Banca Mediolanum Unsp/Adr

Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Banca Mediolanum full year 2025 results conference call.

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To enter the queue for questions, please press star 1 1 at any time. You will then hear an automatic message advising that your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Alessandra Lanzone, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Madam.

Good morning. Good afternoon, actually, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We can certainly look back on 2025 as a year of strong momentum on our business and results that keep us very well positioned as we head into 26. Today we'll walk you through our full-year performance, what has driven it, and the priorities we're taking into the year ahead. A quick note on Q&A, as usual, feel free to ask your questions in the language of the line you're calling from. We will answer in Italian with a real-time translation into English. With that, I'm pleased to hand this over to our CEO, Massimo Dorris, joined by our CFO, Angelo Liez. Massimo, over to you.

Thank you, Alessandra, and good afternoon to all of you. After a record 2024, the question was whether it was a one-in-one. 2025 answered that question. This wasn't a one-off. We raised the bar and went one step further. The results speak for themselves. but they also speak to something deeper than numbers, the quality of our growth and the strength of a model that delivers consistently. This strength translates into tangible value for our shareholders and it is reflected in the strong dividend we are proposing for the year. But before we go into the figures, let me start with a quick word on the macro backdrop, because it matters, since it sets the context for what you are about to see. In 2025, three forces continue to pull in different directions. Rates moving into a normalization phase, markets shifting mood quickly, and geopolitics remaining a generator of volatility through international tensions, trade policy, and uncertainty around energy and supply chains. Add a regulatory and fiscal backdrop that keeps evolving, especially in Europe, and discipline becomes the differentiator. Within that noise, there were also tailwinds. As rates began to ease and markets held up, households started looking beyond part liquidity again. And that's where the difference shows between a model that sells financial products and one that builds long-term relationships through advice. The real question we are going into today is not how was 2025, that is now clear, but how repeatable is it in 2026? The market is looking for visibility on three things. Continuity of net inflows, even if volatility returns, the trajectory of NII in a lower rate environment, and continued discipline on costs, including the network component. which is exactly why our guidance and our read on 2026 matter as much as the numbers we are about to present. With that in mind, we'll be very clear today on what supported our 2025 performance, what we see as structural versus more context-driven, and how we are positioning the business to keep growing with quality in 2026. Let's move into the numbers. I start with the economic and financial highlights in slide 4. The headline news is that 2025 was another best-ever year for Banca Mediolanum, surpassing last year's record and reaching new peaks across virtually all key indicators. At the group level, net income came in at an outstanding 1.238 billion euro, up 11% over the previous record level in 2024. What matters most behind this bottom line number is not the one-off impact of tax refund, nor the strong contribution for performance fees, but the same engine we've been building for years. Customer relationships, smart solutions, sound and needs-based advice, and a network that keeps converting engagement into long-term assets. In fact, our core profitability was exceptionally strong. Contribution margin exceeded 2.1 billion euro and operating margin was just shy of 1.2 billion euro, improving 10% versus the prior record. Results were supported by net commission income growth up 12% to 1.3 billion euro and a truly exceptional commercial performance, especially the quality of net inflows into managed assets. We also managed the interest rate transition with discipline. Rates continued to normalize through the year and the tailwind to net interest income naturally softened. Even so, we protected profitability through mix and pricing actions to reduce the cost of funding by keeping the balance between growth initiatives and margin management. For sure, recurring fees increasingly carried the weight. Higher average mined assets in the year and strong net inflows supported management fees, which went up 10% to over 1.4 billion euro. In other words, the revenue mix did what it was supposed to do in a shifting rate environment. Less reliance on NII, more support from recurring fee income linked to customer assets. Below the revenue line, we stayed cost-conscious, in line with our guidance of a cost-income ratio below 40%. While continuing to invest in the levers that matter, namely technology, network productivity including Next and the customer experience, cost-income ratio resulted at 37% Slide 8 provides more detail on the other income statement lines. Let me flag a few highlights. Banking service fees climbed 38% to nearly €259 million, driven by strong certificate sales, solid in Q2 and even stronger in Q4. As you know, certificate fees are recognized upfront in the P&L. Net income on other investments was around 22 million euro, down 35% year on year, entirely explained by the different perimeter. We sold our Mediobanca stake in July, so dividend income was limited to Q2. From the second half onward, that contribution is simply no longer part of the run rate. Provisions for risk and charges increased by 21%. Reflecting the same dynamic we saw in H1. As for risk provisions, last year's favorable legal outcomes led to one-off partial releases that did not recur this year. And for network indemnities, the increase remains volume-driven. Higher commissions naturally require higher provisioning. also increased because we started to build reserves for the growing Prexta unsecured lending business. It's a prudent, forward-looking approach in line with expected loss models as volumes grow. Contributions to banking and insurance industries were down 36% year-on-year, as banking sector contributions did not recur this year. The only notable movement came from came in Q4, driven by a one-off supplementary extraordinary levy from the banking scheme. Below the operating margin, market effects were definitely positive, thanks to favorable market performance and effective investment management in 2025. The contribution of performance fees for the year was considerable, although 32% lower than in 2024. to the tune of €257 million gross, boosting our bottom line. Remember that performance fees for us are a bonus, not a pillar. They are certainly welcome when they come, but never something we rely on or plan for. Of course, it's the health and consistency of the underlying business that matters. Fair value improved significantly to €28 million from €17 million last year. We fully disposed of our stake in Nexi in Q2, resulting in a substantial uplift compared with the negative mark-to-market recorded last year. We also saw a positive contribution from Treasury trading. Now let's look at extraordinary items. Following a specific ruling by the European Court of Justice last August, we received a refund of 140 million euro relating to ERAP regional tax we overpaid for the years 2012 to 2024. For completeness, the same ruling also brings a benefit on the tax line around 17 million euro of lower ERAP in 2025. Although this benefit is expected to be largely offset in the coming years as EROP increases. One important clarification on this line. The 140 million euro refund is partially offset by the financial effects of the required advanced payment of the stamp duty on Unilink policies, as well as by the commissions related to the Mediobanca sale. But especially by a one-off recognition bonus we have decided to award across the group for a total impact of nearly €23 million. I'll come back to the rationale behind this in a bit. Taken together, the non-recurring items in our P&L were broadly in line with last year, around 4% higher, and this doesn't change the overall picture. Now let's launch into an overview of the business results for the year turning to slide 5. Commercial momentum scored new all-time highs across the all-net inflows metrics versus an already very strong 2024, accelerating in the last quarter and taking total net inflows up 11% to €11.64 billion. These results were fueled by the success of our time deposit campaigns, where flows were supported by both new and existing customers, confirming the reach of our marketing and acquisitions engines. If there is one number to call out, it's managed assets. Flows reached 9.06 billion euro, beating our 2024 record by 18% and ahead of our guidance of 8 to 8.5 billion euro. And this is the most meaningful mix for us. because it reinforces the quality and durability of our revenue base and supports predictable earnings over time. So, driven by these inflows and deposit growth, total assets ended 2025 at 155.8 billion euro, increasing 12% year on year. Keep in mind that positive market performance overall more than offset the weaker US dollar. The credit book also expanded, ending the year just shy of 19 billion euro, while asset quality stays strong with a costal risk of 16 bps. The growth of the credit book was supported by higher loan origination, with loans granted increasing 28% year-on-year to a total of nearly 4 billion euro. General insurance also delivered a strong uplift. Gross premiums rose 20% to 246 million euro. Protecting customer's wealth and earning capacity remains a core priority for us. Growth was supported by standalone policies and even more by the renewed momentum of loan protection cover consistent with the expansion in mortgages. Turning to slide 6, our customer franchise continued to grow strongly. We ended 2025 with well over 2 million customers, expanding the base by 6% year-on-year, after acquiring 199,500 new customers. Our Group Family Banking Network kept step with this growth, also up 6% to 6,798. Intelligent investment strategy has gathered real momentum. Over 5 billion euro is currently in money market funds with a planned gradual switch into equities over an average 3.5 year horizon. Since the beginning of the year, some 2.2 billion euro of new money has been invested through this strategy, taking the total up by an impressive 76%. In addition, close to €3 billion is in the pipeline to move into mutual funds over the next 12 months, as highlighted in the last two lines of slide 6, including €840 million from double chance deposits and more than €2.1 billion from installment plans flows, which are building progressively. Our model continues to do what it was designed to do. make it easy for customers to invest regularly, while giving the bank a more predictable flow of fee income and a more resilient revenue base. Let's move on to another key pillar of our model, balance sheet ratios shown on slide 7. It's a picture of strength and discipline, and of continued value delivered to shareholders. Capital and liquidity remained strong and comfortably above requirements, and we further broadened and diversified our funding profile while keeping our risk stance unchanged. Starting with profitability, ROE came in at a best-in-class 29.1%, a clear proof point of our model at work. Our C2R ratio remained extremely robust at 23%, Even after our solely shareholder distribution. In fact, at the shareholder meeting, we will propose a €1.25 dividend per share, increasing 25% versus 2024. Having already paid an interim dividend of €0.60 in November, this leaves a balance of €0.65 to be paid in April. Let me be super clear. The €1.25 we are now proposing is entirely an ordinary dividend. It comprises a base dividend of €0.80 per share and an additional €0.45 attributable to the exceptional contribution from non-recurring items, as well as the one-off benefit from the Mediobanca sale we executed in July. But value creation for us is not only about shareholders. It is also about the people who make these results possible every day. So, alongside the shareholder distribution, every employee and every family banker across the group, around 11,000 people, will receive a 2,000 euro bonus. A simple, concrete way to say thank you for an outstanding year. Let's take a moment to focus on our family banking network in Italy that reached 5,148 financial advisors at the end of 2025. During the year, on top of the many new colleagues who have joined us with strong background as branch managers or customer relationship managers in other sectors, we also welcome a strong pool of young talent through the project NEXT. As you well know by now, our banker consultants are high-caliber graduates. They start with a six-month executive master at our corporate university, earn the FAA certification, and then move straight into the field, working alongside a senior private banker or web advisor with their remuneration totally covered by the senior. The numbers reflected the success of the project. At year end, 590 banker consultants were already active in the network, with an additional 213 currently in training. We expect to overcome 800 by the end of 2026. This strategic initiative is already delivering. Among the 736 senior bankers who have worked with a banker consultant for at least 12 months, productivity has increased materially. They were already ahead of their peers, and the lead has widened further. The advantage in managed asset inflows has increased more than ninefold, from 4% to 37%. It's up around 1.3 times in loans from 31% increase compared to their peers to 40% and up close to 1.8 times both in protection policies from 32% to plus 57 and in customer acquisitions from plus 46% to plus 81%. The trajectory is encouraging. and it's getting stronger. The network is accelerating and we see further upside in productivity. With that in mind, let's turn to slide 30. It tracks five years of productivity for the top tier of our network. 1,074 private bankers and web advisors measured by average assets per banker. As slide 30 shows, average assets per banker stand at 64.2 million euro, almost twice the authority indices average of 34 million euro. And the gap hasn't stood still. It has widened year after year, not by accident. It reflects the investment and discipline we've put into upgrading our network quality. and the stronger recurring revenues per banker that follow. This is an edge we've built and we see it continuing to improve. Now let's turn our attention to Spain by commenting on slide number 32. As we've seen quarter after quarter, Spain's strong volume momentum gave us the confidence to commit to a meaningful step change in scale. This came with a higher cost base, mainly due to the expansion of our platform, increased activity across the country, and additional marketing spend. So, the P&L impact reflects a deliberate investment to support growth and build long-term value. One important dynamic to keep in mind. Net interest income was down 18% year-on-year, and at the current scale of our Spain operations, Mediolanum Unsp could not fully close the gap. Keep in mind that stronger commercial momentum in mass assets translated into higher incentives for our network, a natural consequence of delivering more and better business. On top of this, performance fees were materially lower than last year. Operating margins reached 56.4 million euro, reflecting a 26% decrease compared to 2024. And net income stood at 57.7 million euro, 29% lower mainly due to the factors we just mentioned. As a clear sign of Spain's commercial momentum, total assets grew by 18% year on year. Approaching €15.5 billion, with managed assets rising 23% to €11.9 billion. Indeed, Spain delivered another strong year on net inflows. €1.95 billion, jumping 30%. But the real highlight is the quality behind the number. All of it came from managed assets, with flows up an impressive 35%. That's exactly the kind of growth we want to carry forward. Turning to lending, the credit book continued to grow, reaching 1.74 billion euro, up 17% versus 2024. Meanwhile, the number of family bankers edged up by 2%, to a total of 1,650. The key point here is the step up in productivity over the past five years. mirroring what we've delivered in Italy. Average assets rose from 5.5 million euro in 2020 to 9.4 million today. Finally, our customer base in Spain expanded to 285,760, marking a meaningful 12% increase versus the previous year. Now I'd like to shift your attention to one initiative that deserves a quick spotlight, because it's a priority we are pushing hard. The strength of our brand, combined with the caliber of the top tier of our network, gives us a real advantage in serving the top end of the market. It allows us to focus with increasing confidence on a high-wealth segment that is growing rapidly across the industry. and expanding just as clearly within our old customer base, those with assets above €2 million. Over time, we've been steadily strengthening our position in this space. From private banking customers with €500,000 to €2 million of investable assets to, even more so, high-network customers above €2 million. And as you may recall, a few months ago, we launched our Grandi Patrimonii program, introducing a new service model built to raise the service standard where it matters most, meaning customers above 2 million euro. In practical terms, it's built around four pillars. Fee-based advisory models, the so-called enhanced advisory, including fee-over on unlisted assets and fee-only solutions. A dedicated product set spanning lending and wealth management. A tailored investment banking and fiduciary proposition alongside highly specialized wealth services. An enhanced coverage approach including wealth advisor teams to bring broader expertise to customers. This is how we intend to earn more share of wallet at the top end with a service model that matches the complexity of their needs. Even though the program only launched mid-year, we've already seen encouraging results in 2025. The number of high-end customers with more than 2 million euro assets grew by 20% versus the previous year, reaching close to 4,000. And they hold a total of 19.4 billion euro in assets, up 22%. In 2026 we will keep building on this and further scale the model. Well, to wrap up, 2035 was a year of extraordinary milestones for us. We faced challenges, we delivered and showed what excellence looks like. And we did it, with the same engine we've been building for years, 44 years to be exact, actually yesterday. Looking ahead, It's important to be clear on what we are aiming for in 2026. Our 2026 guidance is as follows. We expect net inflows into managed assets to be around 9 billion euro, assuming normal market conditions. We see net interest income up approximately 10% versus 2035. We are targeting a cost income ratio of around 38%. We expect cost of risk to be around 20 bps. We intend to increase dividend per share versus the 80 euro cent base dividend. The roadmap for the year is targeted and built around our main priorities. Growth, productivity, durability and sharing the value we create. Our goal is to make it look routine even though it never is. Thank you for your time and as always we appreciate your continuous support. Alessandra, over to you.

Thank you Massimo and we can now open the Q&A session.

Thank you. We will now open the Q&A session. In order to pose a question press star 11 on your keypad and wait to be introduced. To withdraw your question, press once again 1 1. Let me repeat, press star 1 1 to ask a question. We'll now have the first question from Mr. Enrico Bolzoni, JP Morgan. Please go ahead. Good afternoon and thank you for taking my questions. First question on banking fees. You have a very good print for the quarter, so I would like to understand whether you can give some more color. I believe this is due to the sale of certificates, and what do you expect for the coming quarters? Maybe you can give us some color as to how they fared and they performed in January. Second question, it's on fee on top, which is the so-called unbundled model. I was reading the Assoreti reports and apparently they are harvesting a lot of interest. If I calculate and examine your margins, net of the commissions that are going to be rebated to consultants, your margins are quite hefty, above 1%. Do you think that in a world where advisory will be more and more based on a fee on top model, will you be able to retain these margins? Because basically you will have a 1, 1.1, 1.2% fee that will have to be added on it. It seems rather high compared to a market like that in UK where commissions are already fee only, based on a fee only model. Right, as far as banking service fees are concerned, in 2025, markets have performed very well, and setting aside the certificates we sold in the past were upon maturity, there were many calls as well, that is, certificates had already met the targets and they were redeemed earlier. This, I mean, certificate that had to last four to five years lasted one year, reaping an excellent result for clients, and therefore clients reinvested in new certificates. What can we expect for 2026? It really depends on how markets will perform. If markets will keep rising, many certificates will be redeemed earlier, and therefore we are going to see reinvestments. If markets will instead remain flat or trend down, there will be no early redemptions. There are going to be the normal maturities and the normal operations and trades. But we don't have only certificates in this figure. Monetics, we have bank accounts, fees, there are many, many items under this line item. So if the markets are farewell, we can expect this item to grow next year. If markets sort of slug around, probably this line item will remain flat. Other fees and commissions will increase. and maybe fees and commissions generated by certificates will remain flat or slightly dip. Having said this, if I don't sell certificates, I'm going to sell funds or unit links. Yeah, you know, there's an impact on the P&L because the certificates are upfront whereas the others are ongoing in terms of recognition. But what is important is to have managed assets. As far as the fee on top, issue is concerned, this advisory model most likely is going to be rolled over on high net worth individuals as we can see on the market. On high net worth individuals already today we obtain lower commissions because on high net worth individuals we have a higher number of third party funds and therefore this means a lower margin for Banca Mediolanum. Talk about my life policies, the unit linked policies that then as an underlying have a number of own funds or third party funds that family bankers can enter as an underlying. Normal My Life has safeguard and monitoring fee equal to 1.75%. If the investment is above 1 million, the commission goes down to 1.25. If it's more than 5 million being invested, it goes down to 1%. Mediolanum Unsp If we take the average, you know, a sort of rule of thumb calculation, this commission payment model devoted to high net worth individuals is going to weigh on the commission average we receive. But we have to really take another view. If I don't introduce this type of commission model I may lose some market share so my margins will remain higher but on a much lower asset volume, a much smaller asset volume. Having said so, not only will we acquire Mediolanum Unsp is one of the top clients with lower margins thanks to the Grande Patrimonio program, but we will keep on acquiring upper-mass and affluent clients who are going to invest in classical managed assets with the products we know. We will keep on working on both fronts, trying to constantly growing our masses, providing the right service at the right price to the different client segments. Thank you, Enrico. Next question, please.

The next question comes from the line of Luigi Develis, Equitas Sim. Please, sir, go ahead. Good afternoon to all of you. Thanks for taking our question. The first is on the 2026 guidance on the managed asset, well, net influence into managed assets. What are the volumes that you expect to have in the next 12 months and that will be turned into managed assets? And what is the trend in this January of net inflows into managed assets? And then the NII going in about 10%. Can you remind us of the assumptions you write or assumptions, growth of values, deposit, and growth of the banking portfolio? or sorry, the loan portfolio. As to the first question, we have about 3 million between installment, 3 billion says Massimo Doris, 3 billion between installment plans and double chance. And in the next 12 months, over 2026, they will go from deposits or bank accounts to managed assets. So we already have 3 billion worth of gross managed inflows, so to say, but 3 billion nonetheless. And the IIS, we have 5 billion in monetary funds that are tied in with the Intelligent Investment Strategy Service, are already part of the net managed inflows, so the shift of Mediolanum Unsp But from the point of view of managed assets, the impact is zero because the managing money funds, the money market fund is already considered to be managed assets. So and we would go from 1 to 1.25 recurring fees. So that would be a very limited impact. As to the NII, The ureiber assumptions, let me get them for you. The average ureiber assumption is 1.95 at a steady state, a three-month ureiber as well. And then why do we assume growth volumes first and foremost? Because we assume there'll be growing volumes where the inflows that goes to bank accounts are zero cost and this 10% growth implies and includes two initiatives. One is ongoing already at 3% today and the next initiative will be in the second half of this year with propositions where the cost of inflow will have funding, sorry, the cost of funding will have a major impact. So there should be an increase in volumes in bank accounts where we have zero interest applied. And then of course, there'll be increase in volumes also in loans as well and mortgages. And then the cost of funding comparing 2026 to 2025. In 2026, we expect a lower cost of funding because In 2025, for instance, in the first half or the first part of 2025, we had the offering on six-month deposits that had been launched in September, October, and Q4 2025, where we were granting 5%. So in the first part of 2025, we paid 5% interest on time deposits. Now we're paying 3% on time deposits. So, and then it went down to 4%, etc. So, lower cost of funding, as I was saying, and higher volumes. That's our assumption to get to the plus 10% that we are assuming. Thank you.

Thank you, Luigi. Next question, please. Next question comes from Alberto Villa, Inter Monte Simplice. Go ahead. Thank you. Good afternoon. Congratulations for your results. I really would like to talk about the competitive scenario. Yesterday we heard the presentation of Intesa's presentation. This bank has been focusing for a long time on Distribution and Asset Management. They're also trying to grow through Banca dei Territori, converting their distribution network also from this point of view. So, generally speaking, is this focus that all banks are showing on asset management something that can somehow affect more specialized players as you rightly are? And do you believe that the growth opportunities will still remain significant, considering that Intesa is quite aggressive also in terms of recruiting? Do you think that you might have a stronger churn rate in the future or, you know, are you quite carefree? Back to the net interest income. Can you give an idea of volumes of guidance with respect to volumes concerning loans? Loans have been growing above average. Do you think that you still have a significant growth opportunity ahead from this point of view? You're talking about loans alone or are you talking about loans, mortgages, you mean the entire lending volume? Yeah, total figure. Let me answer to your first questions first regarding networks. Now, first of all, large banks, MiCredit talked about this. Messina said this as well. In Italy, they already have Fiderum. If I got it right, it was really more focused on the international banks, but really this is not that important. But if everybody wants to develop their networks, it means they are working well and they have a future because otherwise they would not be investing in their network development. They probably acknowledge the fact that this trend is keeping up. This is traditional banks based on Prometheus statistics. Traditional banks in 2010 had a market share of 72% with respect to Italian financial assets. Networks had a 9%, held a 9%. At the end of 2025, traditional banks went from 72% to 59% and networks went from 9% to 21%. The difference is made by poste and insurance companies. Poste Italiane 14% and insurance company around 5%. So this constant trend from 72 to 59 decreased from traditional banks and the increase from 9 to 21 by networks, you know, the fact that traditional banks want to invest on networks is, you know, rather comprehensible. Mediolanum Unsp-Adr Mediolanum Unsp-Adr Mediolanum Unsp-Adr Managed by smart people. I'm not going to underestimate that. But I also take into consideration our capability of acquiring new clients, of growing our network, and managing our network. We've been doing that for 44 years. As Banca Mediolanum, my father did that even before that for a longer time. So let me say we've been piling up quite a Long experience. As far as loans are concerned, we believe that loans granted could increase by percent and then you see the trend. If I may ask a question, in the next five years, the percentages you illustrated How may they change between banks and networks? Is there still room for growth? Yeah, I saw a projection where the movement is 1% per year. 1% shed by traditional banks and taken over by networks. But take into consideration that that is the total figure. When you ask your questions, you mentioned Intesa. Intesa is part of the 59.2%. The 1% they are going to shed, you know, also Intesa might shed a little bit of that 1%. Or maybe Intesa is going to grow that number and it will be eroded from some other bank. but the same goes for networks as well. Some will lose and some will earn market shares. Second thing is that these are percentages, but take a look at the bar chart below. These are Italian financial assets that are on an upward trend. Fifty-nine point two percent out of 4,000 billion, is more than 73% of 2,700. So in absolute terms, assets have increased with respect to inflows that have been reached by banks, but the pie is getting larger, and the, I mean, the mix changes, but the pie is growing. Thank you. Thank you, Alberto. Next question, please.

The next question comes from the line of Elena Perini with Intesa San Paolo. Please go ahead, madam. Thank you very much. Good afternoon to all of you. And as far as I'm concerned, I would like to ask the following. I have questions on admin expenses. you were heading for cost income lending at 38% but as far as year-on-year growth is concerned I'm talking about costs of course what is your assumption and then the second question is on loans you are granting and then you will be granting going forward for artificial intelligence how Does artificial intelligence come into play in your business proposition going forward? And then another question on your dividend. You always refer back to your base dividend, and this year you stated it's 80 euro cents, 0.8 euros. I would say that right now just thinking of a growth I think market expectations are for a growth on this base dividend, a major or a material growth in your base dividend now and in the coming years. I know that you want to be above 22% in your CET1 ratio. Could you elaborate on that? Well, capital and dividends. Well, as far as the cost income ratio is concerned, we gave around 38% as guidance, so that means, well, general costs, overhead costs, is 8 to 9%, should be around 9% higher. And please correct me if I'm wrong, speaking to my coworkers, of course. As far as artificial intelligence is concerned, we are investing in it, and we too, of course, are. We are doing so for our back office, for instance, in managing mortgages, for instance. When we look into the full documentation being provided for the granting of a mortgage, of course you need people reading papers, documents, making sure all the documents are being provided, and sometimes, depending on what the document states, more information is requested, So there are many people working on that and a lot of time being allotted to that process. To, of course, processing individual sites. We are testing artificial intelligence for that. I'll just give you an example. There are many of them. And time is really cut because artificial intelligence looks into documents much faster. and with a level of accuracy which is quite high by the way and right now we are in a test phase because these documents are then also still edited and revised by people but by year end I think it will be used most extensively more extensively at least we are using AI for that and we are also using that in the tools that are made available to our family bankers, because there's a huge amount of info that they have to process, but of course, first and foremost, we have to retrieve info, be aware that the info is available, and then use info in the correct way, use data in the right way, and that too, artificial intelligence can really help our family bankers not only to have data more accurate data available in a faster way but also to have and get suggestions and prompts from the system telling them you did this for this type of customer why don't you do the same for this other cluster of customers that might need the same things and so we are investing heavily along those lines let me say dividend base dividend I am the first to hope, of course, as I'm a shareholder. There's conflict of interest, they're telling me here. Other times we've mentioned this. Elena, you mentioned that we have a CET1 that is very, very sound, and I'm confirming that, but let me remind you that A bank has a lot of obligations, so it's not just CET1, that's the ratio we have to bear in mind. There are a number of other things that have to be taken into account. MREL ratio, for instance, the request made by the single resolution board, and we are around 22% as far as the request from that regulator is concerned, and then the capital a bank holds also has an impact on other ratios. It could be interest rate risk of a possible change or a delta in the NII. CET1, focusing on CET1 alone may lead to drawing maybe the wrong conclusions. Having said that, the 80 euro cents we are currently offering It's about 600 million of distributed dividend of paid out dividend. So when we suggest that going forward for next year, we are thinking of paying out slightly more than 80 euro cents, we always refer to a performance that does not include one-off effects. If we consider performance fees and tax refunds, our profit was very close to 1 billion, so already paying out 60-70% of one's profit every year and still growing at a constant rate at a steady stage with all the Objectives and goals we have to grow and as your colleague said before with your question also lending wise we expect a 5% growth on stock and another 5% on the granted loans so we think we are providing the right information by taking into account all of these factors. And as the CEO said, if the results, if the performance during the year as we had last year, we had a base of 75 euro cents and we distributed one euro thanks to performance fees. And so we had one off to be taken into account. Also on these 80 euro cents we're paying out Mediolanum Unsp-Adr Mediolanum Unsp-Adr and in 2023 we moved to 70 euro cents so it was a major leap and then we went from 70 to 80 next year What will it be? We'll see. Let's wait and see, depending on how we perform over the year, and we'll make a decision on it, but it might be another good leap. It's, according to me, it's useless to have a leap in our base dividend of another 10 euro cents per share, to then, of course, the following year, and then go from 80 to 90, then the following year do 91 euro cents, because we are still we're getting very close to the limit so to say so the base dividend according to us must be something where we are really confident we're not going back on the contrary that we can move forward upon and as we said this year and that's the last year as well and a few years before but let's say let's focus on this year and last year if there are special situations and the markets are helping us, and we get one-off revenues, so to say, we will take them out, distribute them, as we have done in the past.

Well, thank you, Elena. Next question. We'll now take the next question from Mr. Giovanni Razzoli, Deutsche Bank. Good afternoon. I have three questions. Can you give us an indication of the Grandi Patrimoni program scope? How many clients have already been included in this initiative? In the third quarter, you talked about BTPs that were going to expire in 2025 in the second half of the year. and they would have been renewed at higher rates. Can you tell us how many BTPs are going to expire in 2026 and if you're going to have the same effect? Last question. Do you still have funds that are under the high water mark and if you can give us a percentage because this would give us a greater visibility on performance fees considering the market performance. The customers that could be interested in Grandi Patrimoni are more or less 4,000 clients, so that is more than 2 million invested with us right now. This is what we already have, but the objective It's not so much that of asking these clients to invest even more, which we'll be willing to accept if they are investing also with other peers. But the main target is to acquire more clients. But we already have the 4,000 potential clients as far as BTPs are concerned. In 2026, we have 3.8 billion maturing, but BTP is only 150 million, so the BTP maturity is really very limited. 1.5 billion worth of CCTs and the rest is securities from other countries that were purchased. These are fixed rate securities that were purchased in previous years. in terms of diversification. What is the yield of these maturing securities? The yield goes from 2.70 to 2.9. This is more or less the yield from 2.7 to 2.9. I'm talking about the bonds that are going to expire in 2026 because most of these government bonds were purchased a couple of years ago when we started to diversify between Italy and Europe. So, you know, yields are still more or less the same as to maturity and the renewal once they mature. I believe that we will get close to these yields. We will see no true upgrade, but we'll maintain the yield, the return we get from these securities stable. As to funds, on December the 31st, we had five funds that were below the high water mark with a total NAV of $4 billion. Thank you. Thank you, Giovanni. Next question.

Next question from the line Gianluca Ferrari with Mediobanca. Please go ahead, sir. Good afternoon to all of you. I have three questions. The first one is about the backdrop. We read about, we've seen that there are trends to transfer wealth from one generation to another. 100 billion from now to 2023. Do you think your advisory will change its nature to follow that trend? Will you adjust that to keep up with the trend? And a second question on the ETFs. There's a lot of impact of Passive managers, have you changed your approach or are you going to have ETFs with active management, active ETFs? Are you going to create your own? And another question, the introduction of value for money in your retail investment strategy bundle, can you give us an update on that? As to the first question, well, generational shifts, there will be a change in generations indeed, but I don't think there'll be any radical changes, so to say, any deep-rooted changes. But savers will, well, they will have to find a banker, a consultant, that will speak the very same language. We have our next project. Project Next enables us to be very well positioned to keep up with that generation shift. By year end, we expect to have 800 of these banker consultants. They are aged between 25 and 26 on average. And when they join the network, they're even 24, 25. Some of them have been in the network in the MEXT program for a few years now, so maybe they are older than 25 or 26, but out of the 600 we already have, they are not older than 26 years of age on average. So if these are the people who will get in touch with the next generation, Mediolanum Unsp They're more and more used, yes, that's true indeed. Let us remember that one thing is looking at figures or data in absolute terms and something totally different is looking at things from a relative perspective, looking at percentages rather than individual data. does not necessarily imply lower commissions or fees. ETFs are not sold directly, but they are, indeed we are also selling them directly, but normally they are included in asset management products. As of last year we have a line for wealth management that can be done exclusively in ETFs. Of course it is devoted to our top tier clients but but we're not focusing on the margin that we would get by selling an ETS. It's something much more material. Do I think there'll be more use? Yes, I think there'll be more use but that won't mean that's the end of investment funds. Are we gonna create and issue our own ETS? We're not planning it yet but I'm not ruling it out. It's something that we are thinking about, we are focusing on if and when we'll do that, it remains to be seen, but it's not something we are ruling out as such. And as far as value for money, there are, we started from MIFID 1, then MIFID 2, and all the different interpretations of the different regulations that are being applied. Sometimes interpretations are different from country to country. They could be more or less restrictive. Sometimes they start from ideas and concepts that may seem meaningful but then in practice they could not be, they cannot be applied. Having said that, let me say that at the end of the day, if you provide a good service to your client, and by service to one's client, it's not just a matter of money what they can earn with the service, or we can earn with the service. Let me quote a survey we did quite a few years ago. We looked into customer satisfaction. We tried to understand if customer satisfaction was more tied in with the actual performance of the investment or something else as well. And what we had realized and noticed is that the most satisfied customers were the ones that had a higher frequency of contact, of being in touch with a family banker. If the market is not faring well, Clients that have a high frequency in getting in touch with family bankers and are therefore aware of what is happening in the market, they've discussed, they've looked into asset allocation and possible modifications of it, so the client is fully aware of what is happening. That equals a satisfied customer. Say, growing markets, markets that are improving that are but they're not seeing their family bankers there's a performance but the client has no idea if something has to be changed in the portfolio is there to sell they have to buy something more and that equals an unsatisfied or dissatisfied customer and but this Regulation or the trend only looks at returns but there's a missing chunk that has to be taken into account too. And I'm sure that if we work well with our clients, no matter or regardless what regulations impose or provide, they will not have an impact on the customer satisfaction. because this regulation does not only apply to Banca Mediolanum but to the full, the entire market and if we're going uphill, we're all going uphill. It's enough for you to run a little faster than the others and you're running first even though it's a slower run because of the market conditions.

Thank you.

Thank you Gianluca. Next question. The next question comes from Adelib from UBS. Good evening. I have three questions. First one on NII and the NII guidance. In particular, the lending stock increase. You talked about a 5% increase in loan stock being the assumption. If I actually make a calculation, the loan book increased by 8%. So the 5% refers to the retail loan book. And if so, why do you expect to have a lower growth rate than the one you I don't know whether this is a matter of mix. Then second question again has to do with NII. Can you clarify your customer interest income or loan yield? This quarter it went up to 336 from 220. How is it you had this increase in gross yield? because the cost of funding declined with respect to deposit promotions, but I don't understand how you got to this yield increase quarter on quarter. Then guidance with respect to inflows. How much more for Manoeuvre do you have to improve from the 9 billion amount that you reported? Because actually there is an 8% compared to the initial stock compared to the one that you reported this year which was 9%. Thank you. If you can show the chart with the bars, I mean the bar chart to make it simple. I will answer to the first question on NII guidance and loans. Between 2024 and 2025, We have reported a significant increase. That was actually an important leap because rates had gone down and therefore there was a higher demand. Rates are going to remain stable, most likely. So this jolt, if you want, if we take a look at the trend, in 2020, I mean, if you compare 2023 to 2022, there is a half billion increase. Mediolanum Unsp which according to projections is not going to take place in 2026. Should they decline by 1%, we would see an even greater momentum, an even greater boost, but since the interest rates are possibly going to remain stable, growth is going to be standard. Really, 2025 was a sort of one-off because it was really pushed by interest rate performance. I was not clear. Granted loans of the year compared to the previous year increased by 10%. So you have to see the growth comparison in terms of granted loans. If the stock increases, also the repayment and the actual math increases. So it's obvious that you will have this type of dynamic. I'm not saying that we are not going to see an increase in loans granted. It's going to be plus 10%. Loans granted, 25 over 23, grew even more from 3 billion, it went up to 4 billion, driven by interest rates. And it reflects on total amount. And then as far as an IEI is concerned, in the last quarter, URIBOR on mortgages increased, and this is why we had this increase Referring to the spread, this is why we reported this increase. And then of course there is an additional effect. Clients entering, taking mortgages with us can skip a certain number of payments at no cost. When interest rates were high, many clients decided to take advantage of this option, and they would skip and defer certain payments. If the client does not pay a given payment, we're not going to earn the interest, and this is an impact on NII. Since the rates have stabilized, many clients opted in, especially in the last quarter, and this had a positive impact on interest income for the bank. And then 9 billion in terms of managed assets. Will it be possible to improve this? First of all, this was a blockbuster result. Can we do even better? Yes, if the market goes up 20%, most likely we might even improve and exceed the 9 billion, which I hope will be so. If the market were to remain flat, you know, keeping the 9 billion will be a hefty battle. If the market is going to go down 20%, we will never make it up to 9 billion. because it will be more difficult to retain the assets of our clients and to acquire new clients. This holds true not only for Banca Mediolanum but for the market at large. For example, on this slide, you see that in 2022, we reached more or less 6 billion worth of net inflows in assets under management, 2025. was a difficult year because both fixed income and equity markets went down all asset classes went down and in 2023 so I was talking about 2023 and not 2025 all clients were looking at their results and they were reporting losses so 2023 was a very very tough year for the entire sector I remember that back then as Suggestioni When analyzing the retail market, they reported net outflows of 22 billion. If I remember correctly, Assoreti reported 6 billion worth of net inflows, 5% of which were retail Banca Mediolanum. Now you saw four there. I talked about three because Aforeti does not include Spain on the one hand, and then also because certain products such as certificates are being classified under different line items, not only for us but for everybody. This means that we went from six to four because of the rough market, but those four accounted for half of the entire market's inflows. plus 4 billion net inflows compared to 22 billion worth of outflows for the entire market. So was that a bad year? From my point of view, that was a great year because we have increased our market share quite a lot, even though we slowed down because it was really, really uphill. The slope was steep. Thank you, Adele. Next question, please.

There are no more questions. Let me now turn the conference to the English channel.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To wait for your question, please press star 1 1 again. Once again. Please press star 1 and 1 to ask a question. There are no questions on the English line at this time. I would like to hand back over to the Italian line.

We have no more questions in the Italian conference. Let me hand it over to Mrs. Lanzona for the closing of the conference call. Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank all of you for joining us.