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Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the presentation of BNP Paribas first quarter 2023 results. For your information, this conference call is being recorded. Supporting slides are available on BNP Paribas IR website, invest.bnpparibas.com. During today's presentation, you will be able to ask your questions by pressing star and one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to ask a question, please make sure to be in a quiet area to maximize audio quality. I would like now to hand the call over to Mr. Lars Meschnil, Group Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Hello, everyone. I trust you're doing well, and welcome to BNP Paribas' first quarter 2023 results presentation. As usual, at the end of the presentation, we'll be pleased to take your questions. So for now, let's go through the results. BNP Paribas, as you've seen, is on track for a very solid performance in 2023, which reflects the efficiency of our leading platforms and strong financial structure. It gives us a unique capacity to serve our clients and the economy while enabling a strong increase in our earnings per share and return to shareholders. Our results are demonstrating that the group is very well positioned to deliver its ambitious 23 and 25 targets. And as per your expectation, BNP Paribas benefited in the first quarter more than ever from the strength of its business model, which continues to drive strong growth in activities and results, more than ever supported by a robust balance sheet. And basically, this says it all. So let's now move to the core of this presentation and let's jump to the key messages on slide three. As a reminder, we told you in February of this year that for BNP Paribas 2023 will be a pivotal year with changes in parameter, accounting standards, and for lack of a better word, extraordinary items. As such, we committed ourselves to a clear full year 23 objective in terms of distributable income. And this distributable income is adjusted on one hand, representative for our intrinsic performance going forward, and on the other hand, significantly above our reported results of a year ago. So here we are, first quarter, 23, and we apply the bulk of the adjustments we announced for 23. Hence, a distributed net income that clocked in at 2.8 billion euros in the first quarter and an earnings per share of 2.19 euros, 43% above last year. This is first and foremost supported by the performance of our businesses as we will see and this generated a strong intrinsic growth. If I look at the divisions, CIB up 4%, CPBS up 5.9%, and IPS rising by 0.6%, leading to an underlying group's revenue growth of 5.3% year-on-year. This growth is disciplined. So if you look at it at the cost excluding IFRIC 21 taxes and exceptional costs, our underlying operating expenses to our company, the revenues increased by 3.8% year-on-year, well below inflation, and generating an underlying positive JAWS effect of 1.5 points. You know the focus we pay and the attention we pay to the positive JAWS. The group continues to benefit from its long-term, prudent, and proactive risk and liquidity management combined with a strong diversification of activities. Where do we see this? Well, let's look at the cost of risk. It clocked in low at 28 basis points of loans outstanding, well below our guidance of less than 40 basis points. Our financial structure, of which the cost of risk is part, is very solid, also seen by the group's common equity T1 ratio that clocked in at 13.6% after the sale of Bank of the West. Moreover, and benefiting from strong positions, our liquidity coverage ratio stands at 139% end of the period, increasing by 10 points compared to end of December, and well above the requirements for this stressed ratio. In a nutshell, a solid quarter leading to a distributable earnings per share of 2.19 euros, increasing by 18% on an annualized basis. In addition, we remind you that we launched the first tranche of our 2.5 billion share buyback program. So we intend to buy back five in total. So the first part, first half before the summer, and we launched it on March 31st. And the second tranche is planned for execution after the summer, so during the second semester. These results are the bedrock on which we will achieve the objectives for 2025. as revised upwards in February of this year. And of course, our 23 objectives of growth in distributable income, earnings per share, and dividend per share. So we reviewed the objectives upward in February, and delivery and EPS growth above even this objective. And this is before, as I mentioned, before we launched or we have finalized the share buyback. So with this, If we switch to slide four, I take it the messages jump off the slide. But anyway, let's highlight the main ones. So we confirmed the growth trajectory of our 23 distributable income as announced when publishing our annual results in February of this year. So as said, 23 is a pivotal year after the sale of Bank of the West. And it's also the last year for the ramp-up of the Single Resolution Fund. It's also the first year for the application of IFRS 17 and 9 when it comes to insurance activities. As announced in February, our solid stance allows us to do a couple of things. First, offset the effect of the sale of Bank of the West by our organic growth. And you can already see from the first quarter that organic growth is offsetting the effect of the sale of Bank of the West, as well as the base effect coming from the insurance-related IFRS changes. So, first one, take the box. Second, adjust the distributable income upwards by 1 billion euros. So, adjust the distributable income upwards by 1 billion, in anticipation of the end of the ramp-up of the single resolution fund. We did it in the first quarter and we stuck to the one billion we announced, even though the single resolution fund contribution was lower than expected. Hence, we added some other positive adjustments to the distributable income to be in line with the billion we announced. So second, take the box. Third and last, as announced, we also exclude two extraordinary items to establish a coherent base. First, the capital gain from the sale of Bank of the West and the impact of, well, what else can I say? The quote-unquote extraordinary negative impact of the adjustment of hedges resulting from the changes in TLTRO as decided and announced by the ECB end of last year. So, with these adjustments, we establish the true performance of the group and its GTS 2025 growth As a consequence, we also translate this in our earnings per share and our dividend per share. So in a nutshell, we generated in the first quarter, 2023, a distributable net income of 2.845 million euros, and in line with our objective. And hence, we confirm that we anticipate a distributable net income for 2023 at least 1 billion euros above the 2022 results as reported. It has at least 1 billion euros above 10.2 billion euros. With this, let's move to slide five. Our adjusted distributable income in 2023 will serve as a base for the 60% return to shareholders with an objective of 50% points in cash and 10 points in share buyback. It will come in addition to our 2023 share buyback program amounting to 5 billion euros. Hence, again a confirmation of our objectives. It has a growth for 2023 in EPS and DPS that can be anticipated at the level above the GTS25 objective of an average growth higher than 12%. So if with this, if your term allows you to swipe whatever finger swipe to slide six, given all we just said, it should come as no surprise that we confirm all our 2025 objectives with two major pillars representing an additional growth potential of 5 billion euros. First, the redeployment of the proceeds of the sale of Bank of the West, which put us in a unique position to accelerate and step up long-term growth. Second, the positive impact of higher interest rates on net interest income and this across the group by 2025 stemming from the hikes having taking place in 2022. So we anticipate delivering a strong growth in net income by 2025 on average above 9% on the back of our embarked and additional growth. Our growth in earnings per share will even be higher. above 12% thanks to the execution of share buybacks each and every year. Of course, such growth will remain disciplined, with positive draws each year averaging 2 points and a cost of risk below of 40 basis points guideline each year. I would now like to take you through the group and divisional results. So let's start with slide eight and where we have the main exceptional and extraordinary items. You can see that adaptation costs related to the refocusing of activities and reorganization of the operating model at personal finance for 236 million euros represents the bulk of exceptional items this quarter. Moreover, and as already announced in February, You also find the impact of the adjustment of hedges related to the change in the ECB terms and conditions on the TLTRO, with a negative extraordinary item booked in the corporate center and excluded from the distributable income. As announced, a similar amount also being offset is expected in the second quarter. Last, the capital gain on the sale of Bank of the West, a positive extraordinary item excluded also from distributable income. So, on slide 9, let's wrap up our P&L, the detail of the synthesis I gave on the first page for revenues, costs, and cost of risk. As a result, pre-tax income on a distributable basis clocked in at 3.7 billion euros, which reflects our performance going forward. On a backward-looking basis, It has, with no other adjustments than exceptional and extraordinary items, the pre-tax income increased by a very strong 17%. Hence, a distributable net income at 2.8 billion euros, which illustrates, as mentioned, the solid underlying performance of the group post the sale of Bank of the West and post ramp-up of the Single Resolution Fund. Now, let's look into some more detail at the operating divisions. Let's start with the revenues on slide 10. So they grew by a solid 4.4%. Very strong quarter for CIB, actually a record. The revenues were up 4%, supported by a strong performance in global banking and security services, and still a buoyant level of activities for global markets. If we take the second one, CPBS, very positive momentum, with an increase of 5.9%, driven by strong performance of commercial and personal banking activity, boosted by the diversified setup and the rise in net interest income, and also the solid increase in revenues in the specialized businesses, with on one hand, Arval, the car fleet leasing, witnessing a hefty growth in finance fleet, and on the other hand, personal finance stepping up its transformation and adaptation. Last, IPS delivered an increase in revenues of 0.6% on the back of a strong increase in revenues in the insurance and wealth management businesses, which has been offset by a lackluster market environment for asset management and real estate. If you now move on to slide 11, and we look at the costs in the operating divisions, up 4.1%. So costs are well under control, benefiting from our industrialized and mutualized platforms. In that context, CPBS delivered very positive jobs of 1.2 points, thanks to the ongoing rationalization of our operating model. Looking at CIB, same story. Jobs were positive at 0.9 points, with operating expenses supporting the growth in activity. At IPS, an increase in operating expenses, driven by the support for business development, I remind you that IPS is a growth engine, as well as targeted initiatives with very positive jobs in insurance, four points, and wealth management, also four points. So, this is the gross operating income. If we now move to the risk and the risk profile, let's look at page 12. You find the illustration of a prudent long-term risk approach in all type of risk supported by a diversified and balanced business model. As a result this quarter, very low cost of risk as already mentioned, 28 basis points better than our guidance of below 40 basis points over the plan every year. And to illustrate our cautious stance, the group BNP Paribas has the lowest level of cost of risk gross operating income, so revenues minus costs, through the cycle compared to Eurozone peers, a measure you are now very familiar with. Moreover, and in addition, you can see that while we have grown significantly our global markets activities, the VAR stays stable in amount. It is a tribute to our ability to grow in that space while being very prudent and proactive in our risk management. Our activities are and will stay very balanced when considering the breakdown of our risk-weighted assets with CIB, commercial and personal banking, and specialized businesses, so IPS and the CPBS ones, representing roughly one-third of the total. If you now turn to slide 13, you can see the confirmation of a very low cost of risk at group level the 28 basis points already mentioned before, and as a result of A, a low impairment of non-performing loans, so-called stage 3 provisions in EFRS 9 lingo, and 2 releases in ex-ante prudent provisioning, so-called stages 1 and 2 in that same lingo. Moving on to each business one by one, you will see a similar pattern of low levels of costs across the board. So they're basically all variations on low cost of risk. With this, talking about low cost of risk, let's turn to our financial structure. Slide 15. You can see the 130 basis points improvement of our common equity to one ratio versus end of last year, so clocking in at 13.6%. As anticipated, the closing of the Bank of the West resulted in a plus 170 basis points impact, Moreover, and as always, in a first quarter where there is the contribution to the IFRIC 21 taxes, organic capital generation to report that income after setting aside 60% of our results and this net of evolution in our risk-weighted assets was close to zero. And this is, I remind you, we basically had that every year during the construction of the Single Resolution Fund. Moreover, There is an adjustment in the distributable net income, so the billion that we added in the distributable net income has an impact of minus 10 basis points on the common equity tier 1. In addition, as announced, the launch of the first tranche of the share buyback for 2.5 billion euros had an impact of minus 20 basis points. I remind you that once a share buyback is approved by the ECB, the impact is deducted entirely from CET1, even if the buyback has to start or is ongoing. On top, updates in our models, as well as the application of IFRS 17, has generated an impact of minus 10 basis points, again, as anticipated. So that is basically the common equity T1, so a solid 13.6%. I remind you that we want to fly at 12%, so a lot of room to redeploy and anticipate changes. Now, if we look at the leverage ratio, it clocked in 4.4%, well above where we want to be. And then, our liquidity profile at the end of the quarter stands pretty high, with an LCR of 139% end of period, increasing by 10 percentage points compared to December 2022. The evolution of the LCR provides further evidence of the group's liquidity management. well, for whatever that metric means, but if we look at other indicators, like the level of our liquidity buffer, high quality liquid assets, amounted to 426 billion, out of which 75% in deposits at central banks. Or, our liquidity reserve, what else can I say, is a whopping 466 billion, and includes, again, 324 of them of central bank deposits. So, I think basically said it all. Nevertheless, if you want some more color on slide 16, we want to give you a sense of how solid our liquidity profile is, belong all those very strong ratios and balances that I mentioned. And basically, our business model in itself, highly diversified, with leading positions in flow, but also long-term and sticky relationship with clients, provides a relevant support to our deposit base. And diversification as everything with BNP Paribas is key. The diversification by geography, entities, currencies, customer segments, all this has been key and illustrated by the recent events. At 1 trillion euros of deposits as reported in our balance sheet, our deposits have basically been stable between December 22 and March 23. As anticipated, we experienced an inflection upwards in March to illustrate the flight to quality that we saw in the market and our efficient management. So all in all, we don't have to remind you of the stability and the quality of our resources as illustrated by our longstanding liquidity reserves and HQLA at whopping levels over the past years. Then if we continue, we look at the balance sheet, slide 17, and to no surprise, our net tangible book value per share continues to grow as it reaches 84.8 euros at quarter end. Now, next to the profit and loss, next to the balance sheet, there is also contributing to a responsible and sustainable economy, which is a major foundation of our strategic plan. And on slides 18 and 19, we provide an update with a focus also on our social dimension. As you can see, our actions are material and illustrated by significant achievements as we have developed a comprehensive approach to support our client transitioning towards a sustainable and low-carbon economy. So, helping our clients transitioning towards sustainable and low-carbon economy. We are a worldwide leader in green bonds and sustainable bonds with $9 billion and $14 billion billion dollars respectively raised for our clients. We have also been recognized by IFR as 2022 bank of the year for sustainability. Beyond our strong commitments towards a net zero trajectory, the group is also embarked in a socially responsible strategy with ambitious targets in that domain. Our plan People's Strategy 2025 aims at developing our employees potential and engagement along the top priorities of diversity, inclusion and development of human capital. With this, let's look at our divisional results. We do this with CIB. We start on slide 22 to 25. So CIB, saw another quarter of very good results. Top line at 4%, and this supported by a strong client activity, leveraging on a diversified and integrated model. Leadership positions in EMEA are confirmed, in particular in financing and bonds, as well as transaction banking. CIB is also a leader on multi-dealer electronic platforms. On the back of these strong platforms, CIB today confirms its resilient growth year after year. First, a very good performance in global banking with a strong momentum in a more favorable context with the sound rebound of EMEA bond markets. Global banking revenues were up 15.6%, a very good performance supported by growth across all business lines and regions, and strong gains in transaction banking and cash management. So this was the first division of CIB. Second, global markets. Supported by a very robust client activity, it delivered a sustained, very high level of revenues with a modest decrease of 1.8% compared to a very strong first quarter in 22. Thanks to a very robust client activity on the whole, FIC benefited from a strong demand in rates and forex products. Revenues at FIC were up 9%, a stunning performance versus an already very high first quarter, 21. 22, sorry, I forgot we already passed a year. Equity and prime services, despite an overall good activity, are decreasing due to a very high base in the first quarter, 22. Finally, the third activity in TIB, security services, displayed again this quarter very high volumes of transactions on the back of a strong business drive supported by the relevance of its diversified model. Assets held up well with new mandates in Europe. Boosted by the positive impact of interest rates, revenues increased by 6.7%. What else can I say? A solid performance. Total CIB costs were up 3.1%, with positive jaws, as I mentioned before, 0.9 points. All in all, and considering the very low level of cost of risk, CIB generated a pre-tax income of 1.4 billion euros in the first quarter, a record up 5.7%. So that's the first division. If you can now turn your attention to the second one, CPBS, Commercial, Personal Banking, and Services. slide 26 to 33. As you can see, CPBS displays a significant increase in results with positive jaws thanks to the strong performance of commercial and personal banking and the sustained growth in Arval. In terms of activity, loans were up 4.4%, close to 10% versus the first quarter two years ago, 2021. And this across commercial and personal banking, as well as specialized businesses. Deposits increased by 1.2% across all businesses. Again, if we compare it to the year before, that will be up 9%. Deposits increased between February and March of this year on the back of a favorable positioning across client segments. Looking at privacy, here, the indicator is net asset inflows. They were strong at 4.4 billion euros. And this, as a testimony of our model at work, essentially through external client acquisitions and synergies with corporates. So that's our leader for growth, which makes it distinctive. Moreover, the division continued the path to digitalization, combined with ongoing client acquisitions, being at Hello Bank or Nickel. In terms of P&L, Revenues clocked in at 6.7 billion euros, up 5.9%, thanks to the favorable interest rate environment and a steep increase at Darval. With a good momentum on net interest income, Europe, Mediterranean and also Eurozone networks performed particularly well. If we look, for example, at France, net interest income increased by 6.8%, with an increase in deposits from individuals and the low relative exposure to regulated savings. If we look at Belgium, it increased by 15.6%, thanks to our strong market share. And in Luxembourg, by 36.3%. At BNL also, despite the tough competition on pricing and a prudent approach, net interest income grew by 3%. So that's part of the top line. Another part of that are the fees. And we continue to get the full benefit from our leading positions on flow businesses and favorable client mix. Despite the negative impact of financial markets, fees were a flat overall supported by a buoyant activity on cash management and trade finance. The increase in particularly at BNL plus 3.5% driven from a significant increase in fees from corporate clients. So that's the third part of CPVS. If we now look at the second part, specialized businesses, revenues were up 4.5%. When excluding personal finance, the growth was above 20%. Indeed, on the back of volume growth, continuous expansion of the finance fleet, as well as the benefit of high used car prices, and thanks to new partnerships, our well and leasing solution saw a sharp increase in revenues up 20.9%. The transformation of personal finance and adaptation of its businesses is underway. Outstanding loans were up 4.7% and this across all segments and production margin in this environment are under pressure. Lastly, new digital businesses and personal investors confirmed their role as new client acquisition engines accompanied by strong growth in revenues up 18% year on year. So that's basically the divisions and the top line of them in CPBS. If you now look at the costs, they were up 4.7%, reflecting the gains in efficiency across networks and the transformation of their operating model with a strong positive job. 3.5% if we look at the commercial and personal banking environment. And similarly, the specialized businesses confirmed their capacity to grow at marginal cost with a significant positive Jaws effect of 10.9 points for Arval and Leading Solutions. All in all, Jaws for CPBS are positive and come in at 1.2 points. Looking through all of these elements and going to the pre-tax income of CPBS, it increased to 1.5 billion euros, up 7.7% year on year. To sum up, a strong quarter for CPBS with a good business drive, thanks to its favorable client mix and a supportive interest rate environment. So that makes two out of three, so third one. Let's now move to slides 34 to 37, and let's look at investment and protection services. Business momentum was sustained by a strong net asset inflow of 19.4 billion euros, supported by wealth management, especially in commercial and personal banking in France, Italy and Belgium, as well as with international high net worth clients. Strong net asset inflows, also in asset management, driven by money market funds. We now focus on the P&L. IPS revenues stood at 1.4 billion euros, up 0.6% year on year, with strong increases in insurance and wealth management, offset by lower performance in asset management and real estate compared to a strong first quarter 22. So for the first quarter under IFRS 17, a solid performance in insurance with revenues up 6.9%. Good business drive in France, supporting inflows notably in unit link combined with a nice momentum for protection, notably in Latin America. Moreover, wealth management also performed very well, up 10%, boosted by the strong growth in that interest income. Then, asset management. Overall revenues were negatively impacted by the market performance and a high first quarter in 22 that was related to the gains of principal investments. I remind you that in that segment, there is asset management, there's principal investments. I remind you of a year ago. and the environment for principal investments. Finally, real estate had a good momentum on property management and investment management. However, negatively impacted by lower activity in advisory and property development. Moreover, the comparison with last year, we saw a very high level of activity in advisory after the pandemic doesn't help the comparison. If we look at the operating expenses of IPS, they were up 5.4% year on year, driven by the business developments and the targeted investments of this engine for growth. EPS pre-tax income just came down by 7% due to what I mentioned, the less favorable environment impacting asset management and real estate combined with a base effect in 2022 for both of them. So this basically synthesizes the group and the three divisions. So before handing it over to you, let me conclude our presentation. So BNP Paribas 2023 first quarter results confirm a solid intrinsic performance for the group driven by the strength of its model. So three points to take away. One, together with a distributable income of 2.8 billion euros, we confirm the strong growth trajectory of the group. We confirm in particularly the growth of our 2022 Distributable Earnings Per Share well above the planned objectives. Two, embarking on a new phase of acceleration, we affirm our leadership in financing the energy transition. Three, last but not least, we say what we do and we do what we say. So let me take the opportunity to thank BNP Paribas teams are strongly mobilized and committed to support more than ever our clients needs so bnp paribas is more than ever uniquely positioned to deliver strong performances serving clients and the economy in all weather so with this i thank you very much for your kind attention and i'm now pleased to take your question

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