Great-West Lifeco Inc.

Hello everyone and thank you for standing by and welcome to Great West's first quarter 2026 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded today. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity for analysts to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star and then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference, you may signal an operator by pressing star then zero. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference call over to Mr. Shubha Khan, Senior Vice President and Head of Investor Relations at Great West. Welcome, sir.

Thank you, Jim. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining the call to discuss our first quarter financial results. Before we start, please note that a link to our live webcast and materials for this call have been posted on our website at greatwestlifeco.com under the Investor Relations tab. Turning to slide two, I'd like to draw your attention to the cautionary language regarding the use of forward-looking statements which form part of today's remarks. And please refer to the appendix for a note on the use of non-IFRS financial measures and important notes on adjustments, terms, and definitions used in this presentation. And turning to slide three, I'd like to introduce today's call participants. Joining us today are David Harney, our president and CEO, John Nielsen, our group CFO, Ed Murphy, President and CEO Empower. Fabrice Morin, President and CEO Canada. Lindsay Ricks-Broom, CEO Europe. Jeff Poulin, CEO Capital and Risk Solutions. Linda Kerrigan, our appointed actuary. And John Melvin, our Chief Investment Officer. We will begin with prepared remarks followed by Q&A. With that, I'll turn the call over to David.

Thanks, Hubert, and good morning, everyone. Please turn to slide five. We delivered a strong start to 2026 with double-digit earnings growth for Great West and each of our operating segments. These results reflect the structural progress we've made over the past several years, including our shift to a more capitalized business mix, the operating leverage across our platforms and disciplined capital deployment. This quarter, we delivered 20% year-over-year growth in base earnings and 23% growth in base EPS. driven by strong underlying business performance and the continued execution of our capital return strategy. Q1 marks another important milestone for Great West, as it is the first time we have achieved all our potential objectives we set out at our investor day last year. This is the direct result of our focused strategies and disciplined execution, and we are confident in the medium-term outlook for our business. Our strong cash generation and balance sheet continue to provide significant financial flexibility, with over $2 billion in whole core cash at quarter end, even after nearly $600 million of share buybacks during the period. Please turn to slide six. As I mentioned, we delivered base earnings for share growth of 23% year-on-year, primarily owing to strong growth in our capital-efficient businesses. Notably, Empower-based earnings grew 23% year-over-year in US dollars, driven by strong retirement and wealth growth and operating leverage, while capital and risk solutions saw 41% growth with continued momentum in its capital solutions business. Highlighting our position as a leader in retirement services and wealth management, Great West saw 10% year-over-year growth in total client assets, to $3.3 trillion, of which more than $1.1 trillion represents higher margin assets under management or advisement. Robust capital generation continued to reinforce our strong financial position this quarter. Despite continued share buybacks, we ended with a solid capital base, including a LICAT ratio of 129%, whole core cash of over $2 billion, and a stable leverage ratio. Please turn to slide seven. At our investor day last year, we reiterated our objectives for base EPS growth and dividend payout, introduced a new objective for base capital generation, and raised our base ROE ambition. Our first quarter results were in line with all our medium-term objectives, with base ROE exceeding 19% for the first time this quarter. Our success can be attributed to the market-leading strength of our businesses, the continued shift towards capitalized growth and disciplined capital management. I am very pleased with the progress we have made as an organization over the past several years to drive stronger returns. While market conditions have been supportive in recent quarters, the structural progress we've made puts us on course to deliver 19% plus base ROE on a sustainable basis. Please turn to slide eight. Each of our segments delivered against their growth ambitions in the first quarter. As I mentioned, Empower grew base earnings at a double-digit pace year over year, with strong operating margins and net flows in retirement, as well as impressive growth of 65% in the wealth business. Canada saw growth across all lines of business, with double-digit growth in both retirement and wealth assets. In Europe, retirement and wealth and insurance earnings growth were propelled by strong client asset flows as well as strong retail annuity sales. In capital and risk solutions, there continues to be solid demand across geographies and product lines for capital solutions, which coupled with strong insurance experience drove 41% year-over-year base earnings growth. Overall, I am very pleased with the strong start to 2026. Double-digit growth across all four business segments drives continued confidence for the remainder of 2026. Before John covers our first performance in more detail, I will pass it over to Ed to talk more about Empowered's results and the work done by his teams this quarter to meaningfully strengthen the long-term growth profile of the Empowered business.