Principal Financial Group Inc

Good morning and welcome to the Principal Financial Group first quarter 2026 financial results conference call. There will be a question and answer period after the speakers have completed their prepared remarks. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. We would ask that you be respectful of others and limit your questions to one and a follow up so we can get to everyone in the queue. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Humphrey Lee, Vice President of Investor Relations.

Thank you and good morning. Welcome to Principal Financial Group's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. As always, material related to today's call are available on our website at investors.principles.com. Following a reading of the Safe Harbor provision, CEO Deanna Strabo and CFO Joel Pitts will deliver prepared remarks. We will then open the call for questions. Members of senior management are also available for Q&A. Some of the comments made during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. The company does not revise or update them to reflect new information, subsequent events, or changes in strategy. risks and certainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied are discussed in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, filed by the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, Some of the comments made during this conference call may refer to non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures may be found in our earnings release, financial supplement, and slide presentation. Deanna?

Thanks, Humphrey, and good morning to everyone on the call. This morning I'll discuss our strong first quarter performance and the steady execution of our strategy focused on delivering sustained growth across our diversified businesses. Joel will then provide additional details on our financial results and capital position. Starting with slide two, we delivered 13% adjusted non-GAAP earnings per share growth in the first quarter, above the high end of our target range. This performance was primarily driven by favorable underwriting results and improved mortality within our benefits and protection business, as well as positive market conditions for our fee-based businesses. This contributed to strong revenue growth and margin expansion. Strong performance and capital generation enabled us to return approximately $375 million of capital to shareholders in the quarter, including $200 million of share repurchases. We also raised our common stock dividend for the 12th consecutive quarter, an 8% increase on both a quarterly and trailing 12-month basis. Taken together, these results underscore the value of our diversified business model. Moving to slide three, we continue to make progress across our strategic growth drivers. the broad retirement ecosystem, small and mid-sized businesses, and global asset management. Within the retirement ecosystem, we're starting the year with broad-based momentum. Total retirement transfer deposits of $12 billion in the quarter grew 35% year over year, and recurring deposits grew 7% over the same time period. This growth reflects our ability to win new business as well as retain and grow existing clients, with a comprehensive suite of capabilities across recordkeeping, asset management, investment advice, and income solutions. We're growing our participant base and helping them save more for retirement. This is evidenced by a 3% increase in the number of participants deferring into their retirement plans compared to the year-ago quarter, with average deferrals up over 3% as well. Participants continue to consolidate retirement savings onto our platform with $1.7 billion of roll-ins in the quarter. When participants consolidate their retirement savings with us, this further reinforces their confidence in the strength of our platform and our ability to provide customized advice and solutions to meet their needs. Our retirement investment expertise, an important growth driver within the retirement ecosystem, is further gaining traction with third-party retirement platforms. This is evidenced by DCIO sales of $2 billion in the quarter and nearly $8 billion over the trailing 12 months. For the small and mid-sized business segment, our differentiated capabilities and deep expertise are driving results. In retirement, the SMB market continues to perform well. Recurring deposits grew 6% over the year-ago quarter and 7% on a trailing 12-month basis. Strong new business activity and favorable retention resulted in positive account value net cash flow of $600 million for the quarter. In benefits and protection, our broad and meaningful value proposition to the S&B segment continues to drive growth and deepen customer relationships. Specialty benefits delivered record sales up 24% over the year-ago quarter. Additionally, business market life premium and fees grew 15% year-over-year, demonstrating robust demand for specialized solutions which help business owners protect key employees and fund critical succession strategies. Our latest well-being index, fielded in late March, confirms steady employment trends, with 90% of small and mid-sized business owners indicating they are maintaining or increasing staff. When we look at our own block, across 180,000 diverse businesses in group benefits and retirement, both employment and wage growth have remained positive and are contributing to growth. In global asset management, we're generating momentum with record growth sales and investment management of $37 billion, up 21% year over year. This growth is directly related to in-demand product offerings and our strength and distribution relationships across global markets. Our private markets capabilities remain attractive to clients globally, generating net inflows of $400 million in the quarter and $3 billion on a trailing 12-month basis. Private markets AUM grew 11% year-over-year due to ongoing demand for our real estate, infrastructure, and private credit strategies. Our active ETF business continues to gain traction and deliver net inflows of $400 million in the quarter and $1.8 billion on a trailing 12-month basis. Additionally, we generated strong net cash flow of $1.5 billion in the quarter from clients outside the U.S. Looking across these three growth drivers, I'm encouraged by this momentum. The breadth of our retirement solutions, our leadership position in serving small and mid-sized businesses, and our expanding global asset management capabilities create multiple avenues for sustained growth. We also continue to innovate in how we serve and engage customers across the enterprise, leveraging data, and emerging technologies, including AI. We're deploying these capabilities across the organization to improve productivity, deepen customer relationships, and continuously improve the experience we deliver every day. Before I turn this over to Joel, I want to share some of the important recognitions we've received. For the 15th time, Principal has been named one of the world's most ethical companies. This recognition from Ethisphere, which I am incredibly proud of, underscores our long-standing commitment to integrity, transparency, and responsible business practices. Principal Asset Management was also recognized as the winner of the Data Center Firm of the Year in North America by PERE, a leading private markets publication. This award highlights our decades-long expertise, growing capabilities, and track record in this sector. Together, these recognitions reinforce the strength of our culture and competitive advantages that differentiate principle in the marketplace. In closing, the momentum we're seeing across our businesses gives us confidence in our ability to deliver our financial targets. As we expand our customer base to 82 million people worldwide, we remain focused on disciplined execution, sustainable growth, and creating long-term value for our customers and shareholders. Our strong performance this quarter reflects the dedication of our 19,000 employees around the world. Their focus on serving customers and executing with discipline allowed us to capitalize on opportunities early in the year and positions us well for continued growth as we move through 2026. Joel?