Equitable Holdings, Inc. AGM 2026

Good morning, and welcome to all of the shareholders joining us today for the Equitable Holdings annual meeting of stockholders. It's 12:00 P.M., and I call to order the annual meeting of stockholders of Equitable Holdings, Inc. I am Mark Pearson, President and CEO of Equitable. I am the Chair of this meeting. With me today is Kurt Meyers, our Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. Kurt will serve as Secretary of this meeting and will lead us through the formalities and the agenda. Also with us are Robin Raju, our Chief Financial Officer, and Erik Bass, our Head of Investor Relations and Chief Strategy Officer. I will now turn it to Kurt.

Thank you, Mark, and welcome everyone. I will now begin to go through today's formal business. Before I begin, please note that some of the information we may present today in response to any questions received may be forward-looking and subject to certain SEC rules and regulations regarding disclosure. Our results may materially differ from those expressed in or indicated by such forward-looking statements. Please note the safe harbor language included in our proxy statement and in our 10-K. In addition, today's presentation contains both prior period and forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures, which should not be considered as substitutes for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. You'll find the definitions and applicable reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures to the corresponding GAAP measures in our periodic filings. I confirm that we received the Affidavit of Mailing of Notice of the Meeting from Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.

The notice of the meeting, proxy statement, and affidavit of mailing will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. The list of holders of common stock at the close of business on August 7, 2026, the record date, was made available for inspection as described in our proxy statement. A representative of Broadridge Financial Solutions has been appointed to serve as the Inspector of Election at this meeting and is with us today virtually. The Inspector of Election has executed an oath of office promising to execute faithfully the duties of the inspection of election. The oath of office will be filed with the minutes of the meeting. Also with us today is Rudy Reyes, our Audit Partner from PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. The meeting is properly convened, and a quorum is present.

The polls for voting on all matters are open and will remain open until we announce they have been closed. All Equitable stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting can do so online. If you are a stockholder entitled to vote and have not yet voted, or if you want to change your previously cast vote, please do so via the virtual meeting website. Please remember that if you have already voted by proxy, it is not necessary to vote again. After voting has been completed on all matters on the agenda, we will close the polls and provide a preliminary report. If we experience technical disruption, we ask that you stand by and allow us an opportunity to resolve the issue and resume the meeting. If we are unable to continue the meeting, the polls will be closed immediately.

Votes received prior to the time the polls were closed will be counted, and the meeting will not be reconvened. The agenda and the rules of procedure for the meeting are available to stockholders in the virtual meeting web portal. Links to the meeting materials, including the agenda and rules of procedure, are displayed on the right-hand side of your screen. You may submit questions at any time through the virtual meeting website. Immediately following the adjournment of the formal portion of the meeting, we will address any questions that comply with the rules of procedure, time permitting. With that, I will now turn it over to Mark to introduce the directors and share his remarks.

Thank you, Kurt. Let me begin by introducing our incumbent director nominees, Douglas Dachille, Francis Hondal, Arlene Isaacs-Lowe, Daniel Kaye, Joan Lamm-Tennant, Craig MacKay, George Stansfield, and Charles Stonehill. We would like to take a moment to thank Bertram Scott, who has reached the board's mandatory retirement age and is not standing for re-election this year. Bert has been a key contributor to the company's success since he joined the board in 2019, and we thank him for his dedicated service to the company. 2025 was an important year for Equitable, marked by strong execution and meaningful progress in advancing our strategic growth plans. We took intentional steps to strengthen our balance sheet and evolve our business mix for the future, including reinsuring 75% of our in-force life insurance block to Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated, increasing our ownership stake in AllianceBernstein, and announcing the acquisition of Stifel Independent Advisors.

Business momentum has continued into 2026 with healthy organic growth seen across our businesses and record assets under management and administration of $1.2 trillion at June 30th, up 10% from the prior year. Non-GAAP earnings per share grew 25% in the first half of the year, keeping us on track to achieve our 2026 financial targets and reinforcing our confidence in the long-term objectives we outlined at Investor Day. As I look at our industry today, we stand at the precipice of one of the most significant demographic shifts in history. Longer life expectancies, more complex retirement planning, and growing demand for comprehensive financial advice are creating unprecedented needs across the retirement landscape. This profound need presents our industry with both an important responsibility and an extraordinary opportunity. For much of Equitable's 167-year history, we have been preparing for this moment.

Equitable has continually evolved alongside the world around us, adapting to the changing needs of our clients and helping them navigate increasingly complex financial decisions. When we became an independent U.S.-listed company in 2018, we set out to build a more diversified, resilient financial institution, one able to serve clients across their financial journeys, create sustainable value for shareholders, and thrive in a rapidly changing industry. That mindset shaped many of the decisions we made in the years that followed. We strengthened our balance sheet, optimized our risk profile, increased our ownership of AllianceBernstein, and continued to invest in wealth management with the belief that trusted financial advice would become increasingly valuable. Looking back, the Equitable that entered the public markets in 2018 is not the Equitable of today. What began as a bold vision became a stronger, more diversified, and more resilient company.

It is this belief and these years of deliberate choices that led us to the next chapter in our storied history. Earlier this year, we announced a landmark merger of equals with Corebridge, representing one of the most defining moments in our company's history. This merger is the natural evolution of a journey years in the making. Equitable and Corebridge have highly complementary strengths with limited overlap, enabling us to create a larger and more resilient organization with leading positions across retirement, wealth management, asset management, and protection solutions. Together, we will benefit from a more diversified mix of earnings, enhanced cash generation, and greater financial flexibility. We will have the scale, capabilities, and formidable distribution network needed to connect more people with the advice and solutions they need to achieve financial security.

Most importantly, this combination will allow us to deliver better outcomes for clients and create long-term value for shareholders. Upon close of the merger, I will have the honor of serving as Executive Chair of the combined company, while Marc Costantini will become CEO. Having worked closely with Marc throughout this process, I am confident in both his leadership and his vision for the future. While the world around us will continue to evolve, successfully innovating through change has always been part of Equitable's DNA, and I am confident that spirit will continue to guide us in the years ahead. Finally, I would like to thank our clients for entrusting us with their precious capital, our shareholders for their unwavering support, and our people for their dedication to advancing our mission.

I am deeply proud of what we have achieved together and honored to help carry this great institution into its next chapter. I will now turn it back to Kurt.

Thank you, Mark. The proposals to be voted on at this meeting are described in our proxy statement that was made available to all stockholders. I will now move all three management proposals. The first motion is for the election of nine directors for a one-year term ending at the 2027 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Our board recommends a vote for each of these nominees. The second motion seeks the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. Our board recommends a vote for this proposal. The third motion seeks an advisory vote to approve the compensation paid to the company's named executive officers. Our board recommends a vote for this proposal. We will pause briefly before we close the polls. I now declare the polls closed.

The Inspector of Election has informed me that subject to the final tabulation, the preliminary result is that each of the director nominees has been elected and proposals 2 and 3 have been approved. We will file the final report of the Inspector of Election with the records of this meeting. We expect to report the results of the voting on Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC within four business days of this meeting. This completes our formal business for today. The 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is now adjourned. I'll turn it over to Mark to address stockholder questions. You may submit a question via the virtual meeting website. Please note, we will attempt to answer as many questions the time allows, but only questions that are germane to the meeting will be addressed.