Vontobel Holding AG

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the presentation of Fontobel's half-year 2026 results webcast. I am Matilde, the course call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and 1 on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and 0. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Georg Schubiger. Please go ahead.

Good morning from Zurich and a very warm welcome from Christel, Jan and myself. Thank you for joining us for our half-year 2026 call. We are pleased to report an excellent first half. We achieved record financial results and strong strategic progress. Christel and I will give you the highlights. Jan will then take you through the financials. After that we look forward to opening the line and taking your questions. We had an excellent start to the year. We achieved a record net profit of 216 million Swiss francs Up 87%. Assets under management reached an all-time high of 252 billion Swiss francs. We are delivering ahead of all our through-the-cycle financial targets. We maintain the strong, liquid and well-capitalized balance sheet. Our fast capital generation gives us flexibility to continue to scale our business and invest for growth. The strategic progress behind these results is equally important. We strengthened our investment platform by embedding quantitative and AI capabilities more broadly across investment solutions. In line with our strategy, we expanded our solutions offering to address growing client demands for more tailored outcomes. At the same time, the efficiency program is no longer just a program. We are making targeted expansions in our focus markets in private clients. In Los Angeles, we are tapping into one of the largest and most sophisticated wealth pools in the U.S., In Wisseldorf, we are strengthening our presence in one of Germany's most attractive regions for high net worth clients and family offices. This is designed to scale a proven model and support our next phase of profitable growth. Taken together, this first half shows both the strength of our franchise today and the potential of our business model as we continue to execute this discipline. Let me briefly recap the backdrop against which we delivered these results. Markets were constructive overall, but conditions remained complex and volatile. In addition, visibility on the political landscape and its economic implications was lower than in previous periods. The escalation in the Middle East created a sharp energy shock in the first quarter. By the second quarter, markets increasingly looked through the geopolitical quagmire and refocused on earnings and growth. Investors' focus remained highly concentrated on technology, especially companies linked to AI infrastructure and semiconductor supply chains. Equities were positive over the first half. Bonds were more challenged by persistent inflation concerns and a higher for longer rate outlook. Currency headwinds continued to impact us, especially the strong Swiss franc and weaker US dollar. In this environment, clients needed analysis, guidance and flexibility. This is exactly where Fontobel has value, through active management, trusted advice and custom solutions. We are an active investment firm serving two client segments, private clients and institutional clients. These are mutually reinforcing in skills and business and complementary in their diversification benefits. Both segments draw on our dedicated experts and our single investment factory, Investment Solutions, which also includes our structured product capabilities. The relevance of our unique model is increasing. Markets are harder to navigate and clients are demanding more tailored advice and solutions. A generational wealth transfer is reshaping client needs across private and wealth. Fontobel is well-placed to benefit as we combine investment expertise and customization in one integrated setup. Our priorities are simple because our model is clear. We help clients navigate complexity through advice, active management and customization. We grew in markets and client segments where we have a clear right to win. And we operate with discipline so that revenue growth flows through to profitability. The first half shows that this model is working. Stronger client activity, record profitability, and a clear operating leverage. Investment Solutions is at the core of Ontobel. We have flagship strategies across all major asset classes and distinctive structuring capabilities. We are also expanding private markets, including the next Ankala Fund and the first fund in 24 asset management. Fontobel Solutions builds on that foundation. The new unit within Investment Solutions is designed to connect and combine these capabilities, to systematically turn them into scalable, tailored outcomes for clients. There is clear client demand. Markets are more concentrated, correlations have been shifting and macroeconomic and geopolitical drivers are harder to predict. More than before, clients are looking for solutions built around their own goals and constraints. They want portfolios designed for the outcome they need, not off-the-shelf products. This is where Fontobel can win. We have the building blocks. Investment expertise, quantitative tools, portfolio construction, risk management and structuring capabilities. We already know how to assemble them at scale, drawing on the systems and approach we already apply in private clients. We are now scaling it more systematically for institutional clients. For clients, Fontobel Solutions brings tailored portfolios to precise investment needs. For us, it provides access to an attractive and growing market that plays to our unique strengths with a clear strategic fit. And now over to you, Christel.

Thank you, Georg. Let me start with institutional clients where we see positive commercial momentum. We have executed our institutional client strategy with discipline. The focus has been clear. Sharpen our coverage, improve client experiences, and ensure our best capabilities reach the clients and markets where demand is strongest. That is now reflected in how we operate. We holistically engage clients around the problems they need to solve, Bringing the relevance on Tobol capabilities into that conversation. We work more closely with our clients, combining global reach with selective, strong local coverage. Our client processes are more efficient and faster, that is, more consistently converting demand into mandates and flows. Indeed, results are clear. In the first half, we saw improved flows, margins and revenues. Reporters met new money growth with minus 1.5%, reflecting the known effects from Raiffeisen and quality growth. However, the underlying picture is much stronger. Excluding these two known effects, growth was 7.4%, well above our through-the-cycle target. This shows that the underlying business is growing with solid momentum. This is particularly clear in fixed income, where we achieved annualized net new money growth of 15%. Strong client demand and a healthy product pipeline position us well for this second half. Taken together, institutional clients is becoming sharper and ready to scale again, converting invested demand into profitable growth. Turning to private clients where we delivered strong growth and continued to expand in our focused markets. Revenues grew by 32% and assets under management stood at an all-time high of 132 billion Swiss francs by half-year. The result was driven by strong client activity and demand across our offering, specifically advisory and discretionary mandates, as well as structured solutions. We attracted 2.5 billion Swiss francs of net new money. This represents 4.1% annualized growth within our through-the-cycle target range of 4-6%. Importantly, inflows were positive across all regions. This confirms the strength of our investment-led approach and of our focused market strategy. We win clients with investment expertise. Not through balance sheet credit. More than 90% of our assets are in developed and western markets. We selectively hire and develop top-caliber relationship managers who can grow with our investment-led approach. We are strengthening the foundations for future growth by expanding in focused markets where we see clear client demands. In Los Angeles, we opened our first West Coast office in one of the largest wealth markets in the United States. Through Fontobel Swiss Financial Advisors, we can serve the demand for international diversification. We give clients access to global portfolios and Swiss custody fully within the US regulatory framework. In Germany, we will open our Dusseldorf branch in North Rhine-Westphalia One of the country's most important economic regions. We will serve individuals, family offices, entrepreneurs by offering diversification and our unique investment expertise. In sum, Private Clients continues to deliver recurring, high-quality growth at conservative risk levels. We are excited to continue scaling this business. Let me now turn to costs. The efficiency program is delivering beyond its original target. We will complete the program by year-end and realize further efficiencies as the remaining measures are implemented. I want to emphasize that we do not view this as a short-term cost exercise. The program was always about structurally improving our efficiency and embedding stronger cost discipline across the organization. Our structurally lower cost base and stronger cost discipline are already clearly visible in our results. On an adjusted basis, our cost-income ratio improved to 66% in the first half. That is 12 percentage points lower than three years ago and significantly better than our through-the-cycle target of 72%. We achieve this while at the same time continuing to invest for growth. Our objective is to grow with scale. That scalability is what creates operating leverage. Higher revenues will therefore in the future translate into higher profitability. Let me close this section with our targets. In the first half of this year, we operated ahead of all our through-the-cycle targets. Our capital position also remains strong, giving us the flexibility to continue scaling the business. This is an excellent first half performance. It gives an indication of the potential of our differentiated, unique business model as we continue to execute our strategy with discipline. And with this, let me hand over to Jan to cover the financials.