LendingClub Corporation

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us and welcome to the Lending Club Q1 2026 earnings conference call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand. If you have dialed into today's call, please press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute. I will now hand the conference over to Artem Naleviko, head of investor relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good afternoon. Welcome to LendingClub's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining me today to talk about our results are Scott Sanborn, CEO, and Drula Ben, CFO. You can find the presentation accompanying our earnings release on the investor relations section of our website. On the call, in addition to questions from analysts, we will also be answering some of the questions that were submitted for consideration via email or through the SAIT Technologies platform. Our remarks today will include forward-looking statements, including with respect to our competitive advantages, demand for our loans and marketplace products, or future business and financial performance. Our actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these results to differ materially are described in today's press release and earnings presentation. Any forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on current expectations and assumptions, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events. Our remarks also include non-GAAP measures relating to our performance, including tangible book value per common share and return on tangible common equity. You can find more information on our use of non-GAAP measures and a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in today's earnings release and presentation. Finally, please note all financial comparisons in today's prepared remarks are to the prior year period unless otherwise noted. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Scott.

All right. Thank you, Artem. Welcome, everyone. We had a great start to 2026, delivering 31% year-on-year growth in originations, to $2.7 billion, while achieving record pre-tax earnings of $67 million and a return on tangible common equity of 14.5%. We're not just growing, we're growing profitably. In addition to the strong financial results, we're also delivering our key strategic priorities, including expanding into the new home improvement vertical, driving AI-enabled operating efficiency, and introducing the upcoming rebrand to Happen Bank. Our new brand better reflects what we have become and why we exist to clear the way for people going places. Happen Bank is centered around our members who we call the motivated middle. Millions of high FICO, high income consumers who are digitally savvy, value conscious, and focused on making progress. They are active users of credit and are looking for products that deliver reliable value, are easy to understand, and are effortless to use. Products that clear the way for what's next and help them make it happen. That's exactly what we're designed to do, and it's why we've been successful in attracting and retaining this desirable audience. Feedback from members, prospects, partners, and employees has been enthusiastic because the brand speaks not only to our broad ambitions, but also to our promise. Beyond that, it also signals a clear visual and emotional differentiation from tired conventional banking norms. The motivated middle use credit intentionally as a strategic tool to achieve meaningful life goals, and they're just as intentional and disciplined in how they pay it back. Our focus on this customer, supported by our advanced underwriting models and enormous data advantage, has allowed us to sustain more than 40% credit outperformance relative to our competition for more than five years. That translates to meaningful value for our members and compelling returns for our marketplace investors. These strong returns are supporting growth in our marketplace with new buyers coming on board across all of our sales channels. Despite the noise in the environment, we remain oversubscribed with an ability to sell more loans than we are generating. and average loan sales prices improved further in the quarter as it has in eight of the last nine quarters. Our strong funding and proven ability to underwrite loans through a seamless experience is extensible to other categories where the motivated middle is able to make responsible use of credit. Through our major purchase finance business, we're increasingly present with them at the point of decision, whether they're getting braces for their kids, or trying to start a family with fertility treatments. We provide seamless embedded financing supported by our proprietary underwriting to generate affordable payment options for the member and immediate funding to the provider. That model has proven successful in driving meaningful growth with strong credit outcomes. In fact, major purchase finance delivered its third consecutive quarter of record issuance. We're now bringing our powerful capabilities to bear in the half trillion dollar home improvement market where we believe we have a clear right to win as of this month we started underwriting and issuing home improvement loans through our inaugural partnership with wisetac an embedded platform that reaches over 40 000 contractors the benefits are clear homeowners get instant offers and real-time approvals that allow them to make their projects happen and contractors get timely funding and better close rates, especially on larger projects. Home improvement represents a powerful new opportunity to attract, delight, and engage the motivated middle in moments that matter, and allows our members to use credit responsibly to add value to their home. Beyond WiseTAC, we're seeing strong interest from additional partners, which gives us confidence in the category's growth over time. As we add new partners, The Mosaic code base we acquired last year will allow us to deliver our proprietary capabilities through rapid onboarding, integration, and management of direct relationships with contractors and partners. Our lending business delivers meaningful value to the motivated middle. An average 700 basis point savings on credit card refinancing. An average $2,500 lifetime savings on auto refinancing. and affordable point-of-sale financing for life's major purchases. Our deposit offerings deliver similar value. Our award-winning level-up checking and savings accounts are designed to align positive financial outcomes for members with positive financial outcomes for Lending Club, a win-win dynamic that's all too uncommon in traditional banking. For example, level-up checking rewards borrowers with 2% cash back for on-time loan payments. encouraging good financial behavior and benefiting credit performance. We've seen a 6x increase in checking account openings over our prior product, with 60% of those accounts coming from borrowers. We're also seeing a 10x year-over-year growth in the number of loan payments coming from a Lending Club checking account. Our Level Up Savings account rewards ongoing savings behavior with a higher rate. It might surprise you to know that nearly one in four of these accounts are being opened by borrowers. Furthermore, for borrowers who have paid off their loan, they've built an average savings of about $19,000, which represents tremendous financial progress for members who originally came to us with roughly that same amount in credit card debt. You can see how our lending and banking products work together in a system aligned by design to deliver more value for both members and our business. Now let me turn to how we're leveraging AI for improvements in both efficiency and customer experience and the tangible benefits we're already seeing. Over 90% of loan issuance is now fully automated, requiring no human intervention. We have reduced the time needed to submit a debt consolidation application by nearly 60%, and we delivered record low production cost per issued personal loan in the first quarter. We have numerous AI initiatives underway across the organization, and our pace of AI-enabled change is accelerating, and we expect that to result in continuing improvements in both experience and operating efficiency. In close, our year is off to an outstanding start. We're delivering strong growth and profitability, continuing to outperform on credit, expanding into new markets, and preparing to launch a brand that reflects the true scale of our ambition. At the same time, we remain mindful of the broader environment. Our emphasis on disciplined underwriting, responsible growth, and focused and efficient execution positions us well to navigate uncertainty while continuing to deliver for our members and shareholders. Before turning it over to Drew, I want to thank the Lending Club team for making it happen. It's an exciting time to be at the company with a new brand on the way, an incredible new headquarters building in San Francisco, and lots of momentum in the business. Employees are buzzing, and we're seeing that excitement reflected in our results. Okay, over to you, Drew.