SUPV Grupo Supervielle SA

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020

Presented on comparative basis

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

Grupo Supervielle S.A. (hereinafter, "the Group"), is a company whose main activity is investment in other companies, Its main income comes from the distribution of dividends from these companies and the obtaining of income from other financial assets.

The consolidated financial statements of Grupo Supervielle S.A. they have been consolidated, line by line with the financial statements of Banco Supervielle S.A., Cordial Compañía Financiera S.A., Sofital S.A. F. e I.I., Tarjeta Automática S.A., Supervielle Asset Management S.A., Espacio Cordial Servicios S.A., Supervielle Seguros S.A., InvertirOnline S.A.U., InvertirOnline,Com Argentina S.A.U., Micro Lending S.A.U., Supervielle Productores Asesores de Seguros S.A., Bolsillo Digital S.A.U., Futuros del Sur S.A. and Easy Cambio S.A..

The main investment of the Company is its shareholding in Banco Supervielle S.A., a financial entity included in Law No. 21.526 of Financial Institutions and subject to BCRA regulations, for which the valuation and exposure guidelines used have been adopted by said Entity (see Note 1.1) in accordance with that established in Title IV, Chapter I, Section I, Article 2 of the 2013 Orderly Text of the National Securities Commission (CNV).

These consolidated financial statements have been approved by the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on March 8, 2021.

These consolidated financial statements have been prepared pursuant to: (i) provisions set by Intenational Accounting Standards N° 34, “Interim Financial Information” (IAS 34) and (ii) the accouting information framework set by the Argentine Central Bank which is based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board and interpretations issued by the International Financial Reporting Standards Interpretation Committee with the following exceptions:

1.2. Preparation basis

These consolidated financial statements have been prepared in acoordance whith the accounting framework established by B.C.R.A. described in Note 1.1.

The Gruop´s Board has concluded that these consolidated financial statements reasonably express the financial position, financial performance and cash flows.

The preparation of financial statements requires that the Group carries out calculations and evaluations that affect the amount of incomes and expenses recorded in the year. In this sense, calculations are aimed at the estimation of, for example, credit risk provisions, useful life of property, plant and equipment, impairments and amortizations, recoverable value of assets, income tax charges and the reasonable value of certain financial instruments. Future real results may defer from calculations and evaluations as of the date of these consolidated financial statements preparation.

The areas that involve a greater degree of judgment or complexity or areas in which the assumptions and estimates are significant for the consolidated financial statements are described in Note 1.4.

As of these financial statements issuance date, such statements are pending of transcription to Inventory and Balance Sheet Book.

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A.

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020

Presented on comparative basis

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

As of the date of these consolidated financial statements there are no uncertainties with respect to events or conditions that may raise doubts regarding the possibility that the Group continues to operate normally as a going concern.

Figures included in these consolidated financial statements are expressed in thousands of Argentine pesos, unless otherwise stated.

The Group´s consolidated financial statements recognice changes in the currency purchasing power until August 31, 1995. As from such date, in virtue of existing economic stability conditions and pursuant to Communication “A” 2365 issued by the Argentine Central Bank, accounting measurements were not re-expressed until December 31, 2001. In virtue of Communication “A” 3702 issued by the Argentine Central Bank, the application of the method was resumed and became effective on January 1, 2002. Previous accouting measurements were considered to be expressed in the currency as of December 31, 2001.

Pursuant to Communication “A” 3921 issued by the Argentine Central Bank, in compliance with Decree 664/03 issued by the National Executive Power, the application of the re-expression of financial statements in homogeneous currency was interrupted as from March 1, 2003. Therefore, the Group applied said re-expression until February 28, 2003.

In turn, Law N° 27,468 (B.O. 04/12/2018) amended article 10° of Law N° 23,928 and its amendments, thus establishing that the abolition of all legal and regulating standards that set and authorize price indexing, monetary updating, cost changes or any other manner of re-increasing debts, taxes, prices or fees for goods, works or services does not include financial statements, regarding which the application of article 62 of the General Corporations Law N° 19,550 (T.O 1984) and its amendments shall prevail. Likewise, the aforementioned legal body set de abolition of Decree N° 1269/2002 dated on July 16, 2002 and its amendments and instructed the National Executive Power, through its controlling agencies, to set the date as from which said regulations became into effect in relation with financial statements to be submitted. Therefore, on February 22, 2019, the Argentine Central Bank issued Communication “A” 6651 which established that financial statements shall be prepared in a homogeneous currency as from January 1, 2020. Therefore, these consolidated financial statements have been re-expressed as of December 31, 2020.

The information included in these consolidated financial statements and in the aforementioned notes as of December 31, 2019 and January 1, 2019 is presented, exclusively with comparative purposes regarding the information as of December 31, 2020.

It is worth to be mentioned that, Communication “A” 6778, issued by the Argentine Central Bank, required the retroactive application of the impairment model set forth in section 5.5 of IFRS 9 with temporary withdrawal of non-financial public sector´s debt instruments and the re-expression of financial statements pursuant to IAS 29. In virtue of the aforementioned, the Group has applied the following:

With the approval of new IFRS, modifications or derogations of the standards in force, and once such changes are adopted through Adoption Bulletins issued by Federación Argentina de Consejos Profesionales en Ciencias Económicas (FACPCE), the Argentine Central Bank will determine the approval of such standards for financial entities. In general terms, no anticipated IFRS application shall be allowed unless upon adoption such anticipated measure is specified.

The following are changes that were made effective over the course of the quarter ended on December 31, 2020:

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A.

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020

Presented on comparative basis

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

Pursuant to Communication “A” 6430 and 6847 Financial Entities shall start to apply provisions on Financial Assets Impairment included in paragraph 5.5 of IFRS 9 as from fiscal years starting on 1 January, 2020, except for Non-financial Public Sector´s debt securities, which shall be temporarily excluded from the scope of said provisions. Likewise, Communication “A” 6938 issued by the Argentine Central Bank set the postponement of the application of the section targeted to “B” group Companies until January 1, 2022,a category that includes Cordial Compañía Financiera S.A.; therefore, provisions of said Entity are held under the minimum provisions regulations set by the Argentine Central Bank. It is worth mentioning that through communications "A" 7108 and 7134, the Argentine Central Bank ordered the classification of financial entities into groups "A", "B" and "C", leaving Cordial Compañía Financiera classified as Group "C" as of October 1, 2020.

Upon the application of impairment model included in section 5.5 of IFRS 9, a decrease of about 850 million and 1,042 million would have been recorded in the shareholders ´equity as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 respectively.

     (*) These balances do not include the effect of income tax

IFRS 9 foresees an expected credit los model, by means of which financial assets are classified in three impairment stages, based on changes in credit quality as from its initial recognition and show how a Company measures impairment loss and applies the effective interest method. Note 1.2 g) offers greater detail on how expected credit loss is measured.

Pursuant to Communication “A” 6778 issued by the Argentine Central Bank, Financial Entities shall apply the following in virtue of the effects of the application of section 5.5 of IFRS 9:

The following chart includes the reconciliation between uncollectibility risk provisions as of 12.31.2019 pursuant to the criteria set by the Amended Text on “Debtors Classification” and “Minimum Uncollectibility Risk Provisions” set by the Argentine Central Bank and the new uncollectibility risk provisions pursuant the expected credit loss model set by IFRS 9 with temporary exceptions above mentioned in the first paragraph:

* Cordial Compañía Financiera S.A.´s balances of provisions are held under minimum provisions Standards pursuant to Communication “A” 6990 issued by the Argentine Central Bank.

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A.

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020

Presented on comparative basis

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

Note 1.3 includes further information on the definition of credit risk provision pursuant to the expected credit loss model set by IFRS 9 with scope set by the Argentine Central Bank.

Pursuant to IAS 29 “Financial Information in hyperinflationary economies”, financial statements of an entity, whose functional currency accounts for that currency of a hyperinflationary economy shall be expressed in terms of a current measurement unit as of the reporting fiscal year closing date regardless of whether such statements are based on the historical cost method or a current cost method. To such ends, in general terms, such entity shall calculate the inflation recorded as from the acquisition date or revaluation date, when applicable, in non-monetary items. Such requirements also include the comparative information of financial statements.

With the purpose of stating whether an economy is classified as Hyperinflationary in accordance with IAS 29, the provision sets forth a series of factors to be considered, which includes an accrued inflation rate in three years close to or higher than the 100%. That is the reason why, pursuant to IAS 29, the Argentine economy must be considered as a high inflation economy as from July 1, 2018.

In short, pursuant to IFRS 29 re-expression mechanism, monetary assets and liabilities shall not be re-expressed since such assets and liabilities are expressed in a measurement unit in force as of the reported period closing. Assets and liabilities subject to adjustments tied to specific agreements, shall be adjusted pursuant to such agreements. Non-monetary items measured at current values at the end of the reported period, such as the realization net value or others, shall be re-expressed. The remaining non-monetary assets and liabilities shall be re-expressed in accordance with a general price index. The loss or earning of a net monetary position shall be included in the net income of the reported period in a separate item. It is worth to be mentioned that earnings or losses over the monetary position of instruments at fair value through profit and loss in OCI is included in Other Comprehensive Income of the period/fiscal year. Upon the sale of such instruments its result is reclassified in the line “Results from sale or withdrawal of financial instruments rated at amortized cost” in the net income of the fiscal year.

Pursuant to Communication “A” 6651, issued by the Argentine Central Bank on February 22, 2019, financial statements shall be prepared in a constant currency as from fiscal years starting on January 1, 2020. In this sense, Communication “A” 6849 issued by the Argentine Central Bank sets the re-expression frequency of the accounting information in a homogeneous currency on a monthly basis, and the index utilized to such ends accounts for the National Consumer Index drawn up by INDEC (basis month: December 2016) and for such items with previous initial date, IPIM issued by FACPCE is utilized, pursuant to Ruling JG 517/16. Likewise, transition date, in virtue of the retroactive application has been set on January 1, 2019.

Pursuant to Communication “A” 6847, financial entities will be allowed to re-categorize, as from Januray 1,2020, instruments of the non-financial public sector rated at fair value through profit and loss and at fair value through profit and loss in OCI at an amortized cost criterion, while utilizing the accounting value of such date as addition value. As for instruments affected by this option, interest accrual and accessories shall be interrupted as long as the accounting value is above its fair value. Upon such measurement, the abovementioned financial instruments, at fair value as of December 31, 2020 there would be no significant impact on equity and results for the year.

On October 22, 2018, IASB released changes, which include the definition of business with the purpose of helping entities determine whether a transaction must be recorded as a combination of business or the acquisition of an asset. Such changes:

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A.

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020

Presented on comparative basis

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

Entities need to apply changes in transactions which acquisitions date as from the beginning of the first annual period over which it has been informed as of January 1, 2020.

The Group does not see any initial effect unless a combination of businesses is made effective.

On October 31, 2018, IASB released these changes with the purpose of improving the understanding of the definition of significant or relatively significant, coordinating the drawing up of the definition in IFRS and the Conceptual Framework to avoid any misunderstanding whatsoever that may stem from the different definitions, in that sense, IASB has added support requirements in IAS 1 in the definition to add importance and clarity in its application. Additionally, said board provides existing guides regarding the definition of significant and relatively significant in a single place together with the definition.

This change affects mainly section 7 of IAS 1, section 5 of IAS 8 and removes section 6 of IAS 8. Such change is applicable in a prospective manner to annual periods as from January 1, 2020.

The Group considers that such changes have no significant effect in its financial statements.

IASB has issued a new Conceptual Framework. Said change will not imply any changes in the accounting standards in force. However, entities that utilize the Conceptual Framework to define accounting policies for those transactions, events or situations that are not included in the accounting standards in force, apply a new Conceptual Framework as from January 1, 2020, thus evaluating whether their accounting policies are still the most suitable ones.

The Group considers that such changes have no significant effect in its financial statements.

On September 26, 2019, IASB released a change that requires additional disclosures regarding the uncertainty resulting from the reform in the reference interest rate. Such release accounts for the first reaction to potential effects that IBOR reform may produce in financial statements and modifies specific cash flow coverage accounting requirements assuming that the reference interest rate is not modified as a result of such reform. These changes have become effective as from January 1, 2020 with retroactive effect.

The Group considers that such changes have no significant effect in its financial statements.

In accordance with the provisions of Title IV, Chapter III, Section 3, Subsection b) of the Regulations of the Argentine Securities Commission (Restated Text 2013), the Company has made use of the option to absorb the accumulated negative results that were generated as a consequence of the inflation adjustment by application of the IAS 29, subject to the ratification of the AGM.

Based on the foregoing, and in accordance with the order of absorption of accumulated losses as established in such regulations, Grupo Supervielle’s Net Worth as of January 1, 2020 (transition date) is composed as follows:

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A. 

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020 

Presented on comparative basis 

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

The following sets forth changes that have not become in force as of December 31, 2020:

IASB carried out changes specifically on IFRS 10 “Consolidated Financial Entities” and IAS 28 “Investments in associates and joint ventures”. Such changes clarify the accounting of sales or contribution of assets between the investor and its associates and joint ventures and confirm that the accounting treatment depends on whether non-monetary assets sold or contributed to the associate or joint venture account for a “business” (as defined in IFRS 3).

When non-monetary assets account for a business, the investor will recognize earnings or losses of the sale or contribution of assets. If assets do not account for a business, earnings or losses are recognized by the investor only up to the amount recognized by the investor in the associate or joint venture. These changes are applied with retroactive effect.

IASB has decided to delay the application date for this modification until the research project over the interest method is concluded.

The Group is evaluating the impact of the application of this new standard.

On May  18, 2017, IASB issued IFRS 17 “Insurance contracts” which provides a comprehensive framework based on principles for measurement and presentation of all insurance contracts. The new rule will supersede IFRS 4 Insurance contracts and requires that insurance contracts be measured using cash flows of existing enforcement and that income be recognized as the service is rendered during the coverage period. The standard will come into force for the fiscal years beginning as from November 1, 2023.

The Group is evaluating the impact of the application of this new standard.

With the purpose of working out issues resulting from the implementation of the reference interest rate reform (IBOR), on August 27, the IASB released changes in standards. The most important changes are related to the accounting of financial instruments at amortized cost. Such changes require that financial entities update contractual cash flows resulting from the reference interest rate reform through the modification of the effective interest rate pursuant to paragraph B5.4.5 of IFRS 9. Therefore, no impact on income is recorded as a result of such modification. Said change shall be applied only when necessary as a direct consequence of the application of the reference interest rate reform (IBOR). IFRS 16 was also modified; thus, requiring lessees to utilize the same modification when accounting changes in leasing payments to be produced as a result of the reference interest rate reform (IBOR). Such changes will become effective as from January 1, 2021.

The Group is assessing the impact of said new standard.

1.3 Impairment of financial assets

The Group evaluates, based on a prospective approach, expected credit losses (“ECL”) related to financial assets rated at amortized cost or fair value with changes in another comprehensive income, the exposure resulting from loan commitments and financial guarantee contracts with the scope set by Communication “A” 6847 issued by the Argentine Central Bank.

The Group measures ECL of financial instruments reflecting the following:

IFRS 9 sets forth the following “Three stages” model for the impairment based on changes in the credit quality from initial recognition:

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A. 

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020 

Presented on comparative basis 

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

·      If, on the submission date, the credit risk of a financial instrument has not increased significantly since its initial recognition, the Group will classify such instrument in “Stage 1”.

·      If a significant increase in credit risk (“SICR”) is detected, from its initial recognition, the instrument is moved to “Stage 2”, but such instrument is not deemed to contain a credit impairment.

·      If the financial instrument contains credit impairment, it is moved to “Stage 3”.

·      For financial instruments in “Stage 1”, the Bank measures ECL at an amount equivalent to the amount of expected credit loss during the useful life term of the asset that result from potential default events within the next 12 months. As for Financial Instruments in “Stage 2” and “Stage 3”, the Group measures ECL during the useful life term of the asset (hereinafter “lifetime”). Note 1.3.1 includes a description of how the Group defines when a significant increase in credit risk has occurred.

·      A generalized concept in the measurement of ECL pursuant to IFRS 9 shall be considered prospective information.

·      Financial assets with impairment on credit value, either purchased or produced, account for those financial assets which have been impaired since initial recognition. ECL of this type of financial instruments is always measured during the asset lifetime (“Stage 3”).

The following chart summarizes the impairment requirements pursuant to IFRS 9 (for financial assets that do not entail impairment on credit value, either purchased or produced:

The following describes the Group´s judgements and assumptions for ECL measurement:

1.3.1. Significant increase in credit risk

The Group considers that a financial asset has experienced a significant credit risk increase when one or more than the following qualitative and quantitative criteria have been observed:

Personal and Business Banking

Corporate Banking

¹

Renta Higher income : Segment plan sueldo (payrroll customers) >=400, Segment Open Market >=700 y Segment Senior Citizens >=610

Rest: Segment plan sueldo (payrroll customers) >=500, Segment Open Market >=700 y Segmento Senior Citizens >=610

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A. 

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020 

Presented on comparative basis 

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

Consumer Finance

Sectoral Analysis – Covid-19 Risk

In virtue of the fact that internal impairment models do not reflect properly Covid-19 impact on the local and global economic situation (See Note 22) as historical information is utilized, a sectoral analysis has been included as additional definition of the significant risk increase.

In such analysis, companies’ default risk is evaluated according to the type of industry and the impact such companies have suffered in face of the current economic situation, while taking into account their features, seasonal nature, etc.

Finally, the different industries are classified into four types of risk. They are:

This additional definition of a significant increase in credit risk has been applied for the SME and E&P segments, for the very high and high risk activities (only for the Single Firm portfolio):

1.3.2. Individual and collective evaluation basis

Expected losses are estimated both in a collective and individual manner.

The Group´s individual estimation is aimed at calculating expected losses for significantly impaired risks. In these cases, the amount of credit losses is calculated as the difference between expected cash flows discounted at the effective interest rate of the operation and the value in the books of the instrument.

For collective estimation of expected credit losses, instruments are distributed in groups of assets depending on credit risk features. Exposures within each group are segmented in accordance with the similar features of the credit risk, including the debtor´s payment capacity pursuant to contractual conditions. These risk features need to play a key role in the estimation of future flows of each group. Credit risk features may consider the following factors, among others:

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A. 

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020 

Presented on comparative basis 

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

The credit risk characteristics used to group the instruments are, among others: type of instrument, debtor's sector of activity, geographical area of activity, type of guarantee, aging of past due balances and any other factor relevant to estimating the future cash flows.

Grouping of financial instruments is monitored and reviewed on a regular basis by the Credit Risk and Stress Test Area.

1.3.3 Definition of default and impaired credit

The Group considers that a financial instrument is in default when such instrument entails one or more of the following criteria:

Personal and Businesses Banking

Corporate Banking

Consumer Finance

These criteria are applied in a consistent manner to all financial instruments and are aligned with the internal definition of defaultused for the administration of credit risk. Likewise, such definition is consistently applied to define PD (“Probability of Default”), Exposure at Default (“EAD”) and Loss Given Default ( “LGD”).

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A. 

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020 

Presented on comparative basis 

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

1.3.4. Measurement of Expected Credit Loss – Explanation of inputs, assumptions and calculation techniques

ECL is measured on a 12-month or lifetime basis, depending on whether a significant increase in credit risk has been recorded since initial recognition or whether an asset is considered to be credit-impaired. ECL are the discounted product of the Probability of Default (“PD”), Exposure at default (“EAD”) and Loss Given Default (“LGD”), defined as follows::

ECL is determined by projecting PD, LGD and EAD for each future month and each individual exposure or collective segment. These three components are multiplied and adjusted for the likelihood of survival (that is, the exposure has not been prepaid or defaulted in an earlier month). This effectively calculates an ECL for each future month, which is then discounted back to the reporting date and summed. The discount rate used inthe ECL calculation is the original effective interest rate or an approximation thereof.

The Entity based its calculation of the ECL parameters on internal modelsthat were adapted in order to be compliant with IFRS 9.

The Group includes prospective economic information in its definition of DP, EAD and LGD over 12 months or Lifetime. See Note 1.3.5 for the explanation of prospective information and its consideration in the calculation of ECL.

1.3.5 Forward-looking information considered in expected credit loss models

The evaluation of significant credit increases and the calculation of ECL include prospective information. The Group carried out a historical analysis and identifies key economic variable that affect the credit risk and expected credit losses for each portfolio.

Forecasts of these economic variable (“base economic scenario”) are provided on a six-month basis by the Research team of the Group and offer a better estimated outlook of the economy for the next 12 months. The impact of such economic variables on DP and LGD resulted from the statistic regression analysis to understand the impact the changes in these variables has had historically on default rates and LGD components.

In addition to the base economic scenario, the Research team of the Group also provides two potential scenarios together with scenario analysis. The number of other scenarios is defined in accordance with the analysis of the main products to ensure the lineal effect between the future economic scenario and related expected credit losses. The number of scenarios and its features are re-evaluated on a six-month basis, except a situation occurs in the macroeconomic framework that justifies a greater regularity.

As of January 1, 2020 and as of December 31, 2020, as for its portfolios, the Group concluded that three scenarios have properly captured non-lineal items. Scenario analysis are defined by means of a combination of statistic and know-how judgement analysis, taking into account the range of potential results of which each scenario is representative. The evaluation of credit risk significant increases is carried out by means of the utilization of DP lifetime in the base scenario and other scenarios, multiplied by the related analysis of each scenario, together with qualitative and quantitative and backstop indicators (See Note 1.3.1). The aforementioned is defined if the financial instrument is in Stage 1, Stage 2 or Stage 3 and, therefore, whether to register a 12-month ECL or Lifetime. As with any economic forecast, projections and probabilities of occurrence are subject to a high degree of inherent uncertainty, and therefore actual results may be significantly different than projected. The Group considers that these forecasts account for its best calculation of potential results and has analyzed the non-lineal and asymmetric impacts within the different portfolios of the Group to establish that chosen scenarios are representative of the range of potential scenarios.

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A. 

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020 

Presented on comparative basis 

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

The most significant assumptions utilized to calculate ECL as of December 31, 2020 are as follows:

The following are estimations assigned to each scenario as of December 31, 2020:

Sensitivity analysis

The chart below includes changes in ECL as of December 31, 2020 that would result from reasonably potential changes in the following parameters:

GRUPO SUPERVIELLE S.A. 

NOTES TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020 

Presented on comparative basis 

(Expressed in thousands of pesos in homogeneous currency)

1.3.6 Maximum exposure to credit risk

The chart below includes an analysis of credit risk exposure of the financial instruments for which expected credit loss provisions are recognized. The gross amount of financial assets books included in the chart accounts for the maximum credit risk exposure of such assets.

1.3.7 Collateral and other credit enhancements

Collateral is an instrument pledged as security for repayment of a loan, to be forfeited in the event of default. The Entity accepts collateral as security before a potential breach on behalf of a debtor occurs.

The Argentine Central Bank classifies these guarantees in three types: Preferred “A” (considered self-settleable), Preferred “B” (made up by mortgage or pledge loans) and remaining guarantees (mainly bank guarantees and fines).

In virtue of the administration of collateral, the Group relies on a specific area devoted to the review of the legal compliance and suitable instrumentation of received collateral. In accordance with the type of collateral, the guarantors may be people or companies (in the case of mortgages, pledges, fines, guarantees and liquid funds) and international top level Financial Entities (for credit letters stand by).

The Group monitors collateral held for financial assets considered to be credit-impaired as it becomes more likely that the Group will take possession of collateral to mitigate potential credit losses.