UBS Group AG

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to the UBS second quarter 2025 results. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and one on your telephone. Should you need operator assistance, please press star and zero. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Sarah McKee, UBS Investor Relations. Please go ahead, madam.

Good morning and welcome, everyone. Before we start, I would like to draw your attention to our cautionary statement slide at the back of today's results presentation. Please also refer to the risk factors included in our annual report, together with additional disclosures in our SEC filings. On slide two, you can see our agenda for today. It's now my pleasure to hand over to Sergio Amotti, Group CEO.

Thank you, Sara, and good morning, everyone. We sustained robust momentum during a quarter that started with extreme volatility by staying close to our clients and successfully executing the first wave of our Swiss client account migrations, a critical phase of our integration. This drove strong quarterly results, which contributed to a first half underlying return on CT1 capital of 13.3%. These results highlight the power of our differentiated business model and our diversified global footprint, one of which are reinforced by our balance sheet for all seasons and our disciplined efforts to steadily improve risk-adjusted returns since the Credit Suisse acquisition. Our clients continue to value the breadth of our advice and global capabilities. Our invested assets reached $6.6 trillion, and private and institutional and client activity was robust across all our regions. Global wealth management continues to attract flows into our discretionary solutions, and we are encouraged by another quarter of improving demand for loans. We have made significant progress in migrating portfolios and streamlining our fund shelf within asset management, positioning us to substantially complete the integration of this business by year-end. These efforts are unlocking the benefits of greater scale and enhanced capabilities, particularly within our unified global alternatives unit, where we have attracted 18 billion in client commitments year to date. Invested assets now exceed 300 billion, and this momentum reinforces our standing as a top player in alternatives. In Switzerland, we remain steadfast in our commitment to act as a reliable partner for the Swiss economy. During the quarter, we granted or renewed 40 billion Swiss francs of loans as we facilitated client activity and also partnered with our clients in their activities across the globe. Meanwhile, the investment bank delivered a record second quarter in global markets. This reflects the strength of our equities franchise, where we are benefiting from market share gains. It also highlights the value of our leading FX business, where our expertise helps our institutional clients and Swiss corporate clients navigate market volatility. In global banking, while I am encouraged by the continued strengthening of our deal pipeline, client execution of strategic plans was delayed once again this quarter due to ongoing market uncertainties related to international trade and economic policies. Looking into the third quarter, we continue to prioritize the needs of our clients while further advancing our integration efforts. As we continue to see strong market performance in risk assets combined with a weak U.S. dollar, investor sentiment remains broadly constructive, albeit tempered by ongoing uncertainties and a degree of news fatigue. Having said that, clients are ready to deploy capital as soon as conviction around the macro outlook strengthens. Moving to the integration, we remain on track to substantially complete by the end of 2026. Recently, we completed the migration of Credit Suisse client accounts booked outside Switzerland. We have also now moved 400,000 client accounts booked in Switzerland from the Credit Suisse platform with minimal disruption and a positive response. We are on track to migrate around 500,000 clients more through by the end of this year and the balance of the migration is set to be completed by the end of the first quarter, 2026. The same time, we further simplified our operations across the organization and made good progress in our active wind-down efforts in non-core and legacy, particularly around costs. This also supports our strong capital position with a CET1 capital ratio of 14.4%. This is allowing us to follow through on our 2025 capital return objectives as we accrue for a double-digit increase in our dividend and are executing on our share buyback plans. As we said in June, we will communicate our 2026 capital return plans with our four-quarter and full year results in February. As importantly, our continued momentum is generating capital enabling us to strategically invest across the globe to support our clients and position UBS for the future. We remain focused on our targeted investment in the Americas to support our financial advisors and improve profitability. At the same time, we aim to further leverage our position as the number one wealth manager in APAC to drive growth while reinforcing our leadership in EMEA and Switzerland. Supporting this objective is a consistent investment in infrastructure and AI to increase resilience, enhance client service, and support our employees. Following the rollout of our in-house assistant, RED, the implementation of 55,000 Microsoft Copilot licenses We saw four times as many Jain AI prompts this quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Building on this, we are now extending access to Copilot so that all of our employees will be able to integrate AI into their daily workflow. We will continue to invest in our global capabilities to capitalize on the benefits of our diversified business model and global footprint. This remains a critical priority as we look beyond the integration and prepare for long-term success. Of course, one critical point defining our future will be the outcome of the ongoing debate on regulation in Switzerland. As this is the first time I'm talking to you since the publication of the Swiss Federal Council's proposal on June 6, let me start by reiterating a few points. For over a decade, UBS has delivered enduring value to all its stakeholders, including Switzerland and its taxpayers, through a sustainable business model and a balance sheet for all seasons. This is underpinned by a robust risk management culture alongside a strong governance framework. We have done this while implementing regulatory requirements with rigor. This is why it is our obligation to contribute to the ongoing debate with facts and data. In principle, we support most of the proposals as long as they are consistent with the Swiss Federal Council's aims of being targeted proportionate and internationally aligned. However, the proposed changes to the capital regime do not meet those criteria and are even more extreme when you consider Switzerland's finalization of Basel III rules well ahead of other jurisdictions. The proposals fail to recognize that UBS has had a consistently strong capital position. business model and risk management framework, and the fact that UBS has not relied on regulatory concessions or overly aggressive valuations of foreign participations. Further, it disregards the significant diversification value our foreign subsidiaries provide to all of our stakeholders, including our clients in Switzerland. We are strong thanks to our global footprint, not in spite of it. In addition, the proposal at ordinance level only consumes surplus capital and cosmetically reduce the group CT1 ratio. This would under-represent the true capital strength of the firm on an absolute basis and relative to peers. As we said in June, after including the impact of integrating Credit Suisse and applying the current progressive add-ons, UBS would be required to hold 42 billion of additional capital. While I have no doubt that our highly capital-generative business model would allow us to meet these requirements over time, they would clearly impact our return on tangible equities. which I believe will become the more relevant return measure. Theories that we can easily absorb or mitigate these capital increases and operate with a group CT1 capital ratio only slightly above peers do not reflect reality. No matter how CT1 capital ratios are presented, the proposal still results in an increase of around 24 billion in capital at the parent bank. Of course, we will evaluate all potential and appropriate measures to address negative effects for our shareholders, but any mitigation strategies, even if feasible, would come at a significant cost. This is not just our view. The expert opinions commissioned by the Federal Council also highlighted the significant risks these proposals present for Switzerland. We are finalizing our assessment of all 22 proposals, including capital, liquidity, resolution and governance, for submission to the public consultation process, which concludes at the end of September. As soon as we are ready, we also intend to provide a public explanation of our position on some of the most relevant aspects. Based on the fact that we are already operating with a robust capital buffer and we expect no changes before 2027, we maintain our 2026 underlying exit rate targets of a return on CT1 capital of around 15% and a cost income ratio of less than 70%. We will provide an update on our longer-term return targets as soon as we have more visibility on timing and outcome from the ongoing political process. In the meantime, I'm confident that we can continue to deliver on what's within our control. Serving clients, completing the integration, supporting all the communities where we live and work, and position UBS for long-term success for the benefits of all stakeholders. So summing up, I'm very pleased with our performance in the quarter, and I'm enormously proud of my colleagues for their continued dedication in a complex and uncertain environment. With that, I hand over to Todd.