can see, a very good quarter and turnaround of the year. We expect to see more volatility in the near future as we face uncertain times.

Let's take a look at our operating expenses on Slide 12. Operating expenses for 2024 were MXN 2.0 billion, up 5% over MXN 93 million, which are mainly explained by 3 concepts. MXN 27 million explained in personnel expenses on basically annual wage increments. Also reduced expenses from SIF ICAP's variable compensation. MXN 42 million in technology and depreciation expenses due to Evergreen projects aim to ensure our platforms are run smoothly and securely, along with the segregation of Post-Trade infrastructure of the clearing house for bonds. And also MXN 15 million is sub-custody as the value of the assets under custody abroad increased which also generated additional revenues as we explained in Indeval.

Please turn to the next slide. I want to update you on the competitive landscape, our ongoing projects and also changes in the regulation. Our total capital expenditure for 2024 was MXN 259 million, up MXN 71 million, in line with our investment plan. We continue to invest to accelerate our technological evolution to adapt to our customer needs and look for ways to help the Mexican market grow and make it more efficient as well as for our customers and clients.

We want to provide some updates on Slide 13. And as we talked about in our last call, our competitor announced a new fee schedule. We, in turn, submitted our request to the authorities to update also our fees. As of now, the authorities have not approved the schedule. We have asked for clarification -- they have asked for clarification regarding our assumptions. We are expecting to receive that very soon and if needed apply them when required. So far, impacting market share has been minimal, but we are following market developments very closely. We are following also trends in the market very close. And more importantly, we are staying close to our customers to discuss our plans and the implementation strategy. I am happy to tell you that last December, we received the approval from our financial authorities for the central counterparty services for fixed income bond clearing.

There's still work to be done before we start operations. The banking commission needs to audit our systems and procedures. Actually, as we speak, they are performing the audit to review our systems, manual processes before giving us the final go ahead. This process has already begun, as I mentioned. And regarding -- regarding the brokers and members on the market, we already have the largest 3 -- the largest 3 brokers connected and testing, and we are performing testing as well with 1 clearing member and in conversation with other 6 clearing members that are interested in connecting to perform clearing in this new credit facility. We need to have at least 1 more clearing member signed to start operations on that front.

We are authorized to start with the clearing of M Bonds so far, and we are confident variable rate bonds, the rest of the Mexican sovereign debt and repos will follow shortly. We are planning to start clearing M Bonds in Q3. On another very relevant topic, the secondary rules or to the amendments to Mexico securities market law were finally published the secondary rules as you may remember. And this program seeks to make it easier for new companies to make to the market and make it to the market by simplifying regulatory requirements and reducing the cost and time frames involved.

We have been actively promoting the benefits of these initiatives and have seen very good response from potential new issuers, both for debt and equities. Recently, we had a webinar with over 900 participants and we have currently 80 companies in our program from zero to Bolsa that aims to educate CFOs, CEOs for potential companies and how to take the company from private to public markets. Regarding this topic, it's also very good news to tell that we have for the first time in several quarters, actually years that we have 4 IPOs in line, different sectors. And one of them already passed the listing committee of exchange. So we expect to have even better news on this front soon. Of course, the names are still confidential.

Last of all, I am glad to tell you as well that yesterday and after reviewing our dividend and share buyback practices, our Board of Directors agreed to keep the 100% cash distribution for this year. They agreed on a MXN 2.05 per share dividend. This is equivalent to 70% of net income while maintaining the dividend yield above 6%. Additionally, we plan to increase our share buyback program to up to MXN 500 million in 2020 -- sorry, 2025. The 2 of these combined are 100% of our net income in 2024. Furthermore, the Board recommended to analyze the convenience of canceling the shares that we are currently holding are -- in our treasury. As we said before, we do not intend to keep more cash than we consider necessary, and we will be returning excess cash to our shareholders in the best and most efficient way possible.

To sum up, BMV Group delivered strong results in the fourth quarter of 2024, mainly due to higher trading in transactional businesses and also increased activity in the Post-Trade services and the nonrecurring effect of the derivative conversion from swap contracts to the new reference rate. Revenue for the quarter was up 12%. EBITDA margin was 59%, and net income was recorded at MXN 467 million, reflecting a 14% growth, and earnings per share were MXN 0.83, 15% higher than the 4Q '23. Our initiatives are beginning to take shape, and I am confident that with our new commercial efforts under Luis René, we will start delivering soon very positive results. This is, as I mentioned before, also part of the strategy that we are starting to implement together with our data and the continued evolution of the Post-Trade initiatives.

Thank you for connecting today and listening to my remarks. We are confident that implementing our strategy correctly, we will drive innovation and growth in financial markets for a brighter future. Alongside with my colleagues, we are more than glad to address any questions you may have.

[Operator Instructions]

The first question comes from the line of Ernesto Gabilondo with Bank of America.

Jorge, Ramón, with René, congrats on your new position and good morning to all your team. Congrats in your fourth quarter results and Bolsa's full year net income growth, which was even higher if we exclude the sale of property from last year. So congrats on that.

My first question will be on nonrecurring impacts. I'm starting to get some questions from investors trying to understand the nonrecurring impacts on FX and interest rates. I remember Bolsa's earnings were under pressure on the last years because of this, and we did not consider them as nonrecurring. So I just want to double check if this is in line to your sensitivity to FX. You have mentioned in the past that for every change of MXN 1, the EBITDA benefits by MXN 50 million. So are the nonrecurring impacts related to this? Or there's anything else? You mentioned something on the swap and the interest rate. So if that is the case, I just wanted to understand what's the amount for that?

And then my second question is on your new pricing structure. As you mentioned, you are waiting for the authorities on that. But since your competition Viva implemented this new pricing structure, I believe they took 200 basis points market share as of December to 21%. So just wondering how was the market share in January? And also related to this, do you continue to see an impact in Bolsa's revenues of around MXN 110 million by the implementation of your new pricing structure? Any color on this will be very helpful.

And then just for my last question is in terms of OpEx and investment. So you continue to mention that you will be doing a lot of technology updates and investments. So that will help to support your future revenue growth. But how should we think about the OpEx growth in '25. So anything you can guide us inflation plus, how many basis points would be very helpful.

Thank you, Ernesto. I'll pass to Ramón Güémez to discuss about the rest of your questions.

Thank you, Ernesto, and good morning. Regarding the nonrecurring impacts, we had -- you're correct in what you said if we have a MXN 1 fluctuation in the exchange rate, we should expect around MXN 50 million to MXN 60 million impact on EBITDA. So that's still valid on a full year basis. And this quarter, the conversion from the new reference rate from the old TIIE to the TIIE de fondeo, had around MXN 10 million impact in Asigna. And that would be -- that's also a nonrecurring item that we had for this quarter. If we have more -- what we have on FX will -- that will continue to be the case.

Regarding the new pricing structure and market share in January, I'll let Alfredo begin take over that.

Ernesto, this is Alfredo Guillén. Regarding market share, we didn't see any change from last quarter during January. So we believe that will stay in the same fashion for the rest of at least the first half of the year. And you would -- another question you had is regarding MXN 100 million, we had in our projections. We are still waiting for the authorization from the CNBV. So far, we haven't been -- we haven't changed our tariffs just waiting to see if they go through.

And I will add on the tariffs on the pricing schedule to that. We keep -- we are very close to the market participants, measuring sensitivities, price sensitivities. And although we expect to have the authorization very, very soon from the regulators. I mean so far, the market impact has been relatively small, and we can implement the new tariff schedule in different stages if needed.

And regarding our OpEx investments, consider inflation for expenses, maybe 1 point above inflation. But as you know, we don't specifically guide on the future.

Now super helpful. Just to follow up in terms of the new pricing structure. So in the last conference call, you mentioned that you are probably estimating that the impact for you will be MXN 120 million. Is this still the case or given that the market share that Viva has taken, it's not so much, probably could be lower -- any color on this will be helpful.

The MXN 100 million refers to the full year impact of the full implementation of the tariff change. So let me say that would be our worst-case scenario. So depending on how much we actually implement of what gets approved and how we see the market share evolving, it would be less than that. So consider that as the worst-case for a full 12-month impact.

Next question comes from the line of Yuri Fernandes with JPMorgan.

Congrats on the results, and congrats Luis René on the promotion. Just a question more on your area on commercial marketing. When I go to the expense detail here, market expenses is up a lot, right, like 35% year-over-year. And I remember talking to you in the past and also talking to Jorge and Ramon that the company will invest more money to bring to more revenues, right? So I guess, maybe marketing cost is also part of that. So just trying to understand what kind of product you have or what kind of revenue you have related to marketing that you need to invest a little bit more in marketing to have these revenues in the future. Just trying to understand this line, how marketing expenses should evolve? And what is the revenue line that should be linked to this.

Thank you, Yuri. Yes. On the market data side, we will be very much focusing on the digital aspects since the reach is far more than the traditional media. So we'll be focusing a lot on our exposure in not only in Mexico, but also in the U.S., which is a very relevant market for us. And what I'm talking about is in podcasts, YouTube, social media, and different high-level events where we will be able to generate leads that could turn into revenues. How about the products that we will be announcing well recently, we announced the approval of the clearing house. We're also building a very strong data offering, and that's something that we will announce in the next couple of days, some modifications to the infrastructure as well.

So our distribution channels and the product offering on data that's -- we believe there is a very good opportunity and there's a lot of runway for that business line to continue growing. The modifications, for example, to the simplified listings, they were approved recently, and we have 2 different programs from 0 to Bolsa which have been very successful. The last one that we did, there were over 900 people connected. So we also want to be out there not only in Mexico City, but in different states. And be sure to be very close to CFOs and making sure that the benefit of coming to Bolsa and diversifying their financial needs.

As for the expenses, I don't think it's going to be material. We're going to be working, as I said, a lot with digital and doing a lot with little. So you can expect some growth, but nothing to create. Our team -- our team 3 or 4 people. So nothing to worry.

Next question comes from the line of Edson Murguia with Summa Capital.

In the press release, I know Ramón, you mentioned expenses. But my question is specifically about CapEx. In the earnings release, you mentioned that it's almost double, right? Because the fourth quarter CapEx was MXN 105 million. But my question is regarding on this technological implementation with Evergreen, NASDAQ, Post-Trade and so on, are we expecting the same trend line for 2025?

Because -- and I think second question regarding on the stages of the implementation. We have been here since a couple of quarters that you are implementing this new technology. So how long is it going to say to be fully operational? And what will be the impact on the CapEx for the following quarters.

Yuri -- sorry, we have some sorry. CapEx should be similar to what we're having this year. So let's say, our main projects, which is the technological innovation related in Post-Trade and the Evergreens the investment in 2024 should be -- 2025 should be similar to the ones in 2025, and there are many initiatives there. Regarding the Valmer, the implementation, and we're looking at maybe releasing the first part in 2026. And mainly the entire solution for the CSD and the equity CCPs or the cash CCPs for the first semester of 2027.

Okay. Okay. That's helpful. And my last question is on the following with this new clearing house that you have in fixed income. Just to understand, it's going to be fully operational in the third quarter of '25. Am I getting it right?

Yes, it will be fully operational, third quarter this year, and the intention is to add the repo transactions by the end of the year.

Yes. So actually the -- I think most of the greenhouse for bonds or the clearing house services are basically ready. We are in the process of approval from the Securities Commission. So this period of this a couple of months or 3 months will be basically due to the regulators approving the operation. But from the operational point of view internally, we can say we are 95% ready and the testing process with brokers and trading members are there. So basically, [indiscernible] due to the regulatory scrutiny.

Next question comes from the line of Kaio Prato with UBS.

Can you talk a little bit about your expectations on capital markets business, please, on lease and maintenance for 2025? And moreover, if you can discuss a little bit about the overall expectations on top line because we foresee some pressure on trading given this potential price change that we discussed. So just wondering if that is in specific line that you are most excited with for the year that would more than offset this trend, please?

Because we weren't getting a very clear connection, your expectations on capital formation and where we see top line growth or cost and top line growth. Is that correct?

Yes, correct.

Okay. Regarding the listings and pipeline, as you mentioned, last year was a good one. And the funding amount placed on the debt side specifically grew, and that has helped us for the maintenance revenue for the future years. The pipeline in the debt segment is still robust for the next quarter. We have around MXN 30 billion, MXN 35 billion, which will be placed in the next couple of months. We have received many new listing requirement required for the debt segment. And also, some of them from the big companies requesting to increase the amount on the current programs.

So regarding the pipeline for the debt segment, we think to keep on strong. Regarding the equity, we are happy, as Jorge mentioned, for -- after many, many quarters, we are getting 4 IPO requests in the quarter. And hopefully, they will be up and running in the market in the next -- mainly in the next couple of quarters. We also have put for Fibra and for Fibra E. So practically in all instruments, we are getting and then involving the activity for the next couple of quarters. And we are optimistic of regulatory changes under [indiscernible]. We got the webinar with close to 1,000 people connected. There have been a lot of interest from issuers, potential issuers, midsized companies from all the country. And we are getting an active involving -- actively involved in the promotion efforts for this quarter. And hopefully, that will turn new companies coming to market in the [ dev ] for equity segment in the future.

Kaio, I'm happy to see the recent development in derivatives volumes. We are like excited to see the interest. And if collateral management services from our clearing members improved, I think we are going to see some interesting trends on the derivatives trading and clearing services. A couple of new products coming, but also the implementation of the debt bonds clearing is creating some nice -- like very good vibe, very good weights of interest in electronic trading for bonds. That's not going to happen in very, very fast, but that we have -- we have here from some interest from electronic platforms trying to enter the market eventually. This will benefit also the bond futures, something that the market participants, especially hedge funds and other international players have been asking for.

So that's where I'm seeing some interesting opportunities. Our SIC, the international segment is also going to be benefited because lower interest rates and the volatility that the markets are everywhere seeing because of geopolitical reasons, that's going to help also volumes on the international segment that is a very well-established product. So that provides a lot of flexibility to local players to move between Mexico and international markets. So that's also a segment to take a look at it. So those are the 3 main aspects that I'm watching. Obviously, the business as usual that described -- José Manuel described on the listing side and the equity side. We haven't talked about data yet. So that's something that we are still working on the new division for data to have a more comprehensive strategy for the future.

Next question comes from the line of Carlos Gomez with HSBC.

I hope this has not been asked before. I wanted to refer to the exchange rate and the fact that you -- we have seen, as you mentioned in the quarterly, a certain recovery in the global market. But given where the peso is today #1, do you see this as a stable level for the peso going forward? Is that what you are budgeting on?

And second, what do you think is going to happen to the global markets, the foreign securities traded in Mexico? And do you think that the normal level for them would be higher or lower than what we have today given the current exchange rate.

Carlos, I'm sorry, regarding your first question, where do we expect to see the exchange rate. I was getting a lot of abuse from my colleagues here. We sit somewhere between 15% and 35%, which is to say we don't know. What we can tell in the exchange rate, Carlos, is that the impact we have is MXN 50 million to MXN 60 million in EBITDA for a full year from MXN 1 movement. We have a positive exposure to the exchange rate where long dollars, and we currently have a $5 million in the net position in the balance sheet, and we generate dollars from Indeval and from Valmer. We don't forecast -- we don't plan on forecasting exchange. We don't do any FX forecasts. And could you repeat your second question, please?

Essentially, we saw a shrinkage of the global market when the peso became revalued a lot during 2023. And we have continued to see the global market decline as a percentage of the total during 2024. And I was wondering if this is a lagged effect and eventually, given that the exchange rate essentially has gone back to what it was back in 2022, we should see a recovery of the global market to the size that it had before? Or do you think there is something structural that has made it smaller.

Many people use the global market to hedge the peso with the shy security. So yes, more volatility in the peso should translate into increased trading in the global market. Also with more volatility, you have more arbitrage opportunities. So volatility and depreciation usually translates into higher volumes in the same.

And also, if you take a look at the portfolio, the global market portfolio grew 47% just last year. So now we have around $100 billion just from the global market in ETFs usage and equities. So that also gives us additional revenues in terms of custody. And maybe the comparison was the first 2 quarters of last year were really slow regarding trading. And we saw starting maybe in the summer elections and the volatility and geopolitical reasons and stuff, we see much more activity and that growth in assets have helped also to see more activity in the market.

Okay. So -- and you expect that trend to continue very strongly?

Yes, so far, this year has started with similar volumes.

In as much as we're expecting.

[Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the floor over to Jorge Alegría for closing comments.

Yes, sure. Thank you all again. This has been a very positive quarter. We are excited on the -- in the future of the strategy that we are implementing. And hope to see you -- all of you next quarter. And in the meantime, to thank you all again for your interest in the company. Thank you. Thank you very much, and have a great day.

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.