Swiss Life Holding AG

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Swiss Life Q1 2020 Fixed Trading Update Conference Call and Live Webcast. I am Sandra, the Core School Operator. I would like to remind you that all participants have been listened only mode and the conference has been 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. Webcast viewers may submit their questions or comments in writing by the relative field. Currently note that webcast questions will be answered after the call. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it is my pleasure to hand over to Matthias Ehrig, Group CEO of Swiss Life. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for dialing in and for your interest in Swiss Life. Today, we are reporting on selected top line figures for the first quarter of 2026. I will start with an overview, and our Group CFO, Marco Gerussi, will give you more details. We had a good start to the year, with pleasing top-line growth in the first quarter of 2026. Both the fee and the insurance businesses contributed to this growth. Swiss Life increased its fee and commission income by 6% in local currency to $686 million, with all businesses contributing. Brought to it in premiums, fees and deposits received increased by 5% in local currency to 8.2 billion. Switzerland asset managers reported strong net new assets of 4.2 billion in third-party asset management, compared to 9.3 billion in the exceptionally strong prior year period. The asset-to-year ratio was estimated to be around 210% at the end of March 2026. I'm particularly satisfied with the growth in our fee income across all divisions and businesses, meaning asset managers, owned IFAs, and owned and third-party products and services. We are well on track with our Swiss Life 2027 program. In addition to our first quarter disclosure, we are announcing today the acquisition of Thielitz Group at Swiss Life Germany. With around 1,800 advisors and a fee income of more than 200 million euros, Helis is one of the leading German IFAs. With the acquisition, Swiss Life Germany will further strengthen its position as a leading financial advisory company. Combined, we will have in Germany around 8,000 certified advisors and a total fee income in excess of 1 billion euros. This was a unique opportunity that we have seized from the founding family, who will stay with us in an advisory role. I'm pleased that with this transaction, we accelerate our profitable growth in the German IFA market. And I would like to welcome Thelis within the Swiss Life Group and look forward to their contribution to Swiss Life Germany. With that, I hand over to Markus.

Thank you, Matthias, and good morning. I'm pleased to walk you through our trading update, looking at our good first quarter 2026. As usual, all figures are unedited. Figures for the group are reported in Swiss francs and for each business division in local currency. Growth rates are stated in local currency. Let me start with our business division, Switzerland. Premiums increased by a strong 10% to 5 billion. The life insurance market remained flat. Premiums in group life grew by 10% to 4.5 billion, while the market decreased slightly. Single premiums increased by 25%, driven by higher premiums from existing clients and new business. Periodic premiums declined by 3%. Assets on the management in our semi-autonomous foundations were at 8.1 billion compared to 8.4 billion at the end of 2025. The decline is due to negative market performance and the net transfer into our full insurance business. Premiums in individual life grew by 7%. The overall market was up by 5%. Single premiums grew by 20%, driven by the unit-linked business. Periodic premiums declined by 1%. Premium commission income was up by 2% to 93 million, mainly due to higher income from Unilink and investment solutions for private clients. Earnings go to French, German and international business divisions, which all report in euros. Let me start with France. Premiums were down by 2% to 2 billion. The total market was up by 11%. In our live business, premiums were down by 1%, driven by lower premiums in the savings and pension business. The overall market grew by 14%. The unit link share in our live premiums increased to 73% compared to the market average of 41%, reflecting our unchanged focus on unit link solutions. We generated live net inflows of 0.6 billion. Auto market net inflows were at 19.3 billion. In health and protection, we kept our focus on profitability before growth. This resulted in a 10% decline in premiums. Market growth was at 7%. EMC premiums grew by 4%. P&C income rose by 8% to $166 million due to higher unit-linked fee income based on higher average unit-linked reserves and net inflows. The income contribution from structured products remained stable at the pleasing level. I continue with Germany. Premiums were up by 3% to 425 million, driven by modern and disability products, as well as a higher single premium. The market decreased by 6%, mainly in single premiums. Fee and commission income rose by 5% to 238 million, supported by both a higher productivity and a higher number of financial advisors as owned IFBs. Compared to the first quarter in 2025, the number of financial advisors grew by 3% to 6,154. These numbers do not reflect the acquisition of Thales Group, which we announced today. With this transaction, we will further strengthen our position as a leading financial advisor in Germany and further grow our advisory base and the fee results. Closing of the transaction is expected in the third quarter of 2026. Turning now to international. Premiums decreased by 3% to 1.1 billion. Higher premiums with corporate clients were more than offset by lower premiums with private clients. PM commission income increased by 2% to 94 million, driven by higher income from owned IFAs. In February 2026, we announced the partnership between TwistLife Network and Generali concerning a small part of our employee benefits business. The income reported today excludes this business. Let's move on to asset managers, which report in Swiss francs. For your information, we have expanded our disclosure for Q1 and Q3 in line with our full and half-year reporting. We now disclose total income, which consists of the commission income and the alternate income, including the real estate project developments. Asset managers' total income rose by 12% to 261 million. In our PAM business, total income increased by 4% to 90 million. The increase is mainly driven by higher real estate transaction income. In our TPAM business, total income grew by 16% to 171 million. The increase in recurring income is due to higher assets, while the higher non-recurring income is largely real estate transaction income. The share of total non-recurring income for TPM, meaning commission income and alternate income from real estate project development, was at 13% compared to 6% in the prior year. As mentioned at our full year results disclosure, for each 2026 and 2027, we expect to achieve a share of around 25%, which is in line with our Swiss Life 2027 targets. Many assets in our deep-end business amounted to $4.2 billion compared to $9.3 billion in the first quarter of 2025, which was exceptionally strong. We saw continued strong inflows in our index business, and inflows in real assets amounted to $0.8 billion. Both these inflows were slightly offset by outflows, in particular from money market funds. Assets under management in our deep-end business increased to 148 billion compared to 146 billion at year-end 2025. Net inflows were partly offset by negative performance. Turning to our investment results. Direct investment income decreased by 142 million to 0.9 billion due to lower income from equities and infrastructure, which included the sale of infrastructure assets in the prior year. Additionally, we had diverse movements in the foreign exchange rates, particularly related to the US dollar. The non-annualized direct investment yield was at 0.7% compared to 0.8% in the prior year period. Looking at the net investment income, we had a stable development compared to the first quarter in 2025. Real estate continues to be an attractive and important asset class for backing our long-dated liabilities. Vacancy rates decreased to 2.9% compared to 3.1% at year-end 2025. Real estate fair value changes, which is non-annualized, were positive at around 0.3%. For the full year 2026, we expect a similar trend as in 2025, with further positive real estate fair value changes driven by our Swiss real estate portfolio. Moving to solvency, cash, and payout. At the end of the first quarter of 2026, the S&P ratio was estimated to be around 210%, and therefore marginally below year-end 2025. This is due to market movements, which more than offset the positive impact from a hybrid issuance in January 2026. As of today, we estimate our FST ratio to be at the same level as at year-end 2025, well above the ambition range of 140 to 190%. At the end of the first quarter, liquidity at holding amounted to around 0.6 billion. Our ongoing share buyback of 750 million is well on track and will run until the end of May 2026. As of 15th of May 2026, we repurchased shares worth 26 million. Let me sum up. We are pleased with the performance of Swiss Life in the first quarter of 2026. We grew both our fee and our insurance business. Moreover, net new assets in our third-party asset management business increased, and our asset ratio is at a strong level. With this, we are well on track to achieve all of our group financial targets of our Swiss Life 2027 program. And, with this, I hand back to you, Matthias.

Thank you, Marco. We will now open the Q&A session. Who would like to start?

We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered a queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Questions on the phone are requested to disable the loudspeaker mode and eventually turn off the volume of the webcast while asking a question. Webcast viewers may submit their questions or comments in writing via the relative field. Kindly note that webcast questions will be answered after the call. Our first question comes from Michael Hutner from Bernberg. Please go ahead.

Fantastic. Thank you and well done for really good results. I have two questions. One is on TELIS and one is on the non-recurring. Can you give us a feel for what TELIS will do? I know you say raise your fees, but on a kind of run rate basis, how much would it add to profit? On TELUS, I don't know how to ask it, but I'm really trying to find out how much it costs, but maybe you can kind of give us a feel for what it would do to Solvency when the deal closes. And then on the non-recurring, so up from 6% to 13%, is this actually now cash deals, or is it still kind of accrual-based deals? It's just to kind of, and also I know you said 25% is still on track, but if you're so far ahead of what you did last year and last year was 25% full year, is there a little bit of upside to come? Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. Let me start on the sales acquisition. As you said, you gave the indication for the year 2025. In terms of fee income, we said it's more than 200 million. In terms of fee result contribution, so on a pre-tax and pre-financing cost basis, for the year 2025, you can, as an indication, take something between 25 and 30 million euros. Keep in mind that Marco just said we expect the closing somewhere in the third quarter. So if that materializes, as we assume, the first year where we have a full run rate year will be 2027. Now, in terms of the costs, I mean, we have agreed with the founding family, the seller, not to disclose the first price. You can assume it has no effect. relevant impact whatsoever. Again, it's a fee business. It's not an insurance business, obviously. So I think that's in respect of tailings. And let me go on with the question on the non-recurring income. We report for Q1 the 13% non-recurring income, so meaning the commission income and the other net income from project development that is fully cash. In terms of the full year, you know, by construction, this non-recurring income exhibits really variations quarter by quarter, and I wouldn't read anything in the fact that we have now 13 and the 6% in the prior year. We clearly said we expect for the full year 2026 is around 25% that Marco said. Thank you very much. Welcome.

The next question comes from Thomas Bateman from Mediobanca. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Can you just come back to TELUS? Could you just talk us through a little bit more about your strategy in Germany, but also how TELUS would fit into your platform? I don't know, I'm thinking here more along cost savings potentially from TELUS moving their advisors onto your platform. Is that something that we should think about in the long term? And the second question is just on investment income. Clearly there was a little bit of a drop this year. Can you give us a bit of a feel for the outlook for investment income for the full year?

Thank you. I would start with the question. Taliesin Marko can give you then some color on the direct investment income. Now, on Taliesin, I mean, our strategy in Germany, I think that was very clear from Investors Day, we want to further grow our IFA business in the German markets. We were starting in the program with a strong position. We had, as a result, also quite significant ambitions in terms of fee results. You know, we mentioned that we are working in the current program also a bit more on the back-end systems, and that, as a result, let's say the fee result target of more than 150 is a bit back-end loaded within the program. And this is fully true what we said. We now have just had the opportunity to accelerate that strategy. And as we always say, all the targets we have are organic. But when there is this opportunity to go for something that fits strategically, financially and culturally, we do that as a bolt-on transaction. That's what you have seen here. It's really an acceleration of our strategy in the German market. With that, we further strengthen our leading position in Germany. Now, on the second question that you had in terms of, you know, potential synergies, what is important is that we clearly will retain the brands of Thales. We will, as we have done it with the other brands that we have in Swiss Life in Germany, we'll retain that brand of Thales. But clearly, over time, there will be synergies in the back office. There is a platform we ensure Swiss life in Germany can also learn from Haley's. And there we are really positive that Haley's will contribute positively to the fee result starting on day one in Germany. With that, I hand over to Marco for the investment income.

Thank you. Relating the investment income, as I said, during the presentation, the decrease we have seen, this is to some part refers to a sale in the infrastructure area where parts of the proceeds were distributed as direct investment income in the prior year period. This is somewhat now missing in the numbers in the first quarter of 2026, and there is Another effect, I would say, that's more technically related, staff referring or relating more to timing. That's something we will see later on. And there is a smaller part relating to U.S. dollar ethics movements on the direct investment income. The yield on the direct investment income, I would say, this is something we expect to be at a similar level than in the prior year, than in 2025. And as I said, also additionally in the presentation on the net investment income, we had a stable development compared to the prior year first quarter period in 2025. And the net investment income finally is one of the important for our results.

Thank you. Can I just one follow-up on the liquidity holding number that you gave, the 0.6 billion? Is that inclusive of the acquisition of CELIS?

I mean, as we said, we are closing the deal in the third quarter.

Who goes next?

The next question comes from David Barmer from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Thanks for taking my question. Just to confirm on TELIS, Matt, I think for the details, but you are saying you don't expect any material impact on either holding cash or remittances from Germany. Is that correct? And then secondly, on the solvency ratio, could you please give some details on the movements in the quarter, particularly on the market effects, and link to that the the interest rate differential widen in Q1 and continue to widen in Q2. So if you could talk a little bit about the potential impacts on the SST and the CSM, please. And then lastly, on France, the fee income growth continues to be really good. If you could give some color on new business growth there. Thank you.

I hand over to Marco for the SST and the French question. I will end with the daily question.

So on the solvency, I mean, at the end of the first quarter, the marginally decrease to around 210 compared to 213 at the end of 2025, this is mainly due to market movement in equities and credit bets. That's something that we covered year to date. That's why we're saying we are at a similar level than at the year end. The differential was just a marginal one of the very, very, let's say, the many smaller items moving a bit up and then a bit down, but that had not, let's say, a measurable impact on the numbers. And overall, same, speaking about the economical part of the TSM, I would say that the same holds true also for the TSM development. The question on the branch business on the fee income, quite a freezing growth that continues there. You're absolutely right. This is mainly due to the unit-linked fee income, and that's based on two effects. It's net inflows, so new business fee right there, but also some positive market effects on the underlying asset for the reserves, the unit-linked reserves. I think I said that also during the presentation. One part of it continues to be the structured products we sell and offer in the branch business together with our bank that is at a very pleasing, stable, but very pleasing level and also contributing to the overall higher numbers.

Now, maybe coming to a question on Steelers, David, I mean, what are the impacts of that acquisition? I talked about the acceleration of the strategy. in Germany and what we clearly expect from this acquisition that we will see a higher fee result. You know, I've just mentioned the 25 to 30 million that deal is achieved in 2025. I mean, again, that's a pre-tax and pre-financing cost number, but that's what we clearly expect as a number going forward. I mean, this is an asset that, as I said, is fully functional. I mean, we expect such contributions starting day one, as I said, but 2026 on a full year basis, and with the fee results, there are corresponding remittances. Your question in terms of cash upholding was probably more geared towards the financing of that acquisition. You may have seen that we have issued a senior bond, 500 million senior bond, for general purposes in April, and a large part of that will be used towards the financing of that acquisition. So per se, and I think that's the point, There's no impact on the cash withholding due to the acquisition per se. Over time, I said, there will be these desire remittances.

Thank you. You're welcome.

The next question comes from Nazib Ahmed from UBS. Please go ahead.

Hi, Monique. Thanks for taking my question. So, this is for me. Firstly, on TELUS, can you just... kind of help me understand the margin on that business relative to your own German ISA business. It seems like it's a little bit lower than what you're targeting in 2017. Second question on the holding company cash development. You've issued some senior debts already. So what's the holding company cash position today? And is that going to be used for the buyback at 1H? And then finally, on political... changes in Switzerland, so you've got the population control vote, next caller, renter control in Zurich. Have you done some sensitivities on what that would mean for your business if those things go against you on the real estate market?

Thanks. I think I hand over to Marco for the whole talk, Ash, because at the end it's a Q1 call and not a T-List call, but I will take the T-List and the political things after that.

So the cash at holding as of today is 1 billion. I think it's important to consider a senior bond we issued in April, the 500 million euros that Matthias just mentioned, which is for business purposes. So that's money for TELIS for a large part, as Matthias said, but also then the remainder put at work in our operating company. So overall, non-impact on the cash level at holding. And I think the second point to make, which is also very important, we don't use... bond transactions or issuance for share buyback financing. So that's completely to be separated.

And maybe on political developments you mentioned a couple of them and maybe let's start with this. initiative on federation level, you know, in tune around the sustainability, as it's called, on immigration. This is first and foremost a political decision. That's why we do not comment too heavily. I think here what is important for us, that irrespective of the outcome of that popular vote, that policymakers in Switzerland continue to make sure Switzerland is and remains an attractive place for doing business in the interest, I'd say, of the prosperity of the country. And to be frank, I think Switzerland has a very good track record on that. And in that respect, we are not particularly concerned about that vote. Now, on the next call, there is this recent proposal by the Federal Council this is at the very early stage of the process. I mean, this is a proposal where now everybody can give input, and clearly we think this is a very bad idea going forward. There are very good arguments against it. You know, it doesn't solve any problem. It's not feasible. I will spare you the details of it. What is key, I think, is Every now and then, and if I look back the last 10 years, probably every other year, every three years, there are proposals that either are coming from the federal council, but mostly from the parliament. They are discussed. We take them seriously, don't get me wrong, but there are very good arguments against them, and then after a while, they just disappear, as I said, because they do not solve any underlying problems. In terms of the initiative in the state of Zurich, also something we take, obviously, very seriously, similar to what I just said on federal level. The initiative doesn't solve any problem. I mean, it just would lead to a situation where existing real estate becomes even more valuable because, I mean, there will be less investment activity. But again, same thing, we have, I believe, very good arguments against it, and we are pretty confident that this will not materialize. And the last question was on T-List. I think if you were asking about the margins You know, as I said, it's a very similar business. It's a very similar business mix. The numbers that I've given to you make the case that it's broadly in line. But, again, we have taken it for strategic reasons to make this acquisition and not for any, let's say, margin differences or anything like that. I hope this gives some clarity on it.

Yes, thank you. That's very helpful. I was just wondering on the political stuff, that's helpful in terms of where your thinking is, but can you give some exposures on your business or some sort of kind of sensitivities on the thing? And I think there is policy on the sharing, on the rental income, etc., but anything that you can give around what the impact could be for Swiss Life?

Look, I mean, this is pure speculation at this point in time. I mean, again, what I think is important that you can take with you is the statement I've made about, you know, the federal initiative mid-June. In Switzerland, there is a clear sense that we have the interest of maintaining Switzerland as an attractive business. And anyway, there will be pragmatic implementations of it anyway. So to that, let's say, level, I wouldn't, let's say, expect us as a company very, very material impacts.

Perfect. Thank you.

The next question comes from Ian Peer from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Hi, morning. Thank you for taking my questions. The first one was just on the Switzerland's top-line growth, obviously very strong in Q1, particularly on the group life business. Could you just talk a little bit about what's the drivers of that really strong growth, and particularly are you seeing any benefits of disruption you might be seeing at peers? The second one was just on France, so some of the disconnect between the top line and the fee income. So it sounds like unit links growing quite strongly. Could you just talk a little bit about what's going on in the other businesses in France, particularly what you've seen on the top line in Q1? If I could just get a third one in as well on the investment result. So the sort of gross versus net investment result and saying the net investment result is sort of stable year on year. but the growth investment result will improve. Does that mean you expect the net investment results to improve year-on-year? Is that what we should be reading into that, or are you sort of diving flat on the net investment result year-on-year? Thank you.

Thank you, Ian. I leave the question of Switzerland and the investment income to Marco, and I will try to answer the French aspect.

On Switzerland, the group life business top line you referred to, I mean, there is a I noticed quite a very pleasing growth in those premiums. Driver behind it is single premiums, and this has two sources. One is existing clients. let's say, put additional money of their businesses into those products. And the second driver behind it is new business. Because into our books, I would not make a direct link to any other developments in the market. So I would say that in that, you know, from prior years in the normal course of our business, that growth, I would say. And on the investment income, I think I elaborated on that in detail on the direct investment income, on the reasons for that. This is some of the underlying assets being sold, the ethics topic, and also some timing-related things. And on a yield basis, we expect The year number 26 on the level of 25. Net investment income, I mean, I haven't said anything into the future about that. We don't guide in detail. One thing I said is the real estate value changes. We have 0.3% non-annualized positive real estate value gains. And also expect that during the presentation a similar trend like in 2025 also in 2026, meaning further increasing fair values mainly driven from the Swiss real estate portfolio. I think that gives a bit of a flavor what we expect during the remainder of the year. Hope that helps.

And then let me come to the French pipeline development, maybe across the business line. I think what is important, we said it on earlier calls, Marco mentioned it today, not only in France, but also in France, I mean, we follow profitability before growth. I mean, that's the underlying principle we have been following for years and years and years. Now, what does it mean concretely? In the life business, we were able, with our focus in the capital light, unit-linked business to grow that business. We have been growing the unit-linked business, the share of unit-linked business. That's what Marco has shown. The share in terms of unit-linked in terms of premiums has grown significantly. We are way above the market anyway. But we have de-emphasized this part which comes with the guarantees. That's the so-called fonds euros. And there the market has been behaving differently. But again, we put profitability first. And I think that explains a bit the development in the life business. So really focus on the capital life unit solutions. In health and protection, similar picture. We are protecting the profitability. We have been talking about the turnaround that we achieved in 2024, maintained in 2025. We keep focusing on profitability in that business as well. That's why we incurred, as a result also of significant price increases, a reduction of the top line by 7%. That's very significant. Clearly below the market, you know, we saw contracts. It's really profit first. P&G, which is not a very big business, but there we increased by 4%. Hope that shed some light on, let's say, the line of business view in France.

Yeah, that's great. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Thank you.

As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star followed by one. The next question comes from Jonathan Progin from Financial Wirtschaft. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi. Thank you for taking my question. I'm just a... probably last question on T-List. Is it like, was this deal necessary to reach your few result target for 1 billion in 2027 or is it just additional growth you're expecting from it? And also, you've talked, you said that last time that your project development fees are back and loading. So still like 2027 kind of, coming in. Can you give an update on that? Do you still think this is back-end loaded, or do you see some fees coming forward, coming earlier than expected? And also, maybe what's your take on interest rate movements in the euro area? I mean, we are seeing a lot of, you know, inflationary pressures. Do you expect any impacts from that? And then maybe lastly, Looking into the future, what's your next strategic initiative? I mean, you've got a wealth manager in Switzerland. What will this wealth manager play? Will this wealth manager play a more important, bigger role in your group business going forward? And where do you plan to, you know, to broaden your private markets offering in your asset management? Also, you've got a non-life insurer in France. Do you expect this? Or can you maybe say if you want to expand the offering into other markets? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, thanks. That was quite a wealth of questions. I will take the last one. Marco will say a couple of words on the real estate project development and I will finish off with Delis again. Now, let me start with your first question. I mean, we are absolutely focused on executing the current program, Swiss Life 2027. I mean, we have lots of initiatives going on here. In terms of example, you have mentioned Swiss Life Health Managers in Switzerland. We clearly have said in December 2024, I mean, Roman Stein, our CEO of Switzerland, has said he wants to establish that business as a third core business. He is working with his team on that very diligently. He, like I said, the entire executive board is working on implementing the strategy of the current program. I think we mentioned every time that we are well on track with implementation of that strategy and that we are also well on the way to achieve the financial goals of So, when there is an outlook to be made towards the next strategic period, I have to refer you to the investor's day. But the next one, as I said, we're currently focusing on the program at hand. Marco will say a couple of words on the project development.

So, on the project development, I think it's important that Overall, I mean, we may use the term back-end loaded overall for the 1 billion or the above 1 billion target 2027 overall for the group. In the few results and also in asset management, the project development business is located. Obviously, there is higher numbers. Why is it higher numbers? During the different years, we have the total income growing. I think that's something we aim for. the share of the non-recurring part, including the project development business, that's something we expect to be around 25 this year, so in 2026, as well next year in 2027, again, around 25% of that share. The share of the project development business is equally distributed over the current and the next year, but because the total income is higher, the absolute number obviously also becomes higher and contributes more to the at least one billion we aim for in 2027. I think that's the way how I can explain it. Overall, the business itself is not back and loaded. It is dynamic during the year, over different years, but we aim for the 25% also this year.

And let me close that with the DLIS. As I mentioned in my first answers that we are well underway to achieve also our financial goals and that is also the answer. No, we do not need the DLIS acquisition to reach our free result target. Having said that, our strategy is organic, but if we see an opportunity that fits in terms of strategy, financials, and also culture, then we are open to acquire a business. And here we really had a very good opportunity, and that's why we clearly have seized it.

There was also one question, if I listen carefully to it in regards to the interest rate environment, right? I mean, as always, we monitor those. Those developments for us are important because of our resilience business model we have shown also in the past that we can navigate ourselves to different rate environments given the life insurance arm of our business as well as the real estate arm and the natural hatch. We see and therefore we are still in the base case environment how we think about things. while obviously always monitoring it and being ready to react if, I have to say, necessary.

Great. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. The next question comes from Matteo Lindauer from Fontobel. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. A quick one on your European real estate portfolio. Could you give us some more color on the revaluation effects for the European properties? And also, how did your vacancy rate develop outside the Swiss portfolio? And the second topic is on your net new assets. Could you give us a split of the inflows to the respective asset classes? Where were the strongest inflows you have seen in the first quarter? Thank you very much.

I think I'll hand over to Marco for both.

It was even three questions. On the real estate, we reported the fair value. The positive change is 0.3% non-annualized driven by the Swiss portfolio. Outside of Switzerland, I would elaborate on that or describe that that's rather a flattish development with some movement, so the positive value changes were clearly driven by the Swiss portfolio. Making C rates overall, they decreased, positively decreased from 3.1 to 2.9. This is almost, given also the underlying portfolio, mainly driven by the Swiss movement, we had some positive effects also in the French portfolio, but we don't disclose that in more detail. But overall, as you have seen, the number decreased, and in the net new assets, also not disclosing all the details. I mean, important for us, we have real assets, 0.8 billion, 0.7 of it is real estate inflows, 0.1 billion infrastructure. We have quite a large share of index business, so that's securities. And as I mentioned during the call, some outflows mainly related to money market. I think that gives you a good view on the flows, which are overall index-driven, but quite a share of real assets. Perfect. Thank you very much.

The next question comes from Michele Ballazore from KBW. Please, go ahead.

Yes, thank you very much for taking my question. My question is around more generally on M&A. I mean, I think obviously this is more a bolt-on kind of acquisition, but in general, in terms of the approach to M&A, what are you usually looking for in a target? And Specifically, for example, in Germany, what is the competition that you face when you identify, let's say, a potential target?

Thank you. Thank you. In terms of M&A, I think it's very clear. We have a Polton strategy, and Polton means we do opportunistic deals because our targets are organic. Hold-on also means we do not go up too much in size. And if we look in terms of focus, it is clearly in our feed businesses where we have prospectively and also retrospectively put our focus or meaning in the IFA businesses. in the asset management area, that's where we have been focused our M&A activity. What is key, and I think I've mentioned that also before for us, it's the strategic factor that is absolutely crucial. It has to accelerate our strategy. We need, obviously, the financials to be in line with our expectation. Most important, or equally important, I would say, is the cultural fit. Because specifically in the areas of the fee businesses, there are people behind the success of those businesses. And retaining these people on board is absolutely crucial. And I think, coming now to the example in Germany, That's what we could offer. We could offer to the founding family an environment where we could clearly demonstrate we would retain a well-established steelist brand. And they knew it's not just that we would claim it. We have a track record of that within our Swiss Life Germany IFA program. Roof, if you wish, we have four different brands. Now we will have a fifth one that we have developed that have given individual financial advisors the opportunity to grow, to develop. And I think that's something we have had as, I would say, a unique offering kind of to the founding family. who, as I said, will stay with us on board. I hope that gives some indication, M&A approach, how we think about it, and specifically also what this meant for the German transaction. Thanks. You're welcome.

The next question comes from Henry Heathfield from Morningstar. Please go ahead.

Oh, good morning. Thank you very much for taking my questions. Just a few quick applications and one question on Switzerland and international please. Just on TELUS, could you confirm that the purchase is 100% outright or is there a stake left for the family? And then the 200 million fee income, when do you expect that to fully come into your account? And then lastly, I was wondering if you'd give us an update on the number of financial advisors you have in the Swiss and the international business, please.

I think Marco will do the financial advisors, because as I said, it's a Q1 thing, and I will then say a couple of words on the list.

On the financial advisors in Switzerland, the number is around 500. And in international, it's on around the basis 1.7. And the number in Germany, I think I've mentioned during the call, 6,140.45.

And on the C-list transaction, we purchase 100%. So up front, we go for the full stake. What I mentioned that the family remains involved or on board is they are in an advisory role, but we have the full ownership of the company. That said, they will remain on board, so to say, in an advisory position. And the 200 million fee income asset, we expect that for the full year 27 to be the first time on a full year basis included in the accounts asset. Closing of the deal is expected in the third quarter of 26. So in 26, we will see a share of that 200 million.

Is that 1,500 in Switzerland?

About 500, around, around, not 1,000, around 500.

500, okay. Thank you very much.

We have a follow-up question from Michael Hutner from Bernberg. Please, go ahead.

Thank you. Most of my questions have been answered. You've been doing such a great job. I had two. One is, I know you said it's a Q1 thing, but I just wondered if you can give us a feel for the trend or whatever of net new assets. And then the other one is, so many years ago, I think it was a 2021 investor day or 20, I can't remember. I asked her what the success of Swift Life is linked to because you've got all these countries and brands and stuff. And the answer then is basically you make the local CEOs come to Switzerland and then Effectively, without you doing anything, I think they spend the night or the day cooped up together, and then they start competing. Is that still how you do it? It's almost like voluntary competition between all these units, or what drives it? Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. I mean, first of all, the notion of us doing nothing is maybe not the right one, but you're absolutely right. We have this entrepreneurial spirit among the business divisions. They stand also in front of the investors, the analysts at investors. They know they have to deliver, they want to deliver, and I think... That's one of the drivers of our success. At the same time, we also give them to really lift their entrepreneurial spirit and their team's entrepreneurial spirit room to really pursue their ambitions. Now, in terms of the NNAs, we all know this. NNA figured this may vary quarter by quarter. We have seen that in the past years. What I can say is that, you know, we target $170 billion in TPAM by the end of 2027. And we had a really very good start into the year with the $4.2 billion. And we are on track to reach those $170 billion by the end of 2027. And we do not need to achieve four billion a quarter to reach that. Let's be confident that we reached 170. Thank you very much.

Our last question is a follow-up from Thomas Bateman from Mediabankra. Please go ahead.

Hi, thanks for coming back. I always listen to your confidence on the fee result target that maybe investors are a little bit more sceptical With this deal, should I assume the new target is closer to 1 billion and 30 million? There should be an incremental step up from this. And just a second question is on your thoughts on share buybacks in the future. Obviously, the current share buyback has almost ended. You've now chosen to do a deal, which I like, although the lack of disclosure on the consideration is a little bit difficult. But how shall I think about share buybacks over the next 12 months, given you've done this deal?

Thank you. For the question, maybe on the first one, you know, we said the fee result will be larger than $1 billion for the financial year 2027. There's nothing to add. As I said, we mentioned... that we are well on track to reach also that target. We continue to be that, and there's no, let's say, additional guidance to be given. You may recall that, as a matter of principle, we don't adjust targets anyway. So it's still larger than $1 billion unchanged, if you wish. In terms of how we think about, you know, share buybacks versus, you know, also in light of the deal we just have taken. You know, the framework is well known, I think, given the time. I will not walk you through the details of the framework. I said well known. What I may say is what I just, I think, answered in a question to Michael. We have recently issued this senior bond for general purposes, and large parts of that will be used to finance the acquisition. So net-net, there will be no impact on the cash upholding vis-a-vis the level that Marco has mentioned per end of Q1. I hope that gives you some color on how we think.

That's helpful. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your questions and for joining us today. Before we close the call, let me recap. In the first three months of 2026, we continued on our growth path and increased the top line in both the fee and the insurance businesses. We're making good progress, and we're well on track with our Swiss Life 2027 program. So thank you again, and I wish you a nice day. Goodbye.

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