Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Yiota, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the National Bank of Greece conference call to present and discuss the first quarter 2026 financial results. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Pavlos Mylonas, CEO of National Bank of Greece. Mr. Milonas, you may now proceed.

Paul Mylonas
CEO & Executive Director

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our first quarter 2026 financial results call. I'm joined by Christos Christodoulou, Group CFO; Greg Papagrigoris, Group Head of IR. After my introductory remarks, Christos will go into more detail on our financial performance, and then we will turn to questions and answers.

I will begin with the description of the macroeconomic backdrop of the Greek economy in view of the recent unrest in global energy markets and their potential repercussions. To start, the Greek economy entered 2026 on a strong footing, bolstered by significant carryover effects from 2025, approximately 1 percentage point of GDP, and solid underlying fundamentals. Moreover, Greece continues to benefit from a set of structural and cyclical buffers, which should offset most headwinds, if the current shock eases by mid-2026, as markets expect.

Specifically, private sector balance sheets keep getting stronger, underpinned by sustained corporate profitability and a robust labor market. In fact, leading indicators of business activity remained