iA Financial Corporation Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Industrial Alliance First Quarter Earnings Results 2023 Conference Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone. If at any time during the conference you need to reach an operator, please press star 0. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded on Wednesday, May 10th. I would now like to turn the conference over to Marie-Annick Bonneau, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to our 2023 First Quarter Conference Call. All our Q1 documents, including press release, slides for this conference call, MD&E, and supplementary information package are posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at ia.ca. This conference call is open to the financial community, the media, and the public. I remind you that the question period is reserved for financial analysts. A recording of this call will be available for one week starting this evening. The archived webcast will be available for 90 days, and a transcript will be available on our website in the next week. I'll draw your attention to the forward-looking statement information on slide two. as well as the non-IFRS and additional financial measures information, and a note regarding 2022 restated results under IFRS 17 and IFRS 9 on slide 3. Also, please note that a detailed discussion of the company's risk is provided in our 2022 MDNA available on CDAR and on our website, with an update in our Q1 2023 MDNA release earlier today. I will now turn the call over to Denis Ricard, President and CEO.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on the call today. As usual, I will start by introducing everyone attending on behalf of IE. First, Jacques Potvin, Chief Actuary and CFO. Mike Stickney, Chief Growth Officer and responsible, among other things, for our U.S. operations. Alain Bergeron, Chief Investment Officer. René Laflamme, in charge of individual insurance and annuities. Stéphane Bourbonnet, executive VP responsible for mutual fund business and wealth management distribution affiliates. And Sean O'Brien, now responsible for group businesses. This morning, we reported our Q1 results, the first ones under the new accounting standards IFRS 9 and 17. And we can now confirm that the transition to these new standards is positive for IE, thanks to our long-term vision and prudent approach. Please go to slide eight while I comment on three key favorable impacts. First, our business model is enhanced as we can now have much more capital available to invest for future growth and ultimately to create value for our shareholders. Indeed, as of March 31, 2023, we have $1.8 billion available for deployment. Second, as our core earnings power is expected to be higher under IFRS 9 and 17, we're now targeting higher core ROE of 15% plus and a solid core EPS growth with a 2023 target of 10% plus mid-single-digit growth over IFRS 4 2022 results. Finally, our financial strength is better reflected under the new accounting standards, which explains our increased solvency ratio of 149% and low leverage ratio of 14.7% as of March 31, 2023. About the first quarter results now. As presented on slide 9, we reported a good performance to date. Looking at our main KPIs, in terms of profitability, core EPS of $2.08 is 16 percent higher than a year earlier under IFRS 4, and therefore, in line with this growth target indication given in February. Core ROE of 14.6 percent is close to our midterm target. Moving to our financial position, as expected, It is more robust under the new standards with a solvency ratio of 149%, and it continues to be supported by good organic capital generation. More specifically, organic capital generation amounted to $125 million in the first quarter. As we continue to invest in digital transformation and employee experience, two key enablers for sustainable growth, We're happy to also return value to our shareholders through a significant 13% increase in the dividend, which is consistent with our higher co-earnings power under the new standards. I also want to comment on book value per share, an important accounting metric. Following our stable book value at transition, growth in book value per share was very good during the first quarter of with an increase of 3%, supported by the record quarterly net income of $270 million achieved in Q1. Moving to slide 10, with a substantial amount of deployable capital of $1.8 billion as of March 31, 2023, it is our intent to continue to invest in our growth, organically and through acquisitions. More attention and energy will be devoted to growing the business, which is one of the reasons for the changes to the executive committee announced this morning. With two chief growth officers, one for Canadian businesses and one for the U.S., and two co-heads of acquisitions, three-season executives will be dedicated to the execution of IA's growth strategy. In addition, Mike's increased focus on the U.S. market and on acquisitions will enhance our ability to leverage his expertise and capitalize on opportunities to further accelerate our growth trajectory. Among the other changes to the Executive Committee announced this morning, North Worthy is the upcoming retirement of Jacques. Indeed, after many accomplishments, including most recently the transition to the new accounting standards, Jacques will be leaving his position following Q2 earnings disclosure, but will stay on until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition with Éric Jobin, currently Executive VP, Operational Efficiency, who will become CFO and Chief Actuary in August. This concludes my remark. I will now turn it over to Mike, who will comment on business growth. Following Mike, Jacques will provide more information about Q1 results and our capital strengths. Mike?