Definity Financial Corporation

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Defendity Financial Corporation's first quarter of 2026 financial results conference call and webcast. At this time, our lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you need assistance, please press start for the operator. This call is being recorded on Friday, May 8, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Dennis Westphal, VP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on the call today. A link to our live webcast and background information for the call is posted on our website at thefinity.com under the Investors tab. As a reminder, the slide presentation contains a disclaimer on forward-looking statements, which also applies to our discussion on the conference call. Joining me on the call today are Roland Saunders, President and CEO, Philip Mather, Chief Financial Officer, Fabian Rickenberger, Chief Operating Officer, Paul McDonald, EVP of Personal Insurance and Digital Channels, and Obed Rahman, EVP of Commercial Insurance. We'll start with formal remarks from Rowan and Phil, followed by a Q&A session, during which Fabian, Paul, and Obed will also be available to answer your questions. With that, I will ask Rowan to begin his remarks.

Thanks, Dennis, and good morning, everyone. This quarter marks a pivotal moment for our company. as these are the first results to reflect our new position as a top five P&C insurer in Canada, following the closing of the Transformative Travelers transaction on January the 2nd. The transaction accelerates our ambition to build a Canadian champion in several ways. Beyond advancing our leadership position, the combination adds significant scale to our operations, diversifies our product mix into attractive new segments, and substantially deepens our broker relationships across the country. Just as importantly, it enhances our talents and capabilities by bringing the deep expertise of the new team members into our organization. And we've been very pleased to see strong retention of key talent since the transaction was announced. In short, this acquisition has created a more powerful and resilient business, and our strong first quarter results are the first evidence of that enhanced potential. The integration is moving at a remarkable pace, as you can see on slide five. To provide a tangible example, we have already harmonized the new business intake channels from our combined broker network. meaning that as of February, all new business is being written as a single, unified, definitive offering. Holding on that success, the process of converting existing policies began in April. This rapid progress is a testament to our disciplined playbook and the incredible work of our dedicated integration teams. This early success reinforces the powerful strategic rationale of the deal and is most evident in our synergy plan. We have already achieved an annual run rate of $36 million in expense synergies by quarter end, putting us in an excellent position to deliver on our three-year $100 million target. Given this momentum, we now expect approximately one-third of this target to earn into underwriting income in the first 12 months alone, a significant acceleration of our plan. These are tangible cost savings already being realized. The synergy plan is a key component of a larger story about value creation. The acquisition solidifies our pathway to a sustainable mid-teen operating ROE, a target we intend to achieve through two distinct but complementary set of drivers, which you can see illustrated on slide six. First is the continued execution of our organic improvement plan. You can see the progress we've made on our three organic levers. We have already achieved a break-even level of performance from solid, are on track to deliver our targeted operating expense enhancement by year-end, and are well positioned to achieve at least another point of benefit from our claims transformation by the end of 2027. This organic engine remains a fundamental part of our strategy. Second, The traveler's transaction acts as a powerful accelerator, adding at least another 200 basis points of ROE improvements on top of our organic plan. This comes from three primary inorganic levers. The direct impact of $100 million in expense synergies I've just discussed. Two, the step change in net investment income from a much larger asset base. And three, the benefit of creating a more efficient balance sheet by deploying excess capital and introducing leverage. So when you put it all together, the path forward is clear. The combination of our demonstrated organic improvement plan with the powerful financial levers unlocked by the Traveller's Transaction. gives us a high degree of confidence in our ability to deliver a sustainable mid-team operating ROE post-integration. Turning to our performance in the first quarter on slide 7, we delivered strong results across the board. From a top-line perspective, gross written premiums grew by over 35%, a solid start towards our full-year guidance of $6.5 billion. Our overall profitability was a standout this quarter. We delivered a strong consolidated combined ratio of 92.9%, and for the first time in our history, generated over $100 million in underwriting income in our first quarter. Achieving this level of profitability while integrating a business of this scale is a testament to the strong underlying performance across our portfolios and the discipline of our teams. Our diversified earnings power was also on full display this quarter. Our national broker platform, a key strategic pillar for us, showed excellent momentum with operating income growing by nearly 25% year-over-year. This powerful distribution engine, combined with our strong underrunning results and more than 60% increase in net investment income, produced operating EPS of $0.97. and an operating ROE of 13%. This clearly demonstrates the value and resilience of our diversified business model. Turning to the industry outlook on slide 8, we expect overall conditions in personal auto to remain firm as insurers aim to keep pace with the combined impact of lost cost trends, ongoing regulatory constraints in Alberta, and uncertainty related to the extent and impact of macroeconomic factors. We also expect market conditions to remain firm in personal property over the next 12 months as the industry continues to remain diligent, taking underwriting and pricing actions required to fund weather loss events amid heightened climate risk. In commercial insurance, while we expect overall commercialized market conditions to remain attractive, we have seen competition intensify in the large account space. We continue to expect overall industry growth to be in the low to mid-single digits over the next 12 months, varying by segment. Against this backdrop, our sophisticated pricing models, modern technology platforms, and disciplined underwriting give us a distinct advantage. We are confident in our ability to navigate these industry trends effectively, select the right risks, and price our products appropriately to deliver sustained, profitable growth. In summary, this was an important quarter for DFINITY. We successfully closed a transformational acquisition by demonstrating strong early progress on integration and synergy capture and have delivered robust operating results in a dynamic market. We are confident that we are building a formidable leader in the Canadian market, one that delivers sustained value for our customers, our brokers, and our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Paul Mather, to discuss the results in more detail.