Akbank T/A/S S/Adr

Dear friends, thank you for joining our third quarter earnings call and for your continued interest in Akbank.

This is Kaan speaking.

I hope you are all well. Dear friends, as we are all aware, the global operating environment remains challenging, shaped by heightened geopolitical uncertainty, high energy prices, and persistent inflationary pressures. While global growth has remained relatively resilient, the outlook for monetary policy has become more complex, with central banks pivoting to a more hawkish stance and long-term interest rates remaining elevated due to various cyclical and structural driving forces. Despite these external headwinds, the Turkish economy has demonstrated resilience. supported by prudent macro policies, external balances, and solid reserve buffers. Meanwhile, economic activity is moderating and the underlying inflation trend is showing signs of improvement despite the large cost push pressures. Going forward, we expect monetary policy to remain tight enough to ensure a sustained disinflation process. For the Turkish banking sector, this environment presents both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, declining funding costs should support a gradual recovery in net interest margin, although at slower pace than previously anticipated. On the other hand, weakening domestic demand and prolonged high interest rates continue to weigh on asset quality and profitability, making disciplined risk management and risk-adjusted returns increasingly important. Against this backdrop, we remain firmly focused on the fundamentals that matter most, maintaining a strong balance sheet, preserving asset quality, and deepening customer relationships. These priorities are central to strengthening our competitive position and laying the foundation for stronger, more sustainable returns as the operating environment normalizes. Combined with discipline execution and continued investments in innovation and efficiency, we believe these strengths will enable Akbank not only to navigate the current challenge, but to emerge even stronger. Let me now highlight some of our key performance indicators that demonstrate the underlying strength and resilience of our franchise. Agility and resilience have always been among Akbank's defining strengths. enabling us to adopt swiftly to changing conditions while staying focused on our long-term priorities. And this is clearly reflected in how we manage our balance sheet throughout the current cycle. First and foremost, we have preserved our strong capital position with a total capital of 16.7% and a tier-one ratio of 13.3%. This provides us with the financial resilience and strategic flexibility to navigate uncertainty and capitalize on opportunities as they emerge. Building on this financial strength, we have also been taking proactive steps to enhance the profitability potential of our balance sheets. Dear friends, We continue to reshape our asset mix, optimizing our securities portfolio while gradually shifting towards loans. This deliberate repositioning will allow us to better capture opportunities as the operating environment normalizes. Of course, enhancing returns goes hand in hand with maintaining our prudent approach to risk. We remain firmly focused on risk-adjusted returns, carefully balancing maturity, yield and asset quality to enhance profitability without compromising our risk standards. This discipline is equally evident in how we manage asset quality. We have maintained solid provisioning buffers. providing an important safeguard against potential credit pressures. At the same time, the 210 basis points year-to-date decline in our NPL market share reflects the effectiveness of our underwriting standards for active risk management and strong collection capabilities. Beyond the balance sheet, We are equally focused on our strengthening the efficiency and earnings capacity of our franchise. Through disciplined cost management, digitalization, and productivity improvements, we continue to enhance operational efficiency. Our nine-month feature OPEX coverage of 95% further supports the sustainability of our earnings. Ultimately, all these initiatives serve a common objective, protecting our strong fundamentals today while positioning Akbank for greater competitiveness and stronger, more sustainable profitability as conditions normalize. I will now pass it over to Ebru to walk through our results in more details. Following that, we will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you again. Ebru, over to you.