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Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Leumi's Third Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, November 18, 2025. The presentation that we will be using is available on the IR section of the bank's website. I would like to remind everyone that forward-looking statements for respective company's business, financial condition and results of its operations are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, product demand, pricing, market acceptance, changing economic conditions, risks in product and technology development and the effect of the company's accounting policies as well as certain other risk factors, which are detailed from time to time in the company's filing with the various securities authorities. I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Hagit Argov, CFO and Head of Finance Division. Please go ahead.
Hagit Argov: Good day, everyone. I'm very pleased to be here with you today and to present our strong third quarter 2025 financial results. So let's get started with Slide 3. First, some key takeaways. Bank Leumi continues to present high and stable results over many quarters. This quarter, ROE was 16.3% and net profit was ILS 2.7 billion. It is worth noting that if the excess capital were reduced to the bank's internal CET1 target of 10.6%, the ROE would stand at 19% in the third quarter. In addition, we continue to manage costs effectively while maintaining a strong efficiency ratio. Credit quality metrics further improved and they have been consistently among the best in the sector over a number of years. We continue to present significant excess capital and healthy liquidity ratios. Following the Bank of Israel approval to increase the payout ratio up to 75% of the net profit in the third quarter, Leumi announced a combined dividend and buyback of ILS 2 billion. So all in all, we delivered strong, consistent and high-quality performance. Let's take a quick look at Slide 4. Here, we can see our financial targets for 2025 and 2026 published as a strategic plan in our 2024 annual report. So far, Leumi is well on track to meet our financial targets. Before we dive into the details, let me start with a brief overview of the macroeconomic environment. For this, we move to Slide 5, which highlights the key macro indicators. In Q3, the economic indicators showed an expansion. The Bank of Israel estimates real GDP growth of 2.5% for 2025, mainly impacted by the implications of the military conflict against Iran and 4.7% GDP growth in 2026. The GDP growth is driven by domestic demand and fixed investment. In addition, export of high tech services, which is the key growth engine of the Israel economy has accelerated in recent months. And recently, inflation got back to the target range of Bank of Israel between 1% to 3%. In October 2025, a high-tech agreement with Hamas, including the return of the Israeli hostages was achieved. If fully implemented, this development would have positive implications for the Israeli economy and global sentiment. Moving to Slide 6, which provides a snapshot of our quarterly performance. I will let the numbers speak for themselves. As mentioned, net income for Q3 2025 was ILS 2.7 billion and ROE was 16.3%. The cost-to-income ratio was especially strong at 27%, down from 31.1% in Q3 2024. This was supported by higher income and lower costs, thanks to our advanced technology. Our cost-to-income ratio continues to lead the Israeli banking sector and is among the best globally. Credit loss expenses were 0.03% in Q3, reflecting, among other factors, a positive development in the geopolitical environment. Credit portfolio grew by 1.3% quarter-on-quarter, supported by continued demand, mainly from the corporate and mortgages segment. The book value per share of the bank increased by 2.7% in the quarter and is up 12.7% over the past 12 months to ILS 45. Quarterly earnings per share were up almost 20% year-on-year. Now let's drill down to some key numbers on Slide 7, which shows the breakdown of income and expenses. Net interest income decreased 1.6% year-on-year, mainly driven by a lower CPI compared with Q3 2024. Overall, finance income grew strongly by 10.5% year-on-year, supported by higher noninterest income, mainly from capital markets compared with the parallel quarter last year. Expenses declined, reflecting our tight cost control. As a result of the above, pre-provision net revenues increased year-on-year by 14.3%. In addition, as part of the Bank of Israel program to distribute benefits to customers that was launched in April 2025, Leumi continues to benefit its customers. This totaled ILS 172 million in the third quarter. A brief view of Slide 8 summarizes our 9 months 2025 results. As you can see, 9 months results followed a similar trend to those for the 3 months period in the previous slide. Another brief metric on Slide 9 highlights our fee. Fee income was partly affected by the benefits granted to customers in the Bank of Israel program. Excluding these benefits, fees grew strongly by 11.4% quarter-on-quarter, driven mainly by securities activity and credit growth. 9 months 2025 over 9 months 2024 displayed similar trend. On Slide 10, we clearly see the bank's continued improvement in our multiyear cost income ratio. Our cost income ratio continues to be strong at 27% in the third quarter and 28.6% in the 9 months. Turning to Slide 11. The development of credit loss expenses in Q3, which shows us that specific provisions reflect our high-quality credit portfolio with an income of ILS 74 million coming from net recoveries. That means collections minus provision increases. Collective provisions were lower than in the parallel quarter, reflecting an improvement in the macro environment in light of the positive development in the geopolitical situation. Overall, total credit loss expenses in the quarter were 0.03% of gross loans compared with 0.28% in Q3 2024 and maintain our coverage ratio. Slide 12 presents a significant metric. It is the high quality of our credit portfolio. Credit quality further improved in Q3 with troubled debt declining to 1.34% of gross loans. NPL was also at a low level of 0.41%. The coverage ratio, as I mentioned before, remains stable, while the rate of provisions to NPLs increased 3.3x. These parameters are among the lowest in the banking sector. Now we turn to Slide 13. This shows our strong credit growth. Credit growth over 9 months was in line with our targets and stood at 8.8% with a 1.3% rise in Q3. This was supported by the ongoing resilience of the economy with growth coming from corporates, including real estate, infrastructure, mortgages and middle market. The next slide, Slide 14, shows the bank's diversified deposit base. Total deposits were up 3.7% in 9 months 2025, while deposits from private individuals grew by 1.4%. Liquidity ratios remain robust with the LCR ratio at 128%. Let's now move on. Slide 15 shows our healthy capital and leverage ratios. The core Tier 1 ratio increased by 5 basis points in the quarter to 12.33% with the bank's capital buffer now standing at more than 2% or ILS 11 billion. The total capital ratio was stable at 14.87%, which is also well above the Bank of Israel minimum requirement of 13.5%. Going on to Slide 16, we see the bank's capital return. Because the limitation on the capital return was partly by the Bank of Israel, Leumi declared a total payout of ILS 2 billion, of which ILS 1.5 billion is a cash dividend and the rest is in buybacks. This represents 75% of the quarterly net profit and an annualized return of 8.2% at the current share price. In conclusion, we turn to Slide 17. Let me just summarize our presentation. The bank continues to present consistent and strong financial performance with high ROE even during macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. We remain highly disciplined on costs, resulting in consistent efficiency improvement and the best cost-to-income ratio among Israeli banks and probably one of the best globally. Our technology transformation doesn't stop. Nearly 90% of our private customers carry out their activity through digital platforms. The bank's strong profitability and healthy capital buffer enable us to continue growing in our target segments and also allow us to share higher returns with shareholders through dividends and our buyback program. With that, I will now open the call for questions. Operator?
Operator: [Operator Instructions] The first question, funding plans. Do you plan to come to the market in the near term to issue USD senior bonds or AT1s or Tier 2s?
Hagit Argov: Okay. Thank you for the question. Regarding the senior, we constantly issue senior bonds depending on our liquidity ratio. And if it will be in U.S. dollar, it depends in the price and in the conditions. So we consider it when we issue. Regarding the Tier 2, let me point out that our total capital ratio is significantly above the requirement. So there is no specific need to refinance it in the near future. As for the bond seniors in the U.S. dollar with the call date in January 2026, the final decision will be during 2026, depends on our capital ratio.
Operator: The next question, what are your refinancing plans for the Tier 2s callable in January 2026?
Hagit Argov: The same question, I covered it in my answer.
Operator: The next question, could you provide some color on the trajectory of net interest income and net interest margins as we approach the end of this year and look ahead to next year?
Hagit Argov: Okay. So about this quarter, the NIM was affected mainly by the higher share of institutional in our deposit portfolio. These deposits carry lower margins. They are usually short term. So the current level of the NIM will not necessarily remain the same in the coming quarter. And of course, affected by the competition. About the future, we expected the Bank of Israel to announce an interest rate reduction. And according to our financial statements, a 1% decrease in interest rate would affect our results by around ILS 8 million, which is approximately 0.8% in ROE terms. So we believe that this will be the effect in our financial statement.
Operator: The next question, I'd appreciate your perspective on the normalized cost of risk. There was a noticeable decline this quarter with COR at 9 bp for the first 9 months compared to 16 bp last year. Any insights on the drivers behind this change? And any guidance going forward would be very valuable.
Hagit Argov: Okay. Thank you for the question. First of all, it is important to note that during the war, we accumulated a large excess provision due to concern about the geopolitical situation. Secondly, in this quarter, there is an improvement in the geopolitical situation. And as I mentioned in my presentation, in our credit quality parameters. And finally, our specific provision, we continue to record income from recovery, net recovery. It means we have more recoveries than write-offs. So consequently, total credit loss provisions were low, amounting to ILS 3 million. I want to mention that our NPL coverage is about 3x and is one of the highest in the system. And also, we maintain our coverage ratio, which means our provisions to our credit. So if I have to appreciate what will be in the future, it's, of course, depend on the geopolitical situation and our credit quality parameters. So if the situation will continue to improve and there will not be any deterioration. So I believe that it will be in the same level of provisions.
Operator: The next question. A question on regulatory risk. There have been media headlines about an increased tax rate on the banks and separately by the Finance Minister to subsidize mortgage. Does the bank have any take on that?
Hagit Argov: Actually, we heard about this plan at the same time as you did, and we don't have any further information. Such a process would require, of course, legislation. And yet, we don't see any official document. So if the issue develop further, we will be able to respond accordingly.
Operator: The next question, how much more operating leverage is there? And how should we be looking at expenses going into next year?
Hagit Argov: Okay. So as you know, Leumi has continued year after year to increase its income and decrease its expenses. Our motto has been doing more with less, and this is reflected in our financial parameters, in our cost-income ratio. We have achieved and we'll continue to do this mainly by advanced technology. By the way, to the best of my knowledge, it is the best of all the Israeli banks and probably in the world, and we are very proud of it. We continue our tight control of expenses, and we continue with our technology, and I believe we can maintain it at least in the same level.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] There are no further questions at this time. This concludes Leumi's Third Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call. Thank you for your participation. You may go ahead and disconnect.