Bawag Group Ag Ord

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Bawag Group Q2 2026 results call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 and 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Good morning everyone. Before we start with the call, let me remind you of the following.

As you know, on 14 April, we announced that BABA had entered into recommended transactions to acquire 100% of PTSB. That transaction remains ongoing and is subject to shareholder, high court, and regulatory approvals. As the transaction is regulated by the Irish takeover rules, we are restricted in the information we can provide on this call, and as a result, we will not take any questions in relation to the PTSB transactions. With that, I will hand over to our CEO.

Thank you, Jutta. I hope everyone is keeping well. I'm joined this morning by Enver, our CFO. Let's go ahead and get started with a summary of second quarter results on slide three. We delivered net profit of 255 million euros, EPS of 3 euros and 28 cents, and return on tangible common equity of 29% during the second quarter. The operating performance of our business remains very strong, with core revenues of $590 million, up 8% versus prior year, pre-provision profits of $413 million, and a cost-income ratio of 31%. We continue to realize the benefits of investments over the years as we build out a pan-European and U.S. banking group. Total risk costs were 75 million, translating into a risk cost ratio of 54 basis points. We have a low NPL ratio of 90 basis points and continue to see solid credit performance across our businesses. In terms of our balance sheet and capital, average customer loans and average customer funding were flat quarter over quarter. We have a fortress balance sheet with 14.5 billion euros in cash, Equal to approximately 20% of our balance sheet, an LCR of 217%, and overall strong asset quality. During the first half of the year, we worked diligently to ensure we positioned ourselves to fully self-fund the PPSB transaction. For the first half of the year, we landed on a CET1 ratio of 17.4%, translating to over $1 billion of excess capital and 40 basis points above the target CET1 ratio of 17% required to self-fund the deal. We remain incredibly excited about the opportunity to acquire PTSB, which represents a pivotal step in our commitment to the Irish market. We started this process in November 2025 when we made a strategic decision to enter the announced public auction. We spent six months performing due diligence as part of a highly competitive and public auction process that required thorough analysis, planning and coordination to put our best foot forward. Post the announcement of the transaction, we have been working hard to prepare ourselves and have spent significant amount of time with regulators, the PTSD Board and other stakeholders to introduce ourselves, our business and outlining our plans in Ireland. We look forward to the next milestone with the PTSP shareholder vote scheduled at the end of the month and, subject to the satisfaction of the remaining conditions, expect the closing of the transaction in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2027. If the PTSP transaction is approved, this will represent our 15th acquisition since 2015, as M&A is a key plank of our strategy. In that time, We have always prided ourselves on being a serious, committed, and disciplined buyer. PTSB would represent our first public company acquisition with different dynamics, but never changing our approach. We hope to capture all the learnings over the past decade to ensure a successful integration, leveraging best practices as we continue to adapt and improve our approach. The trust and confidence placed in us by the PTSB Board The Minister for Finance of Ireland as the bank's majority shareholder and long-term shareholders who supported PTSD over the years is something we take very seriously and are keen to demonstrate our capabilities and contributions. Ireland is a very attractive market with all the ingredients for successful banking, pro-growth economic policies, rich in human capital, and a bridge to the EU, the UK, and the U.S. We aim to drive competition through significant investment and innovation, supporting PTSB's customers and, more broadly, the Irish economy, while delivering long-term sustainable growth. We plan to provide an updated mid-term outlook with full-year earnings, assuming a successful closing of the PTSB transaction, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. Excluding any potential PTSB impact, we reconfirm all of our 2026 targets, with net profit over 960 million euros, return on tangible common equity over 20%, and a cost-income ratio under 33%. With that, I'll hand it over to Enver.