Lincoln National Corporation

Thank you for standing by. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Lincoln Financial first quarter 2026 earnings webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Today, we will be limiting you to one question and one follow up. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad.

if you would like to withdraw your question press star one again thank you i would now like to turn the call over to john muthing head of investor relations you may begin thank you good morning everyone and welcome to our first quarter earnings call we appreciate your interest in lincoln our quarterly earnings press release earnings supplement statistical supplement can all be found on the investor relations page of our website www.linkinfinancial.com These documents include reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures used on today's call, including adjusted income from operations and adjusted income from operations available to common stockholders, or adjusted operating income to their most comparable GAAP measures. Before we begin, I want to remind you that any statements made during today's call regarding expectations, future actions, trends in our businesses, prospective services or products, future performance or financial results, including those relating to deposits, expenses, income from operations, free cash flow or free cash flow conversion ratios, share repurchases, liquidity and capital resources, are forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These four looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. These risks and uncertainties include those described in the cautionary statement disclosures in our earnings release issued earlier this morning, as well as those detailed in our 2025 annual report on Form 10-K, most recently quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and from time to time in our other filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements are made only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to correct or update any of them to reflect events or circumstances that occur after today. Presenting this morning are Ellen Cooper, Chairman, President, and CEO, and Chris Nazipour, Chief Financial Officer. After their prepared remarks, we'll address your questions. Let me now turn the call over to Ellen.

Ellen. Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our call today. Our first quarter results reflect continued execution with adjusted operating income increasing 16%, marking our seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. This performance is the cumulative impact of the actions we have taken over the past several years to strengthen our balance sheet, build a more efficient operating model, and diversify our business mix. Together, these are building the resilience that positions Lincoln for durable value creation in the years ahead. Anchoring this performance are three priorities that guide our strategy. fortifying our capital foundation, optimizing our operating model, and driving profitable growth across our businesses. Our capital foundation remains strong with capital levels well above our established buffer and our leverage ratio at our long-term target. The capital buffer is sized to provide a cushion against adverse economic conditions, allowing us to maintain steady execution as we advance our strategy. We have also made meaningful progress on our operating model. This includes continuing to leverage our Bermuda affiliate to enhance capital efficiency, optimizing our investment strategy, and maintaining expense discipline alongside investments in digital capabilities and automation that improve the customer experience and support the growth of our businesses. We see additional opportunity ahead to drive broader enterprise operating leverage while enhancing how we serve our customers through higher employee productivity, more streamlined processes, and unlocking capacity for further innovation. At the same time, we are advancing profitable growth across our businesses, balancing top line momentum with profitability and capital efficiency. Our focus remains on segments and products where we can compete beyond price, leveraging the depth of our distribution relationships, the breadth of our product suite, and our differentiated capabilities to meet our financial objectives with attractive risk adjusted returns and more predictable stable cash flows. The mix of business we are writing is increasingly shaped by this approach, providing a foundation for our ability to sustain value creation over time. Underpinning these priorities, we are growing the core capital generation of the company, deploying that capital to sharpen our competitive advantages, broaden our moat, and drive growth in free cash flow over time. Results will not always be linear and the economic backdrop can be uncertain, but our momentum is building, our track record is increasingly evident, and we remain committed to creating long-term value. Each of our businesses made progress against these priorities in the first quarter group protection had another strong quarter with earnings growth and margin expansion. Life insurance produce solid earnings with sales up over 30% year over year driven by growth across core life and executive benefits. Retirement plan services generated earnings growth with the realignment of this business still in its early stages. And in annuities, we shifted further toward a more balanced, less market sensitive business mix with sales aligned to our deliberate approach and earnings carrying the known headwinds we previously communicated. Our annuities business had another solid quarter supported by diversified sales and strength in our distribution relationships. We offer a broad set of products across RILO fixed and variable annuities with and without living benefits, enabling us to meet customer needs across a range of market environments. As we discussed last quarter, our new business approach centers on balancing profitability, capital efficiency, and lower market sensitivity. Our first quarter results reflect that discipline across each of our product lines. Total sales were 3.9 billion with spread-based products representing 64% of sales as we evolve toward a more balanced and less market-sensitive business mix. Starting with Ryla, as we shared last quarter, we expect sales this year to be in line with the average of the past several years as we emphasize the parts of this segment where we compete beyond price through our unique product features, crediting strategies, and depth of our distribution relationships. A clear signal of that approach is our second generation Ryla launched nearly two years ago, which was recognized by SRP in 2025 as the most innovative annuity product. First quarter RILA sales were up year over year and lower sequentially, consistent with our objective to prioritize profitability over volume. As we mentioned last quarter, within fixed annuities, we see the most runway to grow over time across our annuity portfolio, particularly in fixed indexed annuities, where our crediting strategies and product features allow us to compete beyond price. First quarter FIA sales increased over 90% year over year. supported by differentiated offerings, broader distribution, and enhanced digital capabilities. Total fixed annuity sales of 716 million were below the prior year, reflecting lower volumes in the more price sensitive MIGA products. Total fixed account balances grew as we retain 100% of our fixed sales with new business aligned to areas of the segment where the economics support our return objectives. Variable annuity sales of 1.4 billion were down year over year with the decline most pronounced in variable annuities with living benefits, consistent with our objective to reduce market sensitivity over time and the expectation we shared last quarter that 2026 volumes would move closer to pre 2025 levels. Variable annuities remain an important part of our portfolio, supporting continued free cash flow generation and attractive risk adjusted returns. As a holistic annuity provider, the breadth of our franchise, our proven ability to pivot across product lines, and our investment in technology modernization to support a more seamless and integrated customer experience position us to deliver on our objectives. Together, these capabilities reinforce our balancing of profitability, capital efficiency, and growth while building toward a higher quality earnings profile over time. Now turning to life insurance. Transforming this business has been a significant strategic priority over the past several years. Aligned with our financial objectives, we refocused our new business mix on products with more predictable cash flows, accumulation and limited guarantee solutions such as IUL, accumulation VUL, and executive benefits. These are areas where demand is rising and where our product distribution and customer experience capabilities give us a clear advantage. drawing on insights from our deep relationships with advisors and producers we launched a new generation of products in these areas optimized our distribution footprint to align with our product strategy and built the digital capabilities to better serve our producers and their clients we have been seeing momentum in our sales growth though it will take time to meaningfully flow through to earnings and free cash flow First quarter life sales were 129 million, up over 30% from the prior year, with growth across all product categories. Quarter life and money guard sales were 96 million, up 20% year over year. Our IUL suite led the growth as our integrated approach to product design and policy servicing is resonating with advisors who want to give their clients both long-term value and a simpler in-force experience. Accumulation VUL is also gaining traction, supported by broader offerings and self-service capabilities. Executive benefits had a strong start to the year with sales nearly doubling versus the prior year period. While large case activity can vary from period to period, the pipeline remains active and we are encouraged by the momentum we are building in this business. Overall, the progress in life this quarter reinforces the direction we set several years ago. The actions we have taken are building on one another, and we are developing a more diversified and profitable life franchise over time. There is more work ahead, but the path forward is increasingly clear. Turning to group protection, another business where execution is clearly translating into results. Central to our success is our targeted segment strategy. We operate across three distinct market segments, local, regional, and national, with products, capabilities, and distribution tailored to the different needs of each. In local markets, the fastest growing part of our three market segments and where we see the most attractive margin profile, our approach centers on bundled solutions that emphasize ease of doing business, leveraging our local distribution footprint. In regional markets, we are reinforcing our broker partnerships and expanding the technology integrations and digital capabilities employers depend on to manage their benefits programs. And in national accounts where clients demand robust capabilities, We are tailoring products and services enabled by integrated technology, streamlined processes, and our market leading leave management expertise. Across all three segments, supplemental health remains a key priority. This strategy is coming through in our results and reflected in year-over-year higher earnings, margin expansion, and premium growth. First quarter premiums were up 2% year over year, driven by strong prior period sales and inline persistency, offset by a large case lapse. Importantly, that premium growth is increasingly concentrated in the priority segments we are most focused on expanding. with local market premium increasing by more than 4%, its strongest year-over-year increase in nearly a decade and supplemental health premium up 28% year-over-year. Sales were roughly in line with the prior year period and consistent with typical sales levels experienced in the first quarter. 74 of sales were from existing customers and a sizable share of that came from expanding additional lines of coverage with our enforced customers particularly in supplemental health where employers are responding to rising employee demand Our pricing remains disciplined. Alongside that, we are making meaningful investments, modernizing our claims platform and expanding digital tools that improve the experience for the brokers and employers we serve. These investments enhance our offerings, reinforcing persistency while helping us attract new business. Overall, our targeted segment strategy, diversified footprint and disciplined execution are translating into consistent performance with a clear runway ahead. Looking forward, we expect group protection to be an increasingly meaningful contributor to Lincoln's higher quality earnings profile. Now turning to retirement plan services. First quarter operating income was up 26% year over year. First year sales of $1.1 billion were up nearly 3% year over year, with growth concentrated in the core market segment, a priority area for us. Total deposits were modestly higher at 4.1 billion. As we discussed on our last call, the realignment of this business is in its early stages. Importantly, we are applying a playbook we have run successfully in other parts of our business, which gives us confidence in our ability to execute here. Three priorities anchor our approach. The first is disciplined growth enhancing our product and service capabilities while broadening the opportunity to increase revenue. The second is service excellence, modernizing our operations, expanding offerings of digitally enabled tools and capabilities for participants and recalibrating how we meet the needs of plan sponsors. The third is enhancing what we offer, refreshing our value proposition by segment, updating our distribution model, and using analytics to deepen engagement with our existing customer base. Across all three priorities, we are modernizing the technology that underpins this business. While this realignment will take time, we are encouraged by the early progress. We will steadily advance these priorities to improve the earnings trajectory of this business in the years ahead. In closing, we are executing, delivering results, and making tangible progress on our priorities. There is more to do, and we see significant opportunities ahead. Lincoln has a differentiated set of competitive advantages, a diversified franchise across four businesses, each at a different stage of its realignment toward our financial and strategic objectives. A deep distribution platform that we are actively expanding and optimizing and capabilities tailored to each of the markets we serve, giving us the capacity to do more for our customers with greater agility. We are operating from a position of strength with a balanced and disciplined approach to growth and capital deployment. We remain confident in the actions we are taking, which are building toward a higher quality earnings profile that creates sustainable long-term value for our shareholders. With that, let me now turn the call over to Chris.