Swedbank AB (publ)

Good morning. Thank you for dialing in this morning. I am Maria Kahneman, Head of Investor Relations here at Svalbank. And it's my pleasure to welcome you to our first quarter results presentation. I am joined today by our CEO, Jens Henriksson, and our CFO, Jon Ludefelt. Jens and Jon will start with the presentation, and then there will be an opportunity to ask questions. With that, over to you, Jens.

Thank you, Maria. Swedbank has started 2026 by once again delivering a stable result in uncertain times. The resilience of the global economy is once again tested with increasing geopolitical tensions and rising energy prices. The IMF revised down global growth slightly the other week. but they warn that the effects on the world economy could be significantly worse if the conflict in the Middle East is prolonged or escalates. The bank's four home markets continue to perform well, especially relative to other countries. Our economists estimate that the Swedish economy will grow by around 2% this year, and the same applies for Estonia and Latvia. The Lithuanian economy is expected to continue to grow by around 3% in 2026. In our home markets, growth is driven by both private consumption and large public investments. In these uncertain times, Swedbank is once again delivering stable results. The quarter was characterized by increased proactivity. New regulations for Swedish mortgages also contributed to more customer interactions. Turbulence in the equity markets led to higher activity in the savings area. Despite the fact that demand for corporate credit is somewhat muted to the global turmoil, the bank has done more business in both the Baltics and in Sweden. In total, we achieved a profit of 7.3 billion kronor in the first quarter of 2026. The return on equity is weighed down by the fact that our dividend was not paid out until the end of March and therefore amounted to 13.3%. The cost to income ratio was 0.4. Credit quality is solid. Credit impairments amounted to 164 million Swedish kronor. our CET1 capital buffer amounts to 2.7 percentage points. Swedbank has a strong capital and liquidity position. We want to make our customers' financial lives easier. And just under a year ago, the four business area heads, our CFO, Joon, and I presented our plan, Swedbank 1527. The plan has a clear business and customer focus. We'll strengthen our customer interactions, grow our volumes and continue to increase efficiency. When presenting the last quarterly report, I said that the business area would be given more responsibility and influence. This is now in place. The business area has been given full responsibility for meeting customer needs. Business development has moved closer to customers and large portions of our IT are centralized. This will increase our pace and strengthen our ability to execute. I also announced that we would clarify our plan for card and consumer credit following the acquisition of Entercard. And this plan has three parts. One. We will grow our card business with existing customers of Swedbank and with our partners. Entercard continues to operate a card business under its own brand. Two. We will create a unified consumer credit business based on Swedbank's values and credit standards. Everything is done within Swedbank as a part of our offering to existing customers. Three, we will realize synergies in both core additions and consumer credit. To realize the value from the organizational changes I talked about and from the entry card plan, we are running a program that will reduce long-term annual costs by around 1 billion Swedish kronor. To do this, one-off costs of 1.3 billion Swedish kronor will be added during the year. It will cover transitional costs, competence shifts, and integration. As a consequence, the number of employees will decrease from 17,350 today to 16,800 at the end of 2027. In addition, we intend to divest PayEx, which today primarily works with various types of invoice financing. This will increase their opportunities to grow while reducing capital that is tied up in the bank. All of this is in line with our plan Swedbank 1527 and contributes to a more business-oriented, focused and efficient Swedbank. The mortgage market in Sweden continues to be characterized by a somewhat muted customer activity and intense competition. To grow at least at the same rate as the market, several actions have been taken. Availability has increased significantly. We are faster and more business-focused. In November last year, we finalized the acquisition of the digital mortgage challenger Stabelo. They complement our offering well. As a result, our market share of new mortgages in Sweden through our own channels was almost 17% in the first two months of the quarter. Since Sabelo was acquired, it has grown steadily and contributed with over 3 percentage points to this. Swedbank's mortgage portfolio also grew in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during the quarter. Activity in the housing market remains high, supported by rising real wages. At the end of the quarter, the savings area was affected by increased market turbulence. In these times, we place even greater priority on being available and providing advice and support to our customers. Net inflows to Swedbank Robo were 4 billion Swedish kronor. The number of customers who choose our premium concepts is increasing. Growth was particularly high for customers in need of personal, qualified investment advice. The bank's corporate business continued to develop at a steady pace. As a result of renewed and increased uncertainty, we saw a cautious attitude among companies at the end of the quarter. Total lending volumes increased by 9 billion Swedish kronor. In Sweden, growth mainly came from large customers in the real estate sector. In the Baltic countries, lending to corporates increased by 2%, and the energy sector accounted for a large part of the increase. In our corporate business, we continue to focus on customer value and productivity. Customer satisfaction among our large corporate customers has increased. Let me also, as always, say a few words about Swedbank's societal engagement. Children and young people are particularly important in our work to promote financial literacy. Every month we educate tens of thousands of schoolchildren in personal finance, and we distribute the magazine Lykoslanten. And those of you that are not from Sweden now have the pleasure to see the front page of the new edition. They're coming out soon on the right hand side and the other older one on the left hand side. It is Sweden's largest youth magazine and it's distributed in schools to all children in grades 4, 5 and 6. And Lykoslanten celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Since 1926, it has been important for increasing young people's understanding of money and savings, something we are both happy and proud of. And with that, Jun, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Jens. The quarter was stable with good business momentum despite the geopolitical uncertainty. Return on equity was 13.3% weighed down by the higher equity base as the dividend payout was as usual in the end of the quarter. The cost-income ratio was 0.4 and the CET1 buffer was around 270 basis points. Swedbank has a strong capital and liquidity position. Lending volumes increased by 1% in the quarter. In Sweden, mortgage volumes sold through our own channels increased by 4 billion. Stabelo now grows at good pace, clearly showing that Swedbank's strong balance sheet is enabling growth. The positive trend in corporate and institutions continued with 6 billion of loan growth. In Baltic Banking, growth momentum continues. Volume growth in mortgages was strong, adding $4 billion. Corporate loan demand remained high across sectors, with loan growth of $3 billion. On group level, you now see that Emtecard's consumer lending portfolio is reported as held for sale. Deposits continued its strong trend during the quarter. driven primarily by Baltic banking, with good growth mainly in the corporate deposits. The pension reform in Lithuania has temporarily boosted corporate deposits by around 3 billion. These are transferred to individuals during the second quarter. In Sweden, private and corporate deposits were stable. Net interest income increased by 3% compared with the previous quarter. As last year's rate cuts were rolled in at year end, we now have the full quarterly NII effect. The impact was offset by solid underlying loan growth. Furthermore, the full quarter effects of MCCard added 481 million compared to last quarter. FX and two fewer days had a negative impact of 192 million. Wholesale funding costs improved mainly due to the lower cyber rate in the beginning of the quarter. Changes in mortgage rates typically fully feed through to our lending with a lag of around three months in Sweden and six months in the Baltics. Our rate sensitivity dynamics is as expected, with the impact on the funding side materializing ahead of the impact on the asset side. Net commission income decreased by 2% compared to the fourth quarter, which was boosted by one-offs. The decrease was mainly in securities and corporate finance, as they normalized following the positive one of FX we had in the fourth quarter. Asset management commissions benefited from strong performance and the net inflow of $4 billion, offset by day count effect and FX. Total assets under management was $2.6 trillion. Ruber is the largest fund manager in Sweden and in the Baltics. Asset management commissions contributed with around 2 billion to our total NCI. Payment income increased and Codd commissions were higher due to the full quarter effect from Enticod, adding 67 million. As usual, Codd commissions were seasonally lower. Insurance income was boosted by annual profit sharing from insurance partner companies of 49 million. Net gains and losses decreased as we had exceptionally large treasury revaluation effects in the fourth quarter. Business-related income remained, however, strong, driven by client trading activity. The Treasury result was impacted by revaluation effects in derivatives offset by positive evaluations in equity holdings. Other income decreased by 20% in the quarter, mainly driven by higher claims from the insurance business in Baltic banking. Results from associated companies were lower, mainly due to P27. As a reminder here, our collaboration with the savings banks include cost sharing for IT development and administrative services. The savings bank's share of these costs is included in Swedbank's total expenses, with a corresponding compensation recognized under other income. Costs in the first quarter were higher compared to the previous quarter. but Q4 included one of the effects of around $1 billion, so adjusted for that, costs were seasonally lower. Entercard full quarter impact added $241 million compared to the previous quarter. Asset quality remains solid. Total credit impairments for the quarter amounted to $164 million. Macro scenarios have been updated, but as the heightened uncertainty is difficult to fully capture in our models, we have added post-model adjustments, which now stands at 268 million. Individual assessment increased mainly due to a few corporate exposures, but we also saw increased repayments. Entercard added 48 million. Overall, Our asset quality is solid and I'm comfortable with our strict credit origination standards and the strong collateralization of our lending portfolio. Our CET1 capital ratio at quarter end was 17.5%, corresponding to a buffer of around 270 basis points above regulatory requirements. In the quarter, we have taken the decision to add an Article 3 add-on of approximately 11 billion SEK. This relates to our IRB application for retail exposures in Baltic banking, and it's a self-imposed capital add-on which will remain until the ECB has reviewed and we have implemented the updated models. With the reorganization implemented during Q1, we have realigned responsibilities and resources to sharpen customer focus and improve speed and execution. We have also taken further steps to transform and streamline our operating model for card issuing, card acquiring, and unsecured lending to strengthen business focus and capture synergies across the group. Areas such as IT and operations will be consolidated to enable synergies, while MTCard and Swedbank Pay will continue to act as focused distributors of non-Swedbank branded products. As communicated previous quarter, the consumer finance backbook of MTCard will be sold and you see it reported as held for sale in the balance sheet. We continue to focus on efficiency, and in 2026 we will have extraordinary costs of around 1.3 billion. The majority, around 800 million, will be booked in the second quarter, and the rest during the remainder of the year. Our cost guidance of 27.5 billion is excluding the extraordinary cost. In 2027, we will continue to have an elevated investment level related to this. But as the synergies will start to materialize, I expect them to offset the additional costs in 2027. We also expect an FTE level of around 16,800 by the end of 2027. At the end of 2028, the synergies will fully materialize, resulting in a lower run rate of 1 billion Swedish kronor. On top of this, PayEx will be divested. Recent years, we have restructured and streamlined the company, and a few months ago, it was split into two separate legal entities, Swedbank Pay and PayEx. The new Payex consists of mainly invoice servicing and tailor-made financing, products that meaningfully complement our offering but are best sourced through a third-party provider. It is not our core business, and we believe Payex can realize its potential better with another owner. The financial effect of this you can find specified in the appendix of the presentation. Divesting pegs will also create room to invest more in our core business, creating further shareholder value. We expect a CET1 release of approximately 15 to 25 basis points, stemming mainly from the divestment of Entercard's consumer finance backbook. To conclude, our actions combined will continue to support our strong profitability and market-leading cost efficiency. Back to you, Jens.