Earnings call transcript: B3 sees steady Q3 growth, eyes new product launches

B3 SA Brasil Bolsa Balcao reported its third-quarter 2025 financial performance, showcasing a 2% year-over-year revenue increase and a significant 12% rise in earnings per share to $0.24. The company's strategic focus on innovation and new product launches, including Bitcoin options and VIX derivatives, positions it well for future growth. Despite a challenging market environment, B3 maintains its leadership in the fixed income and credit markets.

Key Takeaways

• Revenue rose 2% year-over-year, with net income hitting BRL 1.3 billion.
• Earnings per share increased by 12% to $0.24.
• New product launches, including Bitcoin options, are on the horizon.
• The company issued BRL 2.6 billion in debentures at competitive rates.
• B3 is exploring AI and data monetization opportunities.

Company Performance

B3's performance in Q3 2025 reflects steady growth, driven by a 2% increase in revenue and a 12% rise in earnings per share. The company continues to solidify its market position despite a decrease in derivatives average daily volume and equities average daily trading volume. B3's focus on expanding its product portfolio and investing in data analytics solutions is expected to support its competitive edge.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: BRL 1.3 billion, up 2% year-over-year
• Earnings per share: $0.24, up 12% year-over-year
• Recurring EBITDA: BRL 1.7 billion, 1% above 2024
• Debenture issuance: BRL 2.6 billion at CDI plus 0.45%

Outlook & Guidance

B3 is optimistic about future growth, with plans to introduce VIX derivatives, Bitcoin options, and zero-day expiry options. The company anticipates expenses to grow slightly above inflation and is considering potential IPO opportunities in 2026-2027. B3 is also exploring AI and data monetization as part of its strategic initiatives.

Executive Commentary

"We remain very active in the pipeline of new products," said Andre Milanes, CFO, highlighting B3's commitment to innovation. He added, "We are not selling data here. We are actually selling data solutions that are helping clients to resolve problems," emphasizing the company's focus on data-driven solutions.

Risks and Challenges

• Market volatility could impact trading volumes.
• Regulatory changes, especially regarding FinTech tax implications, may pose challenges.
• Competition from potential new exchanges could affect market share.
• Macroeconomic pressures could influence investor sentiment and market dynamics.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the impact of potential FinTech tax implications and the strategy behind Bitcoin futures product changes. B3's management addressed these concerns, reiterating their focus on M&A and product development to drive growth.

Full transcript - B3 SA Brasil Bolsa Balcao (B3SA3) Q3 2025:

Conference Moderator, B3: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the B3 Earnings Results Presentation for the 2025, where Andre Milanes, B3's CFO, will discuss the results along Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director. As a reminder, this conference is being broadcast live via webcast. The replay will be available after the event is concluded.

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: Hello, I'm Fernando Campos from B3's Investor Relations team and it's a pleasure to welcome you to another earnings event where Andre Milanes, B3's CFO and I will analyze the results of the 2025. Andre will start by providing an overview of the quarter. Andre?

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Thank you, Fernando. Well, the third quarter once again reaffirmed the strength and efficiency of our business model Even in a challenging period for the equities and derivatives markets, we saw a 2% revenue growth compared to the same period last year, growth that was driven by areas that demonstrate robust resilience even though even in tough macroeconomic scenarios such as the ones we have been going through. I would like to highlight the solid growth of 21% in fixed income and credit, 18% in data analytics and solutions and 13% in technology and platforms, results that reflect our ability to capture opportunities in areas adjacent to our core business. Our expenses during the quarter remained below the inflation for the period proving the effectiveness of our budget management and commitment to efficiency. Net income reached BRL1.3 billion and earnings per share were up to $0.24 per share, which represented a 12% increase compared to the third quarter of last year, growth that was boosted by our buyback program executed during the period.

Now Fernando will detail the operational performance, and I'll come back later with more financial highlights. Fernando?

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: Thank you, Andre. Regarding markets, I will start with the derivatives, which had revenue that totaled R888 million dollars a 7% decrease compared to the third Q twenty twenty four, reflecting mainly the depreciation of the dollar against the Brazilian real which impacted revenues from FX and foreign currency interest rate products. The ADV totaled 9,300,000.0 an 80% decrease compared to the third quarter last year due to the lower activity in interest rates in BRL and FX markets, a result of the reduced volatility during the quarter. On the other hand, RPC revenue per contract grew 11% in line with the volume reduction. For another quarter OTC derivatives showed strong performance with growth in both issuances and outstanding volumes.

Now talking about fixed income which remains a highlight of our revenue showing strength in challenging scenarios. The segment's revenue grew 21% compared to the same period last year with the corporate debt market consolidating itself as the main financing alternative for Brazilian companies and the search for interest linked assets gaining even more relevance in this challenging In equities despite the high interest rate environment impacting the ADTV which totaled R22 billion dollars a 6% decrease compared to the same period last year. There were some highlights mainly in BDRs, which saw volumes growing by impressive 41% in the period. Alongside ETFs and listed funds, these instruments represent 16% of the cash equities market ADTV in the third quarter twenty twenty five versus 14 in the same period last year. The small margin recovery that we saw quarter on quarter was not enough to offset the volume decline resulting in a 10% decline in the segment's revenue which totaled R518 million dollars Highlights of the other segments include in the data analytics solutions growth in the vehicle financing and 18% in increase in revenue from platforms and analytics with a strong presence of recurring revenues especially in the credit, loss prevention and insurance verticals.

In technology and platforms, the funding industry continues to expand mainly related to the fixed income and reflected in an increased use of our technology solutions and the registration and cost custody of fund quotas, strengthening our market support services. Now Andre will talk about B3's financial performance and strategic advances. Andre?

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Thank you, Fernando. Well, as I did mention in the beginning, our expenses remained under control, growing below inflation, even with the impact of the annual adjustment of salaries and benefits as well as increased IT spending during the quarter, which were partially offset by reductions in third party services and reversal of legal provisions. This reinforces our discipline and ongoing pursuit of efficiency and more predictability in terms of our expense behavior. Our recurring EBITDA reached BRL1.7 billion in the quarter, 1% above the 2024 with a 69.5% margin. In financial results, we successfully completed a 2,600,000,000.0 debenture issuance with a very competitive cost of CDI plus 0.45% per year in a five year term, which allowed us to early redeem the seventh issuance with a positive impact in terms of net present value, even considering the nonrecurring effects that we had in the quarter of around 23,500,000.0 as a result of the early redemption that was recognized in the period.

The distributions for the quarter, they totaled billion with million in share buybacks and million in interest on capital. Year to date, we have already repurchased 125,000,000 shares, representing around 2.5% of the share capital and around onethree of the 2025 buyback program. In our innovation agenda, we have launched the Tesoro Selic B3 Index, a benchmark for treasury financial bills performance and the Gold Future Index tracking the Gold Future contract, new offerings that expand our portfolio of solutions and reinforce our commitment to the market. Finally, we advanced in our strategy as an infrastructure for the credit journey, announcing the acquisitions of Chipei and CRDC, both acquisitions strengthening our presence in the trade receivables market. The acquisition of Chipei was completed in October, while CRDC's acquisition is still pending regulatory approval.

Thank you for your trust and partnership on another quarter for our company.

Conference Moderator, B3: Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. Our first question comes from Caio Prato with UBS. You can open your microphone.

Caio Prato, Analyst, UBS: Hello, Andre, Fernando, good morning. Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions here. I have one question on top line that actually I would like to divide in three subsegments, if I may, please. First is on platform and analytics. It grew almost 20% year on year, and you mentioned that it was driven by credit and insurance vertical, if I'm not wrong.

But I just would like to get a sense if you can share a little bit more details on that and if we can consider that this level should be more sustainable going forward. The other line that showed strong performance, in my view, was market support services that grew almost 30% in the year. So I'm not sure if this has some relation with the all time high, EVOV Espan that impacts the funds or not, if you can share more details on that and also how sustainable it could be going forward. And finally, the third is on securities lending. So this line also showed an interesting evolution on this type of revenue this year, almost 16% this quarter.

Year to date, the growth is also good. So you mentioned in the press release about some operational improvements. If you can talk a little bit more about these improvements, what happened here would be good as well. Thank you very much.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Thank you for joining, Caio. I'll start drawing some comments on the on securities lending, and then I'll pass on to Fernando to give you more details on the other revenue lines. But in securities lending, we have been working in several initiatives to help to unlock liquidity in that product. And I think what we have been seeing in terms of of revenue as a result, it's already the beginning of some of those initiatives paying off and and helping. I think we still still believe we're far from where we want to be in terms of where that product and that market should be.

But we can also already see some improvements given some of those initiatives that we have been working with the market. So I think one, potentially to highlight, we have been working very closely with the brokers to use the, what we call, the intermediation account after some improvements we've made on our platform to basically allow more of the retail position to be used as part of the SecLending product that has helped to expand the volumes here. The automatic renewal of contracts, another feature that was introduced also helps. More recently, we have initiated, we launched the liquidity pool, which is aimed to increase liquidity and transparency, especially for the local buy side participants. They are now more present on the screen of those products.

And there's still a lot that to be done. I mean, we're still working in potential different models that could help to unlock volume from foreigners on that market. But I think what you you're starting to see in terms of the revenue is a result of of of some of those initiatives that we have been introducing and and and have been taken in order to increase volume and liquidity for that product.

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: So talking about market supporting services here, I think the main impact comes from the development of the fixed income fund industry. And there, it's basically there was an increase in AUM of those funds that we charge custody fees on it. So that this one and there was a price adjustment that we implemented on this fund quarter custody. So that's basically the main reason. So this can be we can see, I'm not sure, I cannot predict in which level, but we can see that there's still room to grow here.

Talking about platform and analytics in the vehicle and real estate, we do have a better scenario for allowance in the auto vehicle industry, which has a positive impact, a direct impact on the revenues in that segment. And on when you go to the analytics, was the former NEOE Neurotech, they exist, but they've been in a merger with us. I'd like to highlight three different segments in those business. First one, loss prevention. Loss prevention basically grew because of the commercial efforts.

So I think we have a nice set of products that is easier to sell now. And I think we are developing a lot of products that are super interesting to the market. And I think the commercial efforts here are paying enough. In credit, credit and I think here new products as well, so the development of new products, but also it's benefiting from products that are related to the auto vehicle finance that I mentioned before. So given that we are seeing a strong increase in that segment, there is a direct demand for products for analytics credits that are related to it and insurance as well.

It's been positively impacted by out the vehicles industry here.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: And just to to finalize, Kyle, I think this is a good example to demonstrate that, you know, the investments and efforts that we have been putting into increasing potential new avenues of growth for the company and diversification are starting to show better results. But also that there's still a lot that can be also done in in the core business in terms of new few features, product development, improve our liquidity. So that's why our strategy remains, investing a lot in our core business to ensure that we continue to bring innovation and capture the growth that we will be seeing in the market, but also investing in other avenues of growth for the company and diversifying in the areas adjacent to our core business. Thank you.

Caio Prato, Analyst, UBS: Thanks, Pierre. Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator, B3: Our next question comes from Yuri Fernandes with JPMorgan. You can open your microphone.

Yuri Fernandes, Analyst, JPMorgan: Hi, Fernando. Hi, Milanese. I have a question regarding taxes In Brazil, we are seeing a lot of noise on a potential FinTech tax to be debated in the coming days or weeks. And I'm not sure like if we should expect any impact for B3 from that and if yes, if there are any measures that B2 could take to mitigate part of the impact on this potential headwind? And then I have a second question just regarding markets, especially equities and derivatives that I think are the two lines that were a little bit more like last year this quarter.

Particularly on equities, we see a kind of a bottom right on individuals when we try to estimate the turnover velocity for retail, we will also see us new at very low levels. So, maybe if you can give us an outlook here, this is really the bottom with the Brazilian index getting back to all time highs, like you are seeing better outlook for retail. So if you can comment just on if the bottom is here and what is your view for 2026 regarding those lines? I think derivatives is more about pricing than volumes per se, but I would appreciate any outlook you could provide. I know it's hard.

These lines are volatile, but with lower rates, if you can give us some color would be good. Thank you.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Thank you for your question, Yuri. Let's start with taxes, which is always a tricky subject for us Brazilians. But we had a provisional measure that could potentially represent an increase in our in our taxation with the with the increase on the social contribution from 9% to 15%. As you know, that ended up not being approved by Congress. So it lost it expired before it it into force.

But then we have a similar discussion now that was included together with the taxation of fintechs and on bets in a project that is being discussed, if I'm not mistaken, at the Senate at this stage. So there is a chance that that could be could be approved. We have been working to try to to to not have that that approved because we do believe that we shouldn't be part of those measures to try to equalize banks and fintechs. We are not a bank, we are not a fintech. But there is a chance that, that could go through.

What we have been doing and were doing before that, working in other measures that the company could try to take in order to at least try to partially offset potential impacts coming from those measures. They are not directly related, but were things that were how can I describe that? Maybe they were already in the books and we decided to accelerate some of those given that context, but they will not be able to completely offset any negative impacts that could potentially come from that increase in taxation if that gets approved, which I would say at this stage seems that there is a good chance of that not going through. So we have to continue to monitor that very closely and try to work with policymakers and the industry to try to to not have that being being voted and and approved. Regarding regarding the ATT V and ADV, you know, this is always a very tricky question.

If if you look besides, you know, the the the the, let's say, the more very short term, you know, there there has been some stability on on volumes around the 2324 mark. I mean, in some months, you will get slightly higher volume and others slightly lower, but they have been they have been hovering around that level. Our impression is that this is kind of where we will stay until there is a trigger to pick up to see some pickup in activity. And that trigger potentially is interest rates coming down or a heavier and stronger allocation coming from foreigners, which has in part is in part what has been driving the appreciation that we have been seeing on the main index. So potentially for next year, we could see some improvement volumes.

But I think in order to see that really coming more strongly in a more sustainable way, we will need to see interest rates coming down. Right? So I think I think it is it can be positive for next year. The out the outlook can be positive. But to to really see a recovery, a more strong recovery and sustainable new sustainable levels, I think we also need to see interest rates coming down in order to achieve that.

And in relation to the ADV, I mean, I think we are coming from a very high comparison base also last year. We saw some reduction on the bitcoin future volumes as a result of the increase in margin requirements. We also if you recall, there was a lot of volatility on the interest rate curve last year that helped to see a lot of activity on derivatives trading for interest rates. But I think we might as we approach the beginning of another easing cycle, we could see some pickup also in volatility for the interest rate, which always benefits our derivative business. So I think in both cases, the outlook seems positive, even though not ideal given the reasons that I mentioned.

Yuri Fernandes, Analyst, JPMorgan: Super clear. Thank you, Milanese. Thank you, Fernando.

Conference Moderator, B3: Our next question comes from Renato Meloni with Autonomous Research. You can open your microphone.

Renato Meloni, Analyst, Autonomous Research: Hi, everyone. Thanks here for the questions. I wanted to explore a little bit the pipeline of new products. And more specifically, I'm curious about how you're looking at the development of predictive markets globally. And if this is something that you would be interested in implementing, if there's space to implement this, if it's close enough to your business and if there are any regulatory hurdles that you foresee there?

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: The question is about prediction markets, right?

Renato Meloni, Analyst, Autonomous Research: Yes. Pipeline of products in general, but more specifically about predictive markets and your view there.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Thank you, Bruno, for the question. Look, we as we have been discussing, I mean, we remain very active in the pipeline of new products. As you know, we've launched several derivatives this year, not only derivatives, a lot of indices, ETFs, a new trading platform. So it continuously bringing innovation and new products to ensure that the needs of our clients are being properly served and met remains one of our key priorities. We have also been testing new products and more innovative products as well.

In terms of what we still have on the pipeline for this year, we should be launching still derivatives linked to the VIX, Brazilian VIX index, an index that we started to that we launched and started to publish last year. So it has been a year that the index is up and running and we are planning on launching the derivatives based on that index. Is it is also on the pipeline to launch the options on Bitcoin. We already have the futures, a lot of ETFs and now the options as well. We will continue to advance in other types of products such as the zero day expiry options, digital options and these sort of things, products that we are still or are starting to discuss with the regulators.

As you know, for for any products that we want to launch, we need to seek regulatory approval for that. And prediction markets could potentially be also on that agenda. I think we will have already started those discussions, but they will come potentially after some of those initiatives that I that I did mention to you, such as the the zero day expire expiry options, additional options, etcetera. But this is something definitely something that is in our agenda to to explore and to to discuss.

Renato Meloni, Analyst, Autonomous Research: Does the regulator see this as a as a positive? Does it have any considerations on new launching predictive market products?

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: I think there is there are some sometimes different opinions and views regarding this kind of products. But there's also I mean, we need to look at what has been happening not only here, but outside Brazil. This is definitely a global trend that cannot also be be ignored. So I don't think they have a definite view. But of course, they have concerns about this kind of products and things that we will work together with them to assess whether this can be addressed or mitigated in order to launch this kind of products.

But that's the beginning of those discussions. So we don't have a clear view still around those products as of yet.

Renato Meloni, Analyst, Autonomous Research: Our

Conference Moderator, B3: next question comes from Edouard Dunicill with Genial Investment.

Edouard Dunicill, Analyst, Genial Investment: Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Good morning, Andre and Fernando. Two questions from my end. The first on expenses, you had a great result this quarter, basically flat expenses.

Is that a trend that you will try to take it for next year? If there's any major investments or initiatives for next year that we have to put into account, of course, excluding the revenue linked expenses, your thoughts on that. And also an update, if you can, on competition, particularly the two local new exchanges, if you can give us a time line, testing results, anything you can share with us will be great. Thank you.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Thank you for your question, Michelle. Glad to to hear from you. Look. Regarding the expenses. Right?

So as we have been saying since the beginning of the year, this year, we have been working in order to better plan our expenditure throughout the year and therefore have less volatility and give more predictability around the behavior of our expenses. We do have some seasonality, but not at the level that potentially we have seen in recent years. So part of our efforts this year was to work on how to better plan that kind of spending throughout the year. And I think we have been so far successful in achieving that objective. The reason why you are seeing so this quarter revenues almost flat in relation to last year is because we had a very last year, you had a much heavier second half of the year in relation to the first half.

It's natural that the second half is slightly higher because that's where we get the annual adjustments on our salaries and and and others other things. But it it didn't have to be as volatile as it has it has been in in recent years. So I think for this year, you can expect us to deliver the guidance that we gave, which is going to be a growth slightly above inflation. And going forward, that remains our target and our commitment trying to deliver cost growth around inflation slightly above or slightly below. It's difficult to grow much lower than inflation given the nature of our cost structure, given that we continue to invest in new initiatives, in product development, in expanding our portfolio.

So the the mantra here has been to be able to continuously find efficiencies in our in our core business, in our mature products in order to generate funding for us to continue to invest in new initiatives, in expansion of portfolio and achieving that without necessarily having to grow our cost base much above inflation. So that has been the way we have been working in relation to that. And regarding competition, look, I mean, don't have a lot

Pedro LeDuc, Analyst, Itau BBA: of

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: updates, timeline. I mean, we have the information that we hear from market participants. Both initiatives are talking about potentially being launching by the second half of next year. I think they have been progressing. We don't have a a lot of visibility in in relation to to our infrastructure, etcetera.

But I think they are still working and trying to progress. That's I don't have a lot of news that I can share with you at this stage.

Conference Moderator, B3: Our next question comes from Pedro LeDuc with Itau BBA. A

Pedro LeDuc, Analyst, Itau BBA: question this quarter, especially in September, believe that you guys performed some adjustments on the market incentives for market makers, HFTs. I believe you did some fine tuning on the way. I'm not going to say that you price, but the way your programs there work with different types of participants. From the outside, I know it was only just one month, but we see different behavior there under revenue per contract in equities. We also saw some volumes as a backfire maybe.

Can you talk to us a little bit on how you saw this happening on the ground and maybe what we can expect its consequence to be also on the fourth quarter onward? Thank you.

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: Thank you, Pedro, for the question. So from what we look and I mentioned this on the last call, we didn't expect a lot of impact. We thought that from the backtest that we run, we thought that the impact would be neutral and that's a little bit of what we saw. I know that there is some I think the volumes are low because the market is kind of in a it's a challenging scenario for macros in the macro scenario, but we haven't seen a significant impact from the changes that we did mainly on the market maker programs. And we did dig dug a lot deeper on that.

We are entering the ticker from ticker to ticker to stock to stock to try to understand the impacts of it. And we haven't seen a different performance on the volumes of tickers that we incentivize from the ones that we don't. So we don't understand it, that's a sign of that there wasn't a direct impact from the changes in market maker programs in the volumes. All the other products, all the other changes, I think they are being they were implemented, they are kind of successful. Like I said, we didn't have we didn't saw a lot of impact on the margins, But we have received positive feedback from clients.

And we I think it made our operational leverage even clearer. So being we are able to share more of that or more volumes with the market. So I think that's pretty much it.

Pedro LeDuc, Analyst, Itau BBA: Any particular comment on the revenue per contract or trading margins that we're seeing in equities?

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: So for the future, you mean?

Pedro LeDuc, Analyst, Itau BBA: Yes. And a little bit on what happened this quarter sequentially and for the future. So

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: yes, sure. So on the margin, on the trading margin in equities, we did see a performance that was kind of similar to what we saw. We just had lower volumes, so we had a little bit more prices. And like I mentioned, this will be more visible from now on that we have this kind of discount per institution. So, and that's a trend that we should see.

On the RPC, we didn't make significant adjustments on any contracts on this quarter. So I think here we have an impact from the like it's on the base and we did have an impact from the lower the devaluation of the USD against the BRL. This has an impact on the FX contracts and the interest rates in USD contracts. So that impacts, but all the other things, I think, are performing the way that we thought it would. Thank you.

Conference Moderator, B3: Our next question comes from Daniel Vaz with Safra. You can open your microphone.

Daniel Vaz, Analyst, Safra: Hi, Hi, Milanese. Hi, Fernando. Thanks for taking my questions. Just trying to put a context here. We are right now maybe with a weaker dollar, right?

The context is of a renewed emerging market appetite at least for now. So we started to hear again some companies maybe preparing for an IPO or for any follow on given this renewed interest in emerging markets or Latin markets. So however, on the other side, the local funds remain a lot under pressure. We see a lot of outflows on the industry and retail also. I think someone mentioned the turnover velocity is very low because the appetite is pretty much shifted toward the tax exempt, right, fixed income instruments.

So my question is, it seems likely that some of the IPOs could be could end up listing abroad as we've seen in the past like Nubank for example. So is B3 prepared for this next window maybe '26 or '27 I don't know of IPOs if there is any window and any meaningful progress or new initiatives that could serve like a silver bullet to attract these listings, like the key listings mainly on the tech on whatever to the local markets, like, to your market instead of going, like, to NICE, to Nasdaq? Thank you.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Thank you for for the question, Daniel. Look. We are ready for for to receive the com these companies when there is a a window of opportunity here with conversations, you know, that we have directly with some of those issuers, potential new issuers with investment banks. I would say there are around, you know, potentially a 100 companies that could be candidates for an IPO within, you know, twelve, eighteen months. Some some of those are already ready when when the opportunity presents itself, others working to get ready to to to be prepared.

And and I think, you know, as we have been saying, listing abroad is potentially gonna be an an alternative for a few companies. Companies that have there are not I would say Brazilian companies, but they have a level of international exposure that is very high or companies that are, you know, tech tech companies. That has been the case not only for Brazil, but for other jurisdictions as well. So you you you see big, you know, English companies, German companies decided to have their primary listing in The US. I think that's natural given the size and the relevance of The US market.

And it it it it will be it will make sense for some very specific companies that have those attributes that I that I did mention. In those cases, of course, we will work to to to have a dual listing or to have BDRs and try to to have some of that volume in Brazil. But those are gonna be exceptions and not the general rule. I think for the vast majority of the Brazilian companies, the listing in the local market, in the domestic market, it's what will make more sense. We've seen companies that doing that very specific window that we had between around 2021, regretting that decision, some of them coming back.

We had the example of a tech education company that ended up delisting in The US and we domiciled their listing here. We have also been working very close with the regulators in initiatives that could try to make the access to to the to the to the the capital markets easier. We have the so called fast fuel program starting next year. I believe that can also be an interesting opportunity for, you know, small sized companies. I think that in the beginning, we will see that potentially helping companies that want to access the local DCM market, but that could potentially be also an interesting alternative when conditions are more favorable for an IPO, for the equities market, for these companies to access the ECM market using that new regime for the small companies to use that regime.

So I think we are very, very confident with that. I think the main question remains when that window of opportunity will present itself. And then in order for that to become reality, there are primarily external factors, economic factors that are completely outside of, you know, our control and and and the control of the companies. But we we we are very looking at that very closely. We are very close to these new issuers, but I think that's how we are seeing that moment in that environment.

Daniel Vaz, Analyst, Safra: Super clear. Thank you. Thank you, Milanese.

Conference Moderator, B3: Our next question comes from Antonio Huec with Bank of America.

Daniel Vaz, Analyst, Safra: So my first question goes on M and A. You mentioned in the past that you already did your the two big acquisitions that you needed to make that was Nelly and Neurotech. I would like to ask if you still believe that that's the case. And how do you see M and A today? Could we continue to see small acquisitions?

Or are you considering that there is a line of business and that maybe you'd benefit from a big one? And also a second question here, I would like to follow-up on the question I did last quarter on the electronics trading of fixed income. I'd like to ask if, you guys did any improvement in that sense, on platforms or in order to bring more volumes, to your platform TradeMate. Okay? That's it for me.

Thank you.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Thank you, Antonio. So the first question sorry. Was regarding

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: M and As.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: M and As. Right. Sorry. Look. I think that remains being the case.

I think the the two large m and As that were in our in our radar, in our pipeline were were were executed. As as I have been saying, the big the big focus since then has been on on execution of that strategy, particularly on data. M and A remains a potential alternative that we could use to achieve some of our or to deliver some of our strategic objectives that we have. There is always a consideration if we should maybe for if we want to increase our offering and offer a new product, a new service, there is always a consideration if there is room for us to develop that internally, to do a partnership, sometimes to do an M and A, that remains being the case. So in the two recent cases of this smaller size acquisitions, those were capabilities that the company didn't have and that we understood that it would make more sense for the company to acquire those capabilities rather than trying to develop that internally.

We have been doing a lot of besides M and A, there are a lot of partnerships as well. And I think that will remain being one of the alternatives that we will have to achieve our strategic objectives. But at the moment, there is not a large size M and A or at least not of the size of what these two companies were on the radar. Regarding the the TradeMate, our platform, we have been seeing improvements on that, especially on on the on the government bond market. We have been, you know, breaking record after record in terms of of volume.

I think the last time that we reached the record was was the end of of last week or beginning of this week. There's still a lot to be captured in terms of how much of the trading activity is happening on on screen is is is is is electronified, but we are starting to see progress. This is already represents don't I don't recall from the top of my head now the percentage, but it has been increasing. Besides the platform, we have also been investing in liquidity provider programs, market making programs, also to increase liquidity on the platform. It's a journey.

It will take some time, but we will start to see improvements on that. So that remains being one of the areas also of focus for us.

Daniel Vaz, Analyst, Safra: Our

Conference Moderator, B3: next question comes from Tito Labarta with Goldman Sachs.

Tito Labarta, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Hi, good morning. It's Ante, Fernando. Thank you for the call and taking my questions. Two questions also. One, a bit of a follow-up, I guess, on the previous question on M and A.

You did do two small acquisitions, ShipPay and CRDC in the quarter. I think maybe you answered it, but I guess these are more capabilities that you wanted to fill in. Any other color you can provide on what the opportunity you see with those two acquisitions are? And then my second question on the Bitcoin futures, you made some changes to the product. I think you mentioned to try to improve liquidity.

It did impact trading volumes, I guess, the short term. Yes, just how do you think about those changes? Do you think, you know, the Bitcoin switches can become more relevant? You talked about Bitcoin options, something that you can also begin to offer just thinking about that opportunity and and what potential upside that can bring? Thank you.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Thank you for for your question, Tito. As I said, I think those two companies were were we identified as part of our our discussions and our strategy on on the on the credit on the receivables market, ShipPay particularly was a company that we had already been working on a partnership and giving how things were progressing and the potential that we were seeing on that, we we thought it would make more sense to have that company with us. It brings features that we plan to offer as part of our solution for the credit receivable, especially payments, which will also be an important feature when this new market is working. But we also have seen potential opportunities of leveraging from that from the those skills and capabilities in order to launch new products or or improve or add new features to existing products of the company. I think it's the biggest focus now has been on the receivables market on that, but we also see potential for that acquisition to help generating to generate value in other parts of our business as well.

And with CRJC, which is, by the way, we just need to recall that this is yet subject to regulatory approval. On on the case of Chipei, that has already been achieved. But in in the case of CRGC, this is still ongoing, still pending. But on CRGC, we saw there besides some of the solutions that are they already have and that that will complement our offering on trade on trade receivables, they have also have capability of reaching a part of of of potential clients or players in that in that market that we are not used to to to deal with. So the commercial association and CRDC will help to increase the, you know, the reach that our our solutions will have, especially with small and mid sized companies, commercial stores, etcetera.

So that's where CRDC fits into that strategy. As I said in the previous response, M and A remains being a way of us achieving some of our strategic objectives. It is not a strategy per se, but a way of achieving some of those. And as a result, you know, that remains on on the radar for the company. But, you know, at at the moment, you know, small sized acquisitions to, you know, as add ons or additional features to some of the initiatives that we have been developing.

On Bitcoin futures,

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: like we mentioned, we did some adjustments on collateral requirements on the second quarter asked by the regulator. So obviously, this had some negative impact on volumes. But we think we still consider the product a success. It's part of the strategy of having a more a full set of products for the retail, our retail oriented products in derivatives, which Andre mentioned before. We do have products derivatives on other cryptocurrencies.

And it is still a big part of what we plan to do with this retail oriented products portfolio in derivatives. So I think that's pretty much answered.

Tito Labarta, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: All right. That's very clear. Thank you, guys.

Conference Moderator, B3: Our next question comes from Brian Flores with Citi. You can open your microphone.

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B30: Hi, team. Thank you for the opportunity to ask questions. We have seen that non listed markets, data and technology, as you mentioned, it's central to your diversification strategy given the high volatility of listed equities. So just wanted to see if you could recap what new product rollouts could we see, particularly for digital assets, crypto based products? And also if you could elaborate a bit on what are the margin expectations of these new ventures compared to the current portfolio?

Thank you.

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: Brian, can you repeat the first one? So what can we do to enhance the other segments that are size markets, that's it?

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B30: No, basically, diversification strategy, right? We have seen that non listed markets and also data and technology are very key to the whole diversification strategy. So just wanted to understand which new products we could see, particularly on digital assets and crypto. And if you could elaborate on the margin profile of these ventures?

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: Sure. So on data, on crypto, I think we have already I don't think we have any other futures planned in the upcoming months. We think we have the three largest contracts, the three largest cryptocurrencies we have the futures here. So I think that's in crypto by itself, crypto derivatives, I don't we have anything planned for the near future. Regarding data, data, it's a set of small initiatives.

So we don't have like a big silver bullet of products in many of the segments that we have. And when you break down the growth, it's a lot of small things that we are doing. So we are working really close with clients to develop products and solutions to them to kind of customize solutions for those. Obviously, when you look at midterm or long term, longer term, I think we're going to have the data that we have are going to cross paths with AI discussions that we are seeing. So it's something that we are already looking at our strategic planning, how those paths will cross at some point in the future, how can we monetize and enhance all the data that we have as a source for AI tools?

I don't think we're going to see that on the short term, but it's the discussions that we are having within the company that can be really huge in the long term. So that's a little bit of what we're seeing. On the short term, I think it's the development of products really close, working really close with clients, which has been what's been supporting this impressive growth that we are seeing in data and analytics in the last quarters.

Pedro LeDuc, Analyst, Itau BBA: And

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Brian, this I think it's worth for you to understand that we are not selling data here. We are actually selling selling data solutions that are helping clients to to to resolve problems. Right? So we we have certain verticals that we have been working on, sales and marketing, loss prevention, credit, insurance. There are several examples of those solutions that we have been developing, leveraging from the data that we end up producing as part of our core business on the trading, on the fixed income market, on the infrastructure for financing unit, all of those business activities that we have ended up producing a lot of data and in some cases, data.

And we are leveraging on that to deliver data solutions that can add a lot of value to our clients. So there's a lot of potential to continue to expand not only on the portfolio of new products and solutions, but also on the penetration of those solutions amongst client segments, etcetera. And that goes beyond the traditional set of clients that the company typically has, right? Regarding margins, the standard or the average for the industry is typically margins around 30% to 40%. That's where we will aim at some point, but in the near and the short term, we are basically deciding to invest more growth at the expense of profitability, but ensuring that this business or that business unit is generating cash, right?

It's not burning cash. We don't want to see growth at the expense of generating losses or burning cash, but we are we are at this stage not really trying to maximize profitability. We do believe that there is still a lot of potential for growth before we can start to work in maximizing profitability on those businesses, on those initiatives.

Pedro LeDuc, Analyst, Itau BBA: Our

Conference Moderator, B3: next question comes from Carlos Gomez Lopez with HSBC. Congratulations

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B31: on your EPS growth. So two very brief ones. First, on the ForEx, you mentioned that you have been hurt by the appreciation of the real versus the U. S. Dollar.

Could you quantify that to the extent that you can? I'm sure you have done studies. How much do your earnings move with ForEx moves? And can you mitigate that if you expect that the real is going to strengthen further? And second, in terms of your buyback, you still have, I believe, 65% of your program open.

The stock is now at 14%. You tend to be quite savvy in terms of choosing between paying dividends or IOC or buying back stock? What's your inclination today? So

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: Carlos, thank you for your question. Regarding your first question, the FX, we have close to 15% of our revenue that are linked to the USD. We do have the derivatives contracts that I mentioned, which moves the prices of those contracts are linked to the USD. So when there is a strengthening real, you're going see the prices dropping. And we have the bar of the market data that we sell to vendors that are also linked to USD.

So that comprise of close to 15% of our total revenues, 10% to 15% of our total revenues. But we do have a debt that are that is linked to USD, and we do have a cash flow hedge account that kind of offset those impacts on the revenue per se, not on the prices. So Andre can talk about the second question.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: So regarding the buybacks, right, when we announced the buyback program last year, I mean, we were in in an environment where the share price were ex was extremely depreciated. We have been executing a lot of the buyback. And basically, as we have always been saying, we will move the proportion more towards buybacks or dividends depending on market conditions, on share price, on multiples level of discounts, discount compared to our peers. That's what's going to be driving and this is very dynamic. So having said all of that, I think we I don't expect us to execute the the the whole buyback program, giving that the share price has respond responded a little after we've announced the buyback program at the beginning at the end of last year, but we will execute continue to execute buyback.

Basically, if the share price goes down, we will accelerate the execution of the buyback. If the share price appreciates, we will slow down until there is a point where potentially we will stop buying back shares and the difference is going to be delivered back to shareholders through dividends. So that's how we have been managing that, and that's how you should expect to continue to see us dealing with that equation between buybacks and IOC and dividends.

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B31: We understand that. And then we think that's exactly right. So the question is, at 14%, are you still buying or this is a level in which you are more inclined to give more dividends?

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: No. We're still buying at that level. Less shares at a lower place, but it's still we're still buying. And and you can see that on on the results that we publish every every month. So you can track our the execution of our buyback program

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B3: Monthly. Monthly. On our website. We do have all the volumes and all the price and the average price there. So you can it's super easy to track.

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B31: Very good. And finally, on the ForEx. So I understand the impact on the revenues, and you say that you have that hedge. So on your operating margin, is there, in the end, a net impact of the foreign currency or it's only on the top line?

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: It's basically on the top line.

Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director, B31: All right. So your net income should not be too much affected by where the currency goes? No.

Conference Moderator, B3: Thank you. This concludes today's question and answer session. I would like to invite Andre Milanese to proceed with his closing statements.

Andre Milanes, CFO, B3: Well, I just wanted to thank you all for your trust and support. We remain committed and focused on on on our clients on delivering what they need, bringing innovation and new products to the market. That remains being our focus. I would also like to invite you all to our annual Investor Day, our B3 Day, which will take place on the December 16. So more than welcome to join us on a moment where we will discuss a little bit of the strategy of the company, present to some of the achievements that we have seen during the year and talk a little bit about the future and how we are seeing the development of our market and our company.

So it's a very interesting opportunity to be to be with us. So you're more than welcome to join us on the December. And with that, I I finish this call and hope to see you all soon. Bye bye.

Conference Moderator, B3: That does conclude B3's presentation for today. Thank you very much for your participation, and have a nice day.

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