iA Financial Corporation Inc.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the IA Financial Group First Quarter 2026 Earnings Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. You'll hear a tone acknowledging your request. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing star, then zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Carolyn Druin, head of investor relations with IA Financial Group. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Bonjour a tous. Welcome to IA's first quarter 2026 conference call. This conference call is open to the financial community, the media, and the public. And I remind you that the question period is reserved for financial analysts. Before we start, I draw your attention to the forward-looking statements information on slide two. Forward-looking statements made today are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These statements are based on certain material factors and assumptions. I also draw your attention on the non-IFRS and additional financial measures on slide three. Today's commentary will also include adjusted financial measures, which should be considered as a supplement to IFRS measures. For further details, including those factors and assumptions, please refer to our press release and MD&A. I will start by introducing everyone attending on behalf of IA. So Denis Ricard, President and CEO, Eric Jobin, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Actuary, Alain Bergeron, Chief Investment Officer, Stéphane Bourbonnet, responsible for her wealth management operations, René Laflamme, responsible for individual insurance, savings, and retirement, Pierre Miron, chief growth officer for our Canadian operations and responsible for IA Auto and Owns, Sean O'Brien, Chief Growth Officer for our U.S. operations and responsible for all of our dealer services operations. And finally, Louis-Philippe Pouliot, in charge of group benefits and retirement solutions. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Denis Ricard.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. Before turning to our first quarter results, I'd like to briefly touch on leadership changes announced last night. That further highlights our organization's ability to develop leaders, promote internal mobility, and attract talent of international caliber. Effective June 1st, we are creating a new executive vice president role dedicated to lead acquisition-driven business development. And we're very pleased to welcome Benoit Huzon to IE. Benoit brings deep international experience in strategy, performance management, and he will play a key role in how we deploy capital going forward. At the same time, as part of the continued evolution of the senior leadership team, Pierre Miron has informed us of his decision to retire at the end of 2026, following an exceptional career. Pierre will remain a full member of the executive team through the end of this year, serving as strategic advisor to support a smooth and orderly transition. His contribution to our digital transformation, operating model, and growth trajectory has been truly remarkable since he joined IE in 2018. As part of this transition, Denis Berthiaume will assume Pierre's responsibilities as Executive Vice President, Chief Growth Officer, Canadian Operations. Denis combines strong operational rigor with a clear strategic and capital allocation perspective, and is well-positioned to continue driving profitable growth across our Canadian platforms. Taking together these leadership changes reinforce our focus on delivering sustainable growth across North America and directly support high strategic priorities. With that context, let's now turn to our first quarter results. Turning to slide 9, the first quarter clearly demonstrates the power of our unique and diversified business model, the depth of our distribution capabilities, and our ability to execute consistently in a dynamic environment. We delivered solid core earnings growth. Core EPS increased by 12% year-over-year, reaching $3.25. Our trailing 12-month score reached 17.5%, which already meets our 2026 target. These results reflect strong operating discipline across all business units, as well as the resilience and consistency of our earnings profile. Business growth was also very good across our business units and contributed to a 10% year-over-year increase in premiums and deposits, as well as a 31% increase in assets under management and administration. This performance was supported by strong demand across our target markets, the effectiveness of our distribution model, and the relevance of our offerings. Our financial strength remains a key pillar this quarter. At March 31st, our solvency ratio stood at 134%, well above regulatory requirements, supported by $155 million of organic capital generation during the quarter. This strong capital generation contributed to capital available for deployment to $1.2 billion, giving us significant flexibilities to support organic growth, pursue strategic opportunities, and continue returning capital to shareholders. Reflecting this financial strength and our confidence in the sustainability of our earnings power, we're pleased to announce today an 11% increase in the quarterly dividend, bringing it to $1.10 per share. In addition, we continued to actively return capital through share buybacks, with $261 million deployed under our NCIB during the quarter. And based on our strong ability to generate capital, we are also announcing today that the maximum capacity of our NCIB will be increased from 5% of shares outstanding to 8% of our public flow, providing us with additional flexibility to return capital to shareholders going forward. Finally, book value per common share reached $78.90 at quarter end, up 6% year-over-year, and up 10% over year, excluding the impact of the NCIB. Overall, in an environment that remains volatile, our first quarter performance underscores the quality of our earnings, our prudent capital deployment decisions, and our continued focus on long-term value creation for shareholders. Turning to slide 10, taking a closer look at business growth by segment, starting with Insurance Canada, which delivered a good quarter. In individual insurance, sales of $97 million were comparable to last year's strong performance. Sales were down slightly year over year, but this does not reflect a slowdown in activity. In fact, the number of policies issued was up 5% year over year, reflecting strong distribution activity, continued adoption of our digital tools, and our comprehensive product offering. This level of activity reinforced our leading position in the Canadian mass market. In group insurance, premiums and deposits, growth in employee plans and special markets, reflects good sales over the past 12 months. In dealer services, sales grew 7% to $174 million, driven by continued momentum in P&C insurance. Finally, auto and home once again delivered good results, with sales up 6% to $137 million. Growth was driven by an increase in the number of policies combined with pricing actions implemented in the last 12 months. Turning to slide 11, wealth management delivered another strong quarter, highlighted by record individual growth sales of $3.7 billion. We continue to strengthen our leadership position in the Canadian SEC fund market with very strong performance in both growth and net sales. Individual SEC fund growth sales rose 23% year-over-year, to almost $2.4 billion, while net sales reached nearly $1.5 billion. This growth reflects sustained advisor engagement and continued client demand. In mutual funds, growth sales increased by 30% year-over-year to $838 million, while net outflows of $90 million were recorded. The uproars were influenced by a single isolated factor, excluding that impact mutual fund trends continue to improve, supported by strong sales and advisor activity. Sales of other individual savings products reached $494 million, a 6% increase year-over-year, as safer products become appealing to certain investors in the current volatile market. Finally, in group savings and retirement, assets under management were 10% higher than a year ago. Sales for the first quarter totaled $704 million. Growth in insured annuities was positive, although this was more than offset by lower accumulation product sales during the quarter. Turning to slide 12, to review the U.S. operations, where we see continued momentum in individual insurance and in dealer services. In individual insurance, sales increased 16% year-over-year to $79 million. Once again this quarter, U.S. individual insurance sales exceeded those in Canada, reflecting solid momentum in our core markets. This result highlights the underlying demand in the U.S. life insurance market with continued focus on profitable growth. In U.S. dealer services, first quarter sales totaled $273 million U.S., compared to a strong $306 million. In a very strong prior year quarter, this quarter's results reflect a general slowdown in industry-wide vehicle sales. It is important to note that the prior year quarter benefited from a significant pull forward of sales driven by expectation of potential price increases related to tariff uncertainty and other temporary market factors. In addition, our discipline repricing actions across the portfolio weighted modestly on volume this quarter while improving the profitability of UBusiness. Note that on a more comparable basis, U.S. dealer services sales were up 10% versus Q1 2024. Overall, we remain focused on expanding our distribution relationships and executing our U.S. growth strategy with discipline while continuing to adapt to evolving trends. market conditions, and maintaining a clear focus on profitability. Now turning to slide 13, where our financial results this quarter demonstrate consistent and tangible progress toward our targets. Core ETS grew by 12% year-over-year in the first quarter, ahead of our midterm target of 10% plus. This performance was achieved despite core experience losses during the quarter, which we do not expect to be recurrent. As we have consistently said in the past, significant experience items, whether gains or losses, should not be extrapolated. What this quarter highlights is the consistency of our earnings profile and the benefits of our diversified business model. Core ROE remained solid at 17.5% at March 31st, already meeting our 2026 objective. This reflects the disciplined execution across the organization strong business fundamentals, and continued focus on capital efficiency. Organic capital generation continues to be a key strength. During the first quarter, we generated $155 million of organic capital, positioning us well toward our objective of generating more than $700 million of organic capital for the full year. As usual, capital generation is expected to accelerate from the second quarter onward. This continued capital generation continues supports both growth and shareholder returns while preserving financial flexibility. Finally, our dividend payout ratio remained well within our target range at 30.5%, and the dividend increase announced today is expected to keep us within the target range. With that, I will now hand it over to Eric, who will take you through our first quarter profitability and capital position.