Julius Baer Gruppe Namen

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Julius Baer 2026 half-year results presentation for analysts and investors. I am Sandra, the course co-operator. I would like to remind you that all participants have been listened only mode and the conference has been recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and one on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Julius Baer half-year results call. I am Alex van Leeuwen, head of investor relations. We are joined today by our CEO, Stefan Bollinger, and CFO, Evi Kostakis. Before starting, I would like to flag the important information provided on slide two of the presentation. It is now my pleasure to hand over to Stefan for his introductory remarks.

Thank you, Alex. Good morning, everyone. And thank you for dialing in today. Let me start by giving you my take on our half year results. It has been an intense but highly productive first half for Julius Baer. Overall, we delivered a very strong operating performance, which was driven by exceptional client activity, especially in the first quarter. The results also reflect the depth and breadth of our capabilities and the ability of our team to help clients navigate complex markets and capture opportunities. Now, let's have a look at the figures. Asset under management reached 547 billion Swiss francs, up 5% year to date, the highest level in our history. Net new money amounted to a solid 5.7 billion, which we achieved despite the ongoing implementation of our revised risk and compliance framework. We generated a record half-year net profit of 673 million, a like-for-like increase of 32% year-on-year. Our gross margin expanded to 87 basis points and our cost-income ratio improved to 62.6%. as we delivered further positive operating leverage. Capital generation remained strong with the CET1 ratio increasing to 18.5%, underscoring our solid capital position and financial resilience. Regarding capital distribution, I would like to reaffirm that any further share buybacks remain subject to approval by FINMA. We continue to have an active and constructive dialogue with FINMO, but the timeline is ultimately theirs. In short, we have no further update at this point. As you know, the first half also marks the start of our new 2026-2028 strategic cycle. We continued to progress steadily on our strategic priorities and are in execution mode on all five pillars. Growth, efficiency, risk and compliance, technology, and last but not least, our people agenda. First, we launched our growth program in February and we are pushing to unlock organic growth. Front to back, everyone is involved. At the same time, we continue to progress on the implementation of our revised risk and compliance framework. On the operational side, our focus is on simplifying end-to-end processes, taking a risk-based approach and leveraging technology, including AI. One example of how we apply a risk-based approach is the work we did on streamlining the client onboarding process in Switzerland. Among many use cases, an example of how we leverage AI is the work we did on materially improving name and media screening. And on the fifth pillar, we progressed on the culture transformation agenda with emphasis on performance and ownership. Overall, I'm proud of what the team achieved and where we stand. Of course, there's still a lot of work ahead and it's crucial we all remain focused on executing with discipline. With that, I hand over to Evi to walk you through the financials.