Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Citizens Financial Group Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Denise, and I'll be your operator today. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a brief question-and-answer session. As a reminder, this event is being recorded. Now I'll turn the call over to Chris Emerson, Head of Investor Relations. Chris, you may begin.

Thank you, Denise. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. First this morning, our chairman and CEO, Bruce Van Saun, and our CFO, Aunoy Banerjee, will provide an overview of our third quarter results. Brendan Coughlin, our president, and Ted Swimmer, our head of commercial banking, are also here to provide additional color. We will be referencing our third quarter presentation, which is located on our investor relations website. After the presentation, we'll be happy to take questions. Our comments today will include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause our results to differ materially from expectations. These are outlined for your review in the presentation. We also reference non-GAAP financial measures, so it's important to review our GAAP results in the presentation and the reconciliations in the appendix. And with that, I will hand over to Bruce.

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining our call today. We delivered another good quarter in Q3 as our strong momentum continues. EPS growth was 8.5% sequential quarter, 34% year on year, and ROTCE improved to 15.1%. We continue to deliver strong positive operating leverage, 1.8% sequential quarter, and 5.3% year on year. Total revenues hit a record in Q3, paced by NII growth of 2.7% sequential quarter and up 13% year-on-year. Notwithstanding some interest rate movement and volatility during the quarter, we saw our NIM meet expectations with two basis point increase to 3.19%, which positions us for strong NIM expansion in Q4. Loans and deposits were broadly flat, As expected, given some loan pull forward into Q2 and seasonality on deposits, which will turn favorable in Q4. Fees were down slightly given volatile capital markets conditions, which resulted in some deals pushing into Q4. We still believe that market conditions remain healthy as we enter Q4, and our pipelines are very strong, particularly in M&A, which is at record levels. We do not see the current level of rates introducing any real stress on our various loan portfolios. Credit metrics remain broadly positive. Our capital, liquidity, and funding positions remain strong. Given our consistent growth in earnings, the Board authorized an increase in our dividend of 13% to $0.52 per share. In addition, the Board also increased the capacity of the company's common share repurchase program to 1.95 billion, an increase of 1.3 billion. Notwithstanding lower AOCI adjusted set one ratio in the quarter, we are comfortable operating with our gross set one a little above our 10 to 10.5% target range, which will still allow for at least 200 million in Q4 share repurchases. We continue to progress our strategic initiatives with good consistent progress across the private bank and wealth build out Reimagine the Bank, Our Consumer Next Branch Project, Attracting Talent to the Commercial Bank, and Growing Our New York Metro Presence. We have significant resources dedicated to leveraging AI and to driving a strong cybersecurity framework and capabilities. Overall, there's lots to do, but we feel we are prioritizing and executing well. We feel good about our outlook for Q4, and we feel we are positioned well for 2027 and the medium term. Our view of the macro fundamentals remains positive, though we expect uncertainty and volatility to remain high. With that, I'll turn it over to Aunoy for the financial details.