Slawomir Krupa: Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Leo and I are very happy to present our results for Q3 and the first 9 months of the year. All organizations today operate in a complex and highly uncertain environment, but despite that, our strong momentum continues to accelerate. Today we are announcing a record group net income for both the quarter and the first 9 months of the year. Our accretive growth translates into a strong profitability with a ROTE of 12.3% over the first 9 months of the year compared to 10.5% last year. It is also significantly above our end-of-year target of around 11%. Specifically, our revenues are up by 4.1% versus 9 months 2025 on a reported basis. This is more than twice our 2026 guidance.
Slawomir Krupa: We remain disciplined on costs, with operating expenses down 3.2% versus 9 months 2025, despite the much higher pace of revenue growth. This translates into a cost-to-income ratio of 58.8%, which is much better than our year-end target of a cost-to-income ratio below 60%. With a cost of risk of 27 basis points, we remain in the middle of our guidance range, indicating both our prudent risk management and the strong quality of our credit portfolio. Again, all of this has substantially improved profitability with a ROTCE of 12.3% in the first 9 months of 2026. Ultimately, our capital position remains high, with a CET1 ratio standing at 13.4% after taking into account the completed extraordinary share buyback of EUR 1.5 billion. Now let me hand over to Leo, who will take you through our Q3 2026 financial performance. Leo?
Leo Alvear: Thank you, Slawomir, and good morning, everyone. Moving on now to our financial performance for the quarter. Overall, Q3 2026 is another strong set of results. Our revenues are strongly increasing by 7.8% versus Q3 2025, notably on the back of a continued solid momentum in French retail banking, as well as in Global Banking and Investor Solutions, as we will see later. At constant perimeter and exchange rates, the revenue growth stands at 8.4% versus Q3 2025. Thanks to our continued cost discipline, which increased by only 0.8% this quarter, despite provisioning for the increase in variable compensation linked to the strong evolution of revenues, we deliver a significant positive jaws expansion of 7 percentage points. This results in further strengthening our operational leverage, with a cost-to-income ratio of 57.1% in Q3, down by around 4 percentage points versus Q3 2025.
Leo Alvear: From an asset quality perspective, the cost of risk remains well contained at 28 basis points. This is within the 25 to 30 basis points guidance range. The quarterly net income reaches a record high EUR 1.9 billion, and our ROTCE stands at 13%, a strong improvement versus Q3 2025 level of 10.7%. The next slide highlights the key drivers behind our revenue growth in Q3. As previously stated, the group recorded a strong increase in reported revenues by 7.8%. The first item of the bridge reflects the impact of disposals with an overall effect of minus EUR 48 million, lower than previous quarters, as anticipated. The impact is mainly related to the disposals of the activities in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. At constant perimeter and exchange rates, the increase is even higher, reaching 8.4% versus Q3 2025.
Leo Alvear: Business-wise, revenues in French Retail, Private Banking and Insurance showed a strong momentum with a growth of 10.9% on a reported basis, mainly supported by a high NII, which grew 12.7%. Revenues at Global Banking and Investor Solutions increased by 12.5% versus Q3 2025, or 11.8% at constant perimeter and exchange rates, supported by a record performance in equities. On the other hand, revenues in Mobility, International Retail Banking and Financial Services decreased by 4.3% this quarter at constant perimeter and exchange rates as revenues at Ayvens declined, driven by lower used car sales results, which continued to normalize as guided. To conclude with corporate center, revenues improved by EUR 94 million, driven by revaluation effects. On the following slide, we can see the main drivers of cost development in Q3.
Leo Alvear: In detail, our costs are moderately up by 0.8% versus Q3 2025 on a reported basis, and by 1.1% at constant perimeter and exchange rates. The slight increase is primarily driven by higher cost on GBIS level, driven, of course, by the growing variable compensation, which reflect a stronger than expected financial performance. The remaining downward drivers are the disposals, which explain a variation of minus EUR 20 million, lower transformation charges as guided, which explain minus EUR 39 million, and a net cost decrease of EUR 31 million, confirming our continued focus on cost discipline quarter after quarter. Restated for the disposals impact and GBIS cost increase, total costs are down 1.7% versus Q3 2025.
Leo Alvear: As you can see on the right-hand side of the slide, the cost income ratio is falling by around four percentage points, from 61% in Q3 2025 to the current 57.1% in Q3 2026, which is better than our below 60% 2026 target. And finally, one important point in this slide is that all pillars are below their end of the year cost income targets. Moving on to cost of risk on the next slide, we can see that the cost of risk for the quarter stands at 28 basis points, and is fully in line with our target range between 25 and 30 basis points for the year. At business level, cost of risk stands at 33 basis points for FRBPI, 11 for GBIS, and 47 for MIBS.
Leo Alvear: The cost of risk this quarter mainly comprises Stage 3 provisions, which account for EUR 488 million, and are slightly up versus Q3 2025, driven by the normalization of defaults in MIBS from low levels observed in past quarters. In Stage 1 and Stage 2 provisions, we had a net reversal of EUR 80 million, mainly related to some transfers to Stage 3 provisions. As a result, total outstanding Stage 1 and 2 provisions decreased by 2.6% while remaining at a high level of EUR 2.9 billion, or 2 times the 2 years of cost of risk. NPL ratio stands at 2.75% in Q3, down versus last year. Finally, the net coverage ratio remains strong at 81%. Let's now turn to slide 9, where we can see the evolution of our strong capital position.
Leo Alvear: The Group's CET1 ratio stands at 13.4% at the end of the quarter, representing a strong buffer over MDA of around 320 basis points. Going through the bridge in the slide from left to right, we see that retained earnings contributed to an increase of 21 basis points even after accruing for a 50% distribution payout. The group employee share ownership program has a positive contribution of 9 basis points, and all in all, other updates impacts contribute to a net decrease of 3 basis points. Additionally, as you can see at the bottom right-hand side of the slide, all other capital ratios are comfortably above the regulatory requirements. On slide 10, we can see that liquidity reserves remain very high at EUR 358 billion in Q3, with a balanced mix between cash and securities. The liquidity profile of the group remains strong with sound liquidity ratios.
Leo Alvear: The LCR stands at 145, while the NSFR is 118, both well above regulatory requirements and in line with our steering targets. The 2026 long-term funding program is fully completed, with EUR 16 billion issued, driven by a good access to liquidity in all currencies. Finally, deposit base remains strong, granular, and highly diversified, and overall, the loan to deposit stands at 74% at group level. In slide 11, we show a summary of the P&L for the group for Q3, which we will cover in more details in the following slides. Let's now move to the individual businesses, starting with SG Network, private banking, and insurance on slide 13. At SG Network, Q3 2026 loans outstandings are stable compared to Q2 2026 and fell by 2% versus Q3 2025. Outstanding deposits are also stable compared to the previous quarter and fell 1% versus Q3 2025.
Leo Alvear: This took place within a context of growth of retail savings and investment products, which contributed to the continued robust momentum in overall asset gathering. On one hand, AUMs in private banking reached a record high of EUR 150 billion at the end of September, up 10% versus Q3 2025. While on the other hand, life insurance outstandings stabilized at a record level of EUR 167 billion, increasing by 9% versus Q3 2025. Moving on to BoursoBank on slide 14. We can see that commercial performance remains strong within the asset under administration gathering, which continued to grow, reaching EUR 86 billion at the end of September. This represents a 13% increase versus Q3 2025, included the continued increase in deposits of 7% versus Q3 2025. Equally, life insurance outstandings increased by 17% versus Q3 2025, with a high 51% proportion of unit-linked products.
Leo Alvear: The number of market orders increased substantially by 20% versus Q3 2025, up to 3.4 million. On the lending side, total loans outstanding are up 7% versus Q3 2025. Number of customers reached 9.4 million after onboarding 446,000 new clients in Q3, with a churn rate, which still remains at a very low level, below 4%. In Q3, BoursoBank's net income stands at EUR 101 million, representing a total of EUR 277 million for the first 9 months of the year. This is well on track to exceed its 2026 target of more than EUR 300 million. Finally, the ROE for BoursoBank stood at 74%, illustrating the strong profitability of this market. Looking now at the whole pillar on slide 15. Revenues for French Retail, Private Banking, and Insurance increased sharply by 10.9% versus Q3 2025, driven by a 12.7% growth in NII and an 8.3% growth in fees.
Leo Alvear: At the same time, operating expenses fell by 5.1% versus the same period last year. As a result, the gross operating income, GOI, increased by 41.7% versus Q3 2025, and the cost to income ratio stood at 56.1%, representing a substantial improvement of 9.6 percentage points since Q3 2025. Overall, the net income lands at EUR 682 million for the quarter, which is up 55% versus Q3 2025, with a high ROE at 14.6% versus 9.9% last year. Moving now to Global Markets and Investor Services. Global market revenues are significantly up by 18% versus Q3 2025, supported by the outstanding performance of our equities franchise. We reported a record quarter in equities with EUR 1.2 billion in Q3 2026, growing by 45.9% versus Q3 2025, driven by very strong business momentum in all key businesses and geographies.
Leo Alvear: Revenues in fixed income and currencies declined by 20.6% versus Q3 2025, and in line with previous quarters, performance continues to be influenced by low activity in rates. Finally, revenues from security services grew firmly by 9.1% versus Q3 2025, thanks to a strong commercial momentum and deposit growth in key markets. Now turn to the evolution of financing and advisory. Revenues increased by 4.2% versus Q3 2025 on the back of strong business dynamics. Global banking and advisory revenues grew by 2.5%, driven by core franchises. Structured finance kept growing, thanks to strong origination momentum and robust client activity across key sectors. We also had a strong quarter in transaction banking and payment services, where revenues increased by 8.8% versus Q3 2025. The strong commercial activity continued to drive growth in fee income and client deposits in most of our key markets.
Leo Alvear: Moving to the overall view on GBIS. At the pillar level, revenues are up by 12.5% versus Q3 2025. In line with our disciplined track record, efficiency is a key priority for the group and therefore also for the pillar. We generated 4.9 percentage points of positive jaws in the quarter, driving our gross operating income up by 19.8% versus Q3 2025. This translates into a cost-income ratio of 57.4% in the quarter, or 2.6 percentage points better than Q3 2025. The cost of risk remains low at 11 basis points, below the 13 basis points of Q3 2025 or 18 basis points average for the whole 2025. All in all, GBIS posted a net income of EUR 899 million, up by 22.4% versus Q3 2025. As a result, GBIS reported another quarter with high RONI, which stands at 19.8%.
Leo Alvear: This is 2.4 percentage points higher than in Q3 2025. Turning to International Retail Banking on slide 19, we see that in Czech Republic, KB continues to perform well, with revenues up by 4% versus Q3 2025 at constant perimeter and FX, underpinned by strong loans and deposit dynamics, which grew by 9% and 7% versus Q3 2025 respectively. BRD in Romania shows a strong increase in loans of 11%, while deposits are up by 2%. This translates in NII up by 6%, offsetting lower fees. Revenues are overall up by 2% versus Q3 2025. Lastly, revenues in Africa and others were stable versus Q3 2025, driven by growth in core franchises. Loans and deposits are up by respectively 1% and 3% versus Q3 2025. Turning now to Mobility and Financial Services in slide 20.
Leo Alvear: This quarter, the businesses printed lower revenues of -7.8% versus Q3 2025, driven by Ayvens used car sales normalization. At Ayvens, the level of margins is high once again at 620 basis points, 30 basis points above Q3 2025 numbers. On the used car sales front, results continued to decrease over Q3, landing at around EUR 310 for the first nine months of 2026, within the targeted range between EUR 200 and EUR 600 for the full year 2026. All in all, the cost income ratio improved to 49.2%, notably thanks to synergies. This implies a ROTE of 13.2% for the quarter. Both cost income and ROTE are fully in line with the targets set for 2026. With regards to consumer finance, revenues increased by 7% versus Q3 2025, supported by high NII, which benefits from continued proactive repricing policy.
Leo Alvear: Overall, in slide 21, the pillar recorded lower revenues by 4.3% versus Q3 2025 at constant perimeter and FX. At the same time, MIBS continued to monitor strictly its costs, leading to a 2.6% decrease versus Q3 2025 at constant perimeter and FX. All of this translates into a cost income ratio of around 52%, which is below the 55% target set for 2026. Cost of risk this quarter stood at 47 basis points, slightly up versus 43 basis points in Q2 2026, and roughly consistent with the 40 to 45 basis points through the cycle cost of risk estimated for the pillar. All in all, MIBS printed a net income of EUR 349 million, down by 8.6% versus Q3 2025 at constant perimeter and exchange rates, equivalent to a RONI of 12.9%. To conclude with the quarterly results, let's move quickly to slide 22 with the corporate center.
Leo Alvear: Similar to previous quarters, revenues improved versus Q3 2025, driven this time by positive revaluations of liabilities accounted at fair value through P&L. Overall, group net income is almost stable versus Q3 2025. Let me now give back the floor to Slawomir Krupa.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you, Leo. Turning now to sustainable development. This quarter once again demonstrates the strength of Societe Generale's position as a trusted partner for our clients as they navigate the energy transition. Recent transactions demonstrate the breadth of our capabilities from battery storage in Australia to grid infrastructure in the UK. We also supported an innovative project in Italy that combines solar energy generation with biodiversity considerations in agriculture. Partnerships remain a key enabler of our strategy and an important way to increase our impact. We continue to work with multilateral institutions to develop blended finance solutions and continued, for instance, to partner with the EIB in supporting the growth of European clean tech. Taken together, these achievements reflect the consistency of our approach, combining sector expertise, financing capabilities, and strong partnerships, we continue to support our clients' transition strategies.
Slawomir Krupa: In conclusion, we keep building momentum, and we keep improving our performance quarter after quarter. We will exceed our 2026 targets, and with the same discipline and determination, we will reach our 2029 goals. Thank you very much, and we will now open the Q&A session and kindly ask everyone to keep to two questions per person as usual. The floor is yours.
Operator: Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone keypad. The first question comes from Tarik El Mejjad of Bank of America.
Tarik El Mejjad: Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Two, please. First, on the equities business. This quarter, you've actually delivered a very strong performance in line with the big equity houses, I guess, in Europe. Can you explain? In your slides, it was a very short explanation, saying it did well across regions and products, but can you maybe go more into detail what has worked well this quarter? Also when I look at actually the balance sheet, which has worked to deliver this, RWA went up quite a lot. But in the global, in financing activities and advisory, sorry, that went down a lot. Are you thinking of RWA within GBIS? Or it's completely independent way to manage the balance sheet and to expect some reversals on some of the RWA used for the global markets part. That's the first one. Second one on capital.
Tarik El Mejjad: You've been very clear in your recent CMD about the pattern or the cadence rather on distribution, with full year and then with future results, some excess capital above 13%. Things have changed a lot since your CMD with the noise around France and your shares have derated materially. Would you consider being more agile around excess capital return and leverage on your actually distressed multiples, and use the accretive aspects of the buyback, you will benefit from? Thank you very much.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you, Tarik El Mejjad. On the equities, the comment is very short because, it just simply states the reality, which is it's across the entire scope of the businesses. Literally, every unit performed well. If you want to get some more color, I can point to better financing rates for us, which help with the financing side of the business. Strong volatility and commodities clearing on the future side, was supportive investment solutions, and the linear business benefited from actually stronger equity markets and a lot of commercial appetite. It was really across the board, and this is why we're very happy we're also benefiting from the Bernstein consolidation. It's really across the board. And no specific, again, one-off or specific outperformance of one particular business. So this is why we're very happy about this.
Slawomir Krupa: In terms of the RWA, listen, if you look at what happened in terms of the RWA within the market, it's actually a very small increase in terms of overall RWA, market risk stable. By the way, I should have mentioned that this performance of equities was also reached with no change in broad balance sheet usage or more importantly, stress test usage. So completely in line with our risk profile and risk approach. Coming back to the RWA, so market risk stable and credit risk RWA, slightly up a single digit. So that's that. In terms of the capital, listen, let me put it this way. You expect us, our clients expect us, investors expect us to be nimble in markets that change very often in terms of, especially these years, in terms of outlooks, prospects, trends, news flow, and so on and so forth.
Slawomir Krupa: If that makes sense to you should expect us to be nimble when considering the execution piece of our capital management policy.
Tarik El Mejjad: Thank you.
Operator: The next question, sir, is from Giulia Aurora Miotto of Morgan Stanley.
Giulia Aurora Miotto: Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two.
Slawomir Krupa: Hi.
Giulia Aurora Miotto: The first one, I wanted to follow up on nimble. Can we expect then a buyback in Q4, given how attractive the level is, the share price level is? My second question is more numbers driven on French retail fee growth of 8%. How much of that was driven by the change in accounting on the way you book the customer acquisition cost in BoursoBank, please? Thank you.
Slawomir Krupa: All right. On the first question, on being nimble, it is very simple in the end. We have a very strong statement that we have been consistent with, which is that we intend to operate the business at slightly above, practically 13%, but with a strategic objective to be at 13%. We have a component, which is the regular ordinary distribution, which you know well, with some flexibility there in terms of what is the portion for the dividend and what is the portion for the buybacks balance. Like we said in the past, and actually acted upon this, something between, let us say, 40% and 60% in terms of respective shares, depending on market conditions and other considerations that ultimately the board may have when it makes the decision in February. Then there is an exceptional distribution potential.
Slawomir Krupa: Depending on, again, our little framework in terms of what goes into organic growth, what goes potentially into inorganic moves, and what can be used for exceptional distribution. So within that framework, we have to take into account both the performance of the group, both the absolute level of the ratios and, of course, market conditions. Like we do this for a living for everybody, it would be weird for us not to do it for ourselves. In terms of the, when you said, you were talking about the increase in fees for the second part of your question?
Giulia Aurora Miotto: Yes. The fees in the French retail. I guess part of it comes from.
Slawomir Krupa: Yeah, so.
Giulia Aurora Miotto: a change in accounting.
Slawomir Krupa: It comes from a very good performance, as you may have seen, of basically our asset gathering business within the French retail and across all of the components, if you will. Because as much as the deposits are basically flat-ish, we have actually, as you have seen, strong increases in terms of asset gathering and actually strong increase in that side of the business, financial fees and so on and so forth. That is the main driver, and in particular at BoursoBank and private banking, actually. Then in terms of the overall performance, indeed, of course, the new accounting rules for capitalization of acquisition costs allow us to do, as you have seen, both a very strong acquisition, which is close to 500,000 new clients this quarter, which is close to the maximum pace that we expect to have while generating substantial bottom line, because of the benefit.
Slawomir Krupa: Actually, the substantial bottom line is somewhat higher this quarter because we just started to do this. Obviously, as we layer new capitalizations quarter after quarter for the acquisition costs, that upside, if you will tend to converge to the long-term guidance that we gave of above 45% RONI for BoursoBank.
Giulia Aurora Miotto: Thanks.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you.
Operator: The next question is from Delphine Lee of JPMorgan.
Delphine Lee: Yes, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. My first one is just on French retail. Just trying to understand a little bit, because the volume on the lending side and on deposits have been a little bit muted, slightly down. Are you starting to see a little bit of that impact from the political and social environment, or is that rate going up? Any color here and also on deposit mix with site deposits. The mix has marginally changed, but any expectations here that with higher rates and eventually higher 活 率, you might start to see something, or you are quite confident about your assumptions so far? My second question is on the cost side of it. You are clearly tracking very well versus this year's target.
Delphine Lee: I know it is maybe a little bit early, but any indications of how much we should expect maybe for next year? You have already said that the CMD, that a lot of it would be front-loaded. Just trying to understand a little bit the pace here. Thank you very much.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you. On the first question, listen, there is nothing at this point that I would characterize as structural in what you see. The activity is not booming in France. That is not news, obviously, to anyone. But it is in that fairly stable, let us say, zip code, so to speak. Remember, one of the drivers of the volumes on loans are the mortgages. The mortgages, as you know, in France, is a topic which is both absolutely critical in terms of commercial momentum and commercial performance because it is an anchor product for the relationships with the retail clients. On the other hand, it has a challenging pricing. Let us put it this way. We tend to do is we tend to be strategic in terms of how we market this product throughout the year.
Slawomir Krupa: Typically, we have been more on the slow end of the dynamic at the beginning of the year. We have accelerated then in Q2, and you will see that marketing acceleration move through the volumes later during the year. So that is on the margin, what you could see. On the deposit, remember, same thing in France. You have this coexistence of the life insurance wrapper, and other ways of investing your excess liquidity, if you will, for the clients. You see the very strong momentum that we have on that end of the spectrum. So that is mostly how you explain a subdued dynamic on the deposits. In terms of the forward-looking portion of your question, at this point, we definitely expect cost of funding to increase a little bit with the Livret A expected increase in 2027, that is for sure.
Slawomir Krupa: But that obviously was already in our planning and in our scenarios at the CMD and earlier. So we do not expect changes at this point to our outlook there. In terms of the behavioral component linked to a higher interest rate environment, we believe, but with a lot of humility. When it comes to behavioral changes on deposits in France, we learned the lesson of three or four years ago. With a lot of humility, but we believe that a lot of the behavioral component has already happened and is part of the new behavior. So at this point, we do not expect significant swings in that behavioral characteristics of the market, and therefore do not expect major shifts in our outlook for this business.
Slawomir Krupa: In terms of the costs overall, as discussed indeed during the CMD, we have a trajectory which was rather front-loading the costs benefit, and we do not expect this to change at all, actually. If anything, we are constantly focused on cost discipline. The only variable, and you have seen this perfectly this quarter, is if we have a strong outperformance in a particular business, you will see a cost impact, but as perfectly evidenced this quarter, which will be more than accretive in terms of its impact on both cost to income and positive jaws. So that is that. Thank you.
Operator: The next question is from Chris Hallam of Goldman Sachs.
Chris Hallam: Yeah, I have two questions, both on global markets. I just want to come back actually to the first question on equities, because in Q2, you said you were making a conscious decision not to fully participate in the very vibrant markets that we saw. Now this quarter clearly is a big contrast. It looks like you really did fully participate. So I just wanted to understand what changed, either in terms of market conditions or in terms of your own risk appetite, Q3 versus Q2. Then second, and again, a little bit of a follow-up to the comments you just made, Slawomir Krupa. There was 11% OpEx growth, I think, in global markets this quarter. Is it possible to split out how much of that was directly related to higher revenues?
Chris Hallam: How much of that was related to the build-out you've talked about across new products and new markets? Then how much is the sort of underlying OpEx growth run rate if revenues were flattish? Thank you.
Slawomir Krupa: All right. So in terms of the equities, again, as evidenced by both the market risk RWA and my statement earlier about balance sheet usage being broadly in line with our appetite and market stress that most importantly, kept at the similar level as these past quarters and years. It was not a shift in risk appetite. It is really driven by the fact that our businesses benefited from higher high-quality commercial flows, and this is why we have this, let's say, consistent participation with the market. Last quarter, what happened was different, and was driven by different positioning, and something which we were feeling was more risk-intensive. This quarter, the commercial activity, which is the core focus of what we're trying to achieve in this business and the other markets business, was very strong across the board. As I said, including in futures clearing and so on and so forth.
Slawomir Krupa: Again, as evidenced by the data on market risk RWA, and what I'm saying about the stress test, it is no adjustment to risk appetite. In terms of the costs, mostly it is linked to the variable compensation. So you have, of course, even sheer market execution fees can go up here and there, but these are marginal lines. The overwhelming impact that you see is linked to variable compensation. The build-out in some of the businesses, and namely Prime, is really within the trajectory, is not some new spend that we would have started in Q3. Again, the IT platform, which is the last piece that we're investing on the Prime side, is something that we've been doing at our own pace with our own, let's say, investment policy in terms of cost, for now a few years, and we're continuing to do this the same way.
Slawomir Krupa: No expectation for the structural cost to really go much higher than what you see in the trends in the last few years.
Chris Hallam: Thanks. That is really helpful.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you.
Operator: The next question is from Jacques-Henri Gaulard of Kepler Cheuvreux.
Jacques-Henri Gaulard: Yes. Good morning. We are going to talk again about equities because it has been really good and it is really pleasant. I was wondering the portion of Bernstein in there, or more generally, if you are not comfortable isolating it, how much the ROI now of that acquisition has been? In light of, I guess, how successful it has been into you delivering that, what about trying to actually get to this type of niche acquisition in that business in particular? I was thinking about Prime. The second question, I guess, linked to that is, are you happy about the organic development in Prime? Or comes the moment where, okay, you need to really buy a book or get to a niche player there and try to change the scale. Thank you.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you very much. Listen, on Bernstein, it has been a successful story, right? For one, the contribution that they bring to the flows, to a high-quality client business, that is one. In an area that I know that you know that very well, we were lagging. It was a hole in our product offer, right? Again, so both the quality, the capacity to grab some of the market dynamic there, in particular in the US, because it is a firm which is heavily present in the US, both with the research but also with the cash business. So we are very happy, and it is true that we have executed in ways that make it a profitable investment for us. We are not disclosing the ROI per se, but it has been a profitable investment all the more.
Slawomir Krupa: These are not huge numbers yet, but all the more since it helps us have an ECM, a relevant ECM business in the US, exactly as we had intended it to be, in particular in the US, where we do have a large client base, where we can now compete for this primary business. It is now already quite a few tens of millions of NBI from zero, 18 months ago, right? So that is the other piece that is important. In terms of the organic, inorganic development, I think in Prime, in particular, I think nothing is off the table, right? Because nothing should be off the table. Equally, in this business, I think that, well, let me spit it out, right? I think we do have a preference for organic growth because it is a business where the capabilities are essential, right?
Slawomir Krupa: So you have to have the research piece, you have to have the execution piece on the cash side, on the clearing side, and so on. You have to have the whole IT platform for all the trouble that you understand, with whom you have done business throughout the years or decades, more accurately. So our play here, like I explained at the CMD, is really to bridge that product gap in front, that is in front of our existing, large existing catchment client base, right? Asset management client base. So that is more of the approach that we have here, because if you acquire a book that is different from what you are used to do with clients that you are used to service, to bank, and to be a counterpart for, well, you are importing risks that are of different nature. So I am not saying no, right?
Slawomir Krupa: Because again, back to being nimble, we have to consider all the opportunities. But we do have a distinct preference here for organic growth.
Jacques-Henri Gaulard: Thanks a lot.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you.
Operator: The next question, gentlemen, is from Andrew Coombs of Citi. Andrew, are you online again?
Andrew Coombs: Hi there. Sorry, two questions. Just one on Ayvens. Obviously, your peer yesterday, for their mobility division, talked about gross operating income being flat in 2027 versus 2026. I assume you are somewhat more constructive than that given the normalization in UCS and the higher service margin this quarter. Perhaps you could just give us your thoughts on the trajectory into 2027 for Ayvens. Then second question, just on BoursoBank. I guess the interesting thing this quarter is you have added 500,000 clients, as you said, that is at the top end of your quarterly run rate. But also the profitability is at the top end of your quarterly run rate. When you are thinking about that, and I appreciate there has been the accounting change, how are you thinking about growth versus monetization going forward for BoursoBank? Thank you.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you. In terms of the Ayvens outlook, we give the yearly targets at Q4, right? This is when you will get more color from both Ayvens and us on these topics. What we see right now, is very consistent with the story we have been telling you and the way we have been managing this business, which is very early on, right? Just to give you a reference point, we stopped positive prospective depreciations 2 years ago, basically. This was reflective of our view back then already, that things are going to be changing a lot in that market, right? Because of all the EV dynamics, both regulatory-driven, behavior-driven, and so on and so forth. Our stance for now, multiple years, has been we are focusing on high-quality business, while making sure that our overall size basically remains stable.
Slawomir Krupa: You could say it differently, maybe in even simpler terms. We have focused on profitability and risk management at the expense of spot growth. This has been a major strategic decision made by Ayvens, its governance, obviously, and us as a major shareholder there. What you see happening today is clearly linked to our analysis of what was going to happen, and gives a different color to what we have been doing versus some of the other market participants. This is why both our vision for the UCS remains consistent with what we have said so far. In terms of our 2027 targets, or 2029 targets, more importantly, there are no specific changes because this market reality was entirely embedded in our thinking for years now. So that is what I can tell you.
Slawomir Krupa: In terms of the second question, the line was not so great, but if, and please, follow up if I am not answering your question completely. If the question was monetization versus growth as a matter of strategic direction, it is very clear that because of the ultimate objective of being a key player, if not the leading player in retail banking in France, in terms of number of clients and so on and so forth, we do very clearly focus on growth today beyond monetization. Conversely, though, we do build this business as a banking business. In a banking business, you need to have a relationship, so you need to have flows, you need to have deposits, you need to have people and clients engage with you through the products and services that we offer them.
Slawomir Krupa: The idea that we need to continue to, first of all, maintain our leadership in client satisfaction, which is absolutely key, maintain our leadership in pricing, which is absolutely key, and continue to deepen the engagement, not necessarily the product offer, which is already very large, and you can do anything at BoursoBank, even very sophisticated investment products are available there. We will be continuing to increase the quality and the depth of the relationship with the clients, leading ultimately, obviously, to higher NBI per client. But at the strategic level, the priority is growth. Thank you.
Operator: The next question, sir, is from Joseph Dickerson of Jefferies.
Joseph Dickerson: Hi, thanks for taking my question. I just had a question on the Czech and Romanian businesses. You have had 9% loan growth in the Czech business, 11% loan growth in Romania, and the revenue in both is lagging the loan growth. It looks like there are slightly different dynamics in Romania versus Czech. But I suppose, when would you expect the revenue growth to start to match the balance sheet growth in those markets? Because it seems like a decent coiled spring impact, potentially, for revenue in those markets. Thank you.
Slawomir Krupa: First of all, as you certainly know, these are two markets which clearly are highly competitive and marked by substantial growth still, and in particular in Romania. Let me put it this way from a strategic standpoint, as a key market participant in both markets, we do engage in this competition, and we do follow the market trends, but with a certain slight marginal degree of caution. So that is one thing. Because you do have substantial margin pressures in these markets, on both sides of the balance sheet. Also, this particular quarter, it is not a major number at the scale of these assets, but also the trading income in both areas was slightly lower than in the past. So this is why you see these trends. But again, highly competitive growing markets with margin pressure.
Slawomir Krupa: So like in every other business of ours, we are trying to navigate, of course, participating in the trends. We are not retrenching whatsoever, but with a slight degree of caution in terms of both quality from a margin perspective, and of course, risk management.
Joseph Dickerson: Thank you.
Operator: The next question is from Anke Reingen of RBC.
Anke Reingen: Yeah. Thank you very much for taking my question. I just had one on the cost of risk. So the Q3 trend benefited from the EUR 80 million positive Stage 1 and Stage 2, and I just wondered which division that would have been accounted for. And I guess if we take that into account, some of the divisions might have had quite higher loan losses. Is that due to any one-off? Thank you very much.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you. The moves that you see between Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3 is actually mostly reclassification. Things that moved mostly from Stage 2 to Stage 3, that therefore generated more Stage 3 and therefore a lower Stage 2. It is mostly reclassification. It is not a deliberate decision to manage, obviously, our Stage 1, Stage 2 buffer. That is that. In terms of the one-offs, no. There are no specific one-offs in this quarter. It is a broadly very decent performance in the current market environment across the board and most of the divisions being well within their historical averages.
Anke Reingen: Thank you for the clarification. Thank you.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you.
Operator: The next question is from Pierre Chedeville of CIC.
Pierre Chedeville: Yes, good morning. One question regarding liquidity. We can see that you have increased your liquid asset buffer by nearly EUR 20 billion and your LCR by 4 points, and I wanted to know if it was, I would say, something normal, or if it is due to the situation, the environment, and you are a little bit more cautious on this side. My second question relates to the number of shares, because every year you buy a significant amount of share in terms of number. I was wondering if at some point you would not like to have a number of share inferior, let's say, 700 million, I do not know, in terms of liquidity on this share, or if you do not care about that. If you care, can we imagine that at a certain point of time you would prefer dividend than share buyback? Thank you.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you. Pierre, so on liquidity, these kind of moves are absolutely stochastic, if you will. It is well within our targets and steering levels, and we have been posting these kind of levels very consistently in the last few years. It reflects indeed an overall prudent strategy, but that dates back basically to when I took over, where we pushed up the targets across the liquidity metrics as a general rule in terms of how we saw the risk management of that side of the equation. But nothing recently. It is really consistent. If you look at the history, it is really consistent. It fluctuates, but it is really consistent with, let's say, our behavior from this perspective. In terms of the number of shares, the way I understand your question, I would say the following things. One, in itself, I do not think, right.
Slawomir Krupa: I am going to, of course, spend some time thinking about your question afterwards. But the quick answer is I do not think that we care, other than the buybacks. The whole logic of the buybacks is obviously, in the end, to reduce the number of shares, increase EPS, and therefore the unit valuation, everything else being equal, right? As long as share buybacks make sense in terms of capital management for shareholders and at valuations that we see right now and valuations for sure around one time book, they do represent a very meaningful opportunity for capital management purposes of shareholder equity. So, you should expect us to be consistent with what we have done so far in terms of both the proportion of buybacks within the ordinary distribution, and if there is, and when there is exceptional distributions, that the route for this would be more the buyback.
Slawomir Krupa: Finishing up with the dividend component of your question, therefore, at this point, there is no reason to expect us to change anything to our approach in this space. Thank you.
Pierre Chedeville: Thank you.
Operator: The final question is from Sharath Kumar of Deutsche Bank.
Sharath Kumar: Good morning. Thank you for taking my question.
Slawomir Krupa: Morning.
Sharath Kumar: I have two. First, on Ayvens. Arval, one of your main competitors, yesterday highlighted a possible slowdown to their fleet growth aspirations. Do you see this as an opportunity to slightly pick up fleet growth again? I know Ayvens' fleet growth expectation is back-end loaded, but just wanted to have your thoughts as well as the competitive landscape. Second, on French retail. One of the positive side effects, at least from your point of view, of the ongoing French macro concerns could be higher household savings. In this slide, do you think that the current fee growth dynamic is unsustainable? Can you also give a breakup of the fee elements within French retail, like financial savings, banking transactions, et cetera? Thank you.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you. I will start with the second question. If I am not answering, because again, the line was not perfect, if that is not what you really wanted me to answer, please follow up. If your question was, as I think it was, about the saving rates dynamic in the French market and whether the current macro would push that saving rate higher and therefore represent an opportunity from savings market, savings products, savings services perspective, for us, the answer is marginally yes. How high a savings rate can go in a given country, right? We are already at the 18% plus. I do not expect this to change the nature of the market. It is a market where there is a lot of actually accumulated wealth. It is one of the strengths, actually, of the French economy and of France.
Slawomir Krupa: We expect this to continue to be a substantial driver of the opportunity for us. This is no accident that at the heart of our vision for the future of this business lies the opportunity with the mass affluent segments. We do believe that already from a position of strength. As you know, we have twice the penetration rate in these segments versus the average penetration rate. From this perspective, it is definitely a strategic opportunity of the market that we do intend to focus on as part of our strategy for this business. Now again, is there an incremental uptick recently? I think at this point it is marginal, and I do not expect this to be an overwhelming trend at this point.
Slawomir Krupa: In terms of the fleet growth, my answer is going to be reasonably simple, which is again, our strategic choice was, let us make sure we focus on high-quality business, on relationship management, on margins, and that whenever the market hits a certain level of stabilization in terms of the behaviors and the components, in terms of the fleets, et cetera, the various vehicles categories, that we will be able to very easily re-accelerate growth from a very healthy base, if you will, situation, both in terms of margins, quality of the business, but also, of course, in terms of costs and in terms of risk management. So we have that, and we stand ready to take advantage of the opportunities that will arise.
Slawomir Krupa: Now, I think that our vision, and I think this was very clearly explained at the CMD of Ayvens and regularly by Ayvens, and it is obviously our stance, that we are still waiting for this market to truly stabilize. The fact that a competitor allegedly would twist their commercial policy to something more conservative will not drive us to change our strategy. What it will do, most likely, anytime somebody adjusts its commercial policy, it is going to most likely improve the quality of the market. That we can only be happy about. But it is not going to drive us to change our strategy, because our strategy is also based not so much, and we have shown this quite clearly, not so much by the behavior of others.
Slawomir Krupa: But most importantly, by our own vision of the opportunities and risks that one particular market represents. Strategy will remain consistent. But listen, if the market behaves in ways which are conducive to better margins and better quality business, we can only be happy.
Leo Alvear: Thank you.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you for your. Sorry, please.
Operator: No, I was just turning it over to you, sir. Excuse me.
Slawomir Krupa: Thank you. No, sorry. I was just going to thank you for your time. Thank you for joining us today. I know you have very busy days. So good luck with that, and we will talk to you for our Q4. Thank you very much. Take care.
Leo Alvear: Thank you very much.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's Societe Generale conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
