Arion banki hf. (ARION_SDB) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and welcome all to the presentation of second quarter results 2026 for Arion bank. My name is Oliver Husskelton and I'm the CFO of Arion bank. Today's agenda is as follows. I will start by working through the key financial highlights for the quarter. And then my colleague, deputy CEO and head of retail banking, Eder Parag Benetistotiv, will cover the key operational highlights and outlook going forward. But before I start the presentation, I would like to remind participants online that you can submit questions throughout the presentation through a message board located below the video feed. We will then provide answers to the q and a after the presentation. So starting as usual with the key highlights for the quarter and the first half of the year. First, another solid quarter with an annualized ROE of 15.5%, which then takes the return on equity for the first half of the year to 14.6%. And the clear milestone for the group is that this quarter, with these results, we are for the first time exceeding all our financial medium term targets. Again, these results are broad based and with most key business units delivering a solid profitability and supporting diversified and robust results through the cycle. In terms of growth, the positives is that we continue to find solid loan growth opportunities, both in corporates and mortgages. And this growth again continues to be supported by very strong growth in stable deposits. We do, however, continue to see increasing signs of the economy being impacted by the prolonged period of high interest rates in Iceland. This is likely to become a headwind for growth should this remain the case, should rates remain elevated going forward. And finally, and of course, always very importantly, our balance sheet continues to...