Mediobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario SpA

Good morning and thank you for joining us. Today I will give you some highlights on Mediobanca's results for the six months ended 30 June 2026. We close the first half of the year with the best revenues and net profit in our history, delivering record results, particularly for corporate and investment banking and for consumer finance. These results once again demonstrate the strength of our diversified business model, the quality and commitment of our people, and the discipline with which we manage growth, cost and risk. The six months also confirm our ability to execute during a period of transition, While wealth management continued to operate in a stabilization phase, consumer finance maintained excellent commercial momentum, corporate and investment banking delivered an outstanding performance, and several initiatives connected to the integration with MPS have already started across all business segments. Let me start with the highlights of the six-month performance. Revenues almost reached €2 billion for the first time, increasing by 6% year-on-year. Growth was driven by the excellent performance of corporate and investment banking, by the continued expansion of consumer finance and by the strong contribution from insurance and principal investing, more than offsetting the temporary slowdown in the wealth management. At the same time, we maintain a very strong focus on operating efficiency. Cost declined by 2%. As a result, the cost-income ratio improved to 30%, three percentage points better than last year. These dynamics translated to a gross operating profit of almost 1.2 billion, up 12% year on year, and a net profit of 711 million, up 6% despite higher tax rate. Return on tangible equity increased to 14.9%, confirming the quality and sustainability of our earnings profile. The second quarter was particularly strong. Revenues exceeded 1 billion, growing 9% quarter on quarter, while net profit reached 388 million, up 20%. The main driver was the acceleration in fee generation, especially in corporate and investment banking, where commissions increased by more than 30%. Commercial momentum remained strong across the group. Customer loans increased to 57 billion, up almost 7% year-on-year. Growth was driven by both consumer finance and corporate investment banking, confirming the strength of our lending franchises and the quality of our client relationships. Total financial assets reached 117 billion, up 4% year-on-year and 3% quarter-on-quarter. Asset quality remained solid, cost of risk stood at 54 basis points, fully consistent with the normalization path we had outlined. Capital generation continued to be robust, with CET1 ratio at 15.9% after including a full payout assumption. Corporate and investment banking delivered an outstanding performance and achieved the best six-month results in its history. Revenues reached 493 million, up 13% year-on-year, while net profit increased by almost 29% to 172 million. The second quarter was particularly strong, benefiting from broad-based growth across advisory, markets and lending activities. Advisory business was supported by strong domestic activity and a growing contribution from our international platform, particularly in France. Markets also delivered record results, favoured by high market volatility. Fee income grew by almost 17% year-on-year and accelerated sharply in the second quarter. At the same time, asset quality remained excellent, with a cost of risk of just 6 business points, while the cost-income ratio improved to 44%. Importantly, the first structured products have already been distributed through the MPS group network and the first integration initiatives between the two organizations are already underway, creating additional opportunities for future growth. Several indicators point to progressive stabilization of the wealth management. Total financial assets increased to 117 billion, while asset under management rose to almost 56 billion. benefiting both from market performance and from progressive improvement in the quality of inflows. Although net new money was still negative over the six months, the trend improved significantly during the second quarter. Outflows were negative only by 0.3 billion compared with 1.1 billion in the previous quarter, while manager assets recorded positive net new money of around 700 million. This trend suggests that the franchise is progressively stabilizing. Revenues amounted to 447 million, down 5% year-on-year, primarily reflecting lower upfront and performance fees and a lower contribution from net interest income. However, recurring revenues continued to strengthen, with management fees growing by 10% year-on-year. Despite the transition and the exceptional cost linked to retention plans, wealth management generated 81 million of net profit. Consumer finance once again confirmed its position as one of the key earnings drivers of Medibank. The business delivered a record of 5.3 billion in new lending, growing 12% year-on-year and outperforming the market. Growth was supported even by an increasingly important contribution from the banking channel, and the NPS Network. This strong commercial performance supported loan book growth to $17.4 billion, up 8.5% year on year. Revenues increased to $664 million, driven by a 5% increase in net interest income. The cost of risk increased to 185 basis points, as expected, reflecting changes in the portfolio mix and the gradual normalization of credit losses. Net profit remained broadly stable at 206 million, despite higher taxation and the normalization of risk cost, confirming the strong profitability and resilience of the business model. Insurance and principal investing once again provided a strong contribution to our results. Revenues reached 316 million euros, while net profit amounted to 286 million, higher than last year. Looking ahead, even in an uncertain macroeconomic environment, Mediobanca expects the performance delivered in the first half to be matched in the second. For the full year, we see mid-single-digit revenue growth, supported by an increasing contribution from all revenue sources. will maintain strict cost discipline and expect the initiatives already implemented during the first half to deliver their full benefit in the coming quarters. Net profit is expected to grow in the mid-teens compared to last year. Despite the normalization of the cost of risk, higher integration cost and increased taxation. In conclusion, in the first half of 2026 we achieved record revenues, record operating profit and record net profit while maintaining strong capital, excellent asset quality and strict cost discipline. At the same time, we continue to make progress in the integration process via MPS with several commercial initiatives already underway across all our business segments. I am firmly convinced that the strength of Mediobanca's diversified model, our close relations with clients, and above all, the quality and determination of our people, will continue to generate value for all stakeholders, building on our 80 years of service to the Italian economy. Thank you all and have a nice summer.