UBS Group AG

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to the UBS second quarter 2026 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 Mackey, 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. Throughout our remarks we will refer to underlying results in US dollars and make year-over-year comparisons unless stated otherwise. On slide 2 you can see our agenda for today. It's now my pleasure to hand over to Sergio Ermotti, Group CEO.

Thank you, Sarah, and good morning, everyone. Almost three years ago, we presented our first set of consolidated results. From the beginning, I made it clear that the acquisition of Krelis Reels was not a gift that we received, but rather a prize that we would have all had to fight to win. As expected, the journey was not a straight line. It required a lot of hard work from my colleagues at UBS and painful decisions. Now these efforts are paying off and the extraordinary patience and support of our shareholders is starting to be rewarded. In the first half of the year, we achieved a return on CT1 capital of around 17%. While the year is not over, We are close to achieving the same level of profitability UBS had prior to the acquisition, underscoring our efforts over the last three years. Just as importantly, we laid the foundation to drive sustainable value creation and long-term growth while providing enhanced capabilities to our clients and even better opportunities for our people. The second quarter provided further evidence of the power of our globally diversified franchise and our potential. Markets remained remarkably resilient and client sentiment was constructive, supported by growing confidence in the long-term outlook for global growth and continued investment in AI and emerging technologies. Against this backdrop, Our integrated one bank model remains a key driver of growth as we deliver the full breadth of our capabilities across the firm to clients, deepening relationships, and reinforcing our competitive position. This was reflected in another quarter of robust inflows into our global wealth and asset management platforms, which drove Group invested assets to a record of $7.3 trillion. The value of collaboration is most evident in the performance of our APAC and Americas regions. This quarter, where we achieved several revenue records across our franchises. Profit before tax doubled in APAC and grew by 85% in the Americas. In Switzerland, we granted or renewed around 40 billion Swiss francs of loans to businesses and households. and we saw broad-based growth across all our businesses moved in Switzerland and for the first full quarter in which we were operating on UBS platforms. Investment Bank delivered another quarter of exceptional returns while maintaining risk and capital discipline, a reflection of our strengthened competitive position and the enhanced scale We are also close to substantially completing the integration by the end of the year as planned. With all clients migrated and the wind down of non-core and legacy nearing completion, more than 90% of legacy business applications are no longer in use. This enables us to accelerate decommissioning and further simplify our operations. As we realize cost synergies, we continue to strategically invest to drive long-term growth by expanding our technological capabilities including AI, digital assets, and infrastructure. We are empowering our colleagues with the tools and skills needed to accelerate adoption and deliver greater value for clients and help improve productivity in the coming years. Our performance to date has resulted in healthy capital generation. This has further fortified our balance sheet for all seasons and allows us to continue to deploy resources towards profitable growth opportunities to support clients and deliver on our capital return ambitions. With our latest share repurchase program just finished, we are continuing with another program under which we intend to buy back $3 billion of shares at the latest by the end of the second quarter, 2027. We plan to buy back at least $1 billion over the next three months. The amount and pace will remain subject. to our short-term financial performance and outlook, maintaining a CT1 capital ratio of around 14%, and further visibility on the deliberations by the Swiss Parliament on the capitalization of foreign subsidiaries. As we enter the third quarter, market conditions remain broadly constructive, supported by healthy client engagement The continued broadening of market leadership and historically elevated equity dispersion. At the same time, ongoing geopolitical developments and volatile energy prices lead to high levels of uncertainty around inflation and interest rate outlook. This could contribute to changes in macroeconomic conditions, periods of elevated volatility and more measured investor sentiment. In closing, we entered the second half of the year with considerable momentum and we are well positioned to outperform our 2026 exit rate return target and achieve our exit rate cost-income ratio target. But we know that conditions can change quickly and important work remains. As a result, we remain firmly focused on what we can control. Staying close to clients completing the integration, executing on our growth plans, and managing risk with discipline. All while remaining a trusted partner in the communities where we live and work.