Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Stockholders of Equitable Holdings, Inc. I will now introduce Jose Gonzalez, the Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Equitable Holdings, Inc.

Good morning. Before we begin, I would like to note that some of the information we may present today in response to any questions received from the stockholders 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. So I would like to point out the safe harbor language included in our proxy statement and in our 10-K. With that, I am pleased to introduce our Independent Chairman of the Board, Ramon de Oliveira.

Thank you, Jose. I am Ramon de Oliveira, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Equitable Holdings, Inc. Welcome to all the shareholders joining us today for Equitable Holdings' Third Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Before calling the meeting to order, I would like to introduce the President and CEO of Equitable Holdings, Mark Pearson, for some introductory remarks.

Thank you, Ramon. None of us could have predicted how 2020 would have unfolded, and I am proud of how Equitable has responded to serve our clients, shape our business and be a force for good. The past year has underscored the importance of our mission to help our clients secure their financial well-being so that they can pursue long and fulfilling lives. This commitment helped us achieve all of our financial targets and strategic priorities laid out at the time of the IPO. Ended in a challenging year, we drove positive net flows of $8 billion, and our assets under management grew to a record $809 billion. Underpinning these results was a strong and stable balance sheet with a combined RBC of circa 410% at the year-end, above our minimum target, and cash of $2.9 billion at the holdings level. In fact, our VA reinsurance transaction with Venerable is on track to further derisk the balance sheet and position the business for the future. It was also a pivotal year for our country with the outcry from society to end systemic racism. We responded by establishing the CEO Taskforce to advance racial equity at Equitable to make sure we have the best talent in the industry and use our diversity to find the best solutions for our clients. I am grateful for the resilience and dedication of our more than 12,000 employees and financial professionals in serving our clients and continuing to guide our businesses in the face of unprecedented challenges. I also want to thank Chairman Ramon de Oliveira, my fellow directors and the management committee for their unwavering leadership during this time. I would now like to turn it back to the Chair of the meeting, Ramon de Oliveira.

Thank you, Mark. I will now formally call to order our 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. We are holding this year's meeting in a virtual format in order to protect the health and safety of our stockholders and the other participants and in order to expand access to the meeting. We thank you very much for joining us today. Let me begin by introducing the other directors of the company. Attending the meeting today are Francis Hondal, Daniel Kaye, Joan Lamm-Tennant, Kristi Matus, Bertram Scott, George Stanfield and Charles Stonehill. Also in attendance today are members of our management committee and Matt Adams of PricewaterhouseCoopers, our independent registered public accounting firm. Jose Gonzalez will act as secretary of this annual meeting, and Peter Descovich of Broadridge Financial Solutions will serve as the inspector of election. Mr. Descovich has executed and filed with the company an oath of inspector of election for this meeting. The agenda and the rules of procedure for the meeting are available to stockholders in the web portal. The agenda is visible in the top portion of your screen, and the rules of procedures may be accessed by clicking the Materials button at the bottom of your screen. Our order of business this morning will be to accept the motions to be considered, collect the votes and then receive a report from the secretary about the results. The polls are currently open, and stockholders who have not yet voted or who wish to change their vote may do so at any time during the meeting before the polls are closed by clicking on the voting button on the lower right-hand portion of their screen and following the instructions there. Immediately following the adjournment of the business portion of the meeting, Mark Pearson will welcome any questions you may have. You will be able to pose any questions you have using the Q&A button on the lower right-hand side of the virtual meeting portal. All questions that comply with the rules of procedures will be addressed during the Q&A portion of the meeting, time permitting. Our first item on the agenda is the determination of a quorum. The secretary has received proof by affidavit that the notice of annual meeting and proxy statements were mailed to every holder of record of common stock of the company on or about April 8, 2021. The bylaws provided that the presence by participation in this virtual annual meeting or by proxy of stockholders entitled to vote a majority of the shares of common stock outstanding on the record date constitutes a quorum. The inspector of election is in charge of determining the proxies and stockholders present. Jose, do we have a quorum?

Yes, we do. The inspector of election reports that a majority of the votes entitled to be cast as of the record date, March 23, 2021, is represented at the meeting.

Thank you, Jose. I declare this meeting to be duly convened for purposes of transacting such business as may properly come before it. I will ask Jose to read the agenda for the meeting at this time.

There are 3 motions to be voted on by the stockholders. The first motion is for the election of 9 directors for a 1-year term ending at the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The second motion is for the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2021. The third motion is for the advisory vote to approve the compensation paid to the company's named executive officers. These 3 motions have been properly brought before the meeting.

Thank you, Jose. The polls are open. If there is any stockholder eligible to vote who has not yet voted and who wants to vote now or who has previously voted but now wants to change that vote, please click the voting button on the lower right-hand side of the web portal and follow the instructions there. If you have already voted by proxy or by phone or Internet and you do not wish to change your vote, you do not need to take any further action. [Voting]

Since all stockholders wishing to do so have submitted their proxy or ballot, I declare the polls closed. I will ask now Mr. Gonzalez to report on the vote.

The inspector of election has informed me that subject to the final tabulation, the preliminary result is that proposals 1, 2 and 3 have been approved. Final vote results for each proposal will be filed with the SEC on Form 8-K.

Thank you, Jose. That completes our formal business for today. The 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is now adjourned. I'll turn it over to Mark to address stockholders' questions. You may submit a question by using the Q&A button on the lower right-hand side of the web portal. Please note, we will attempt to answer as many questions as time allows, but only questions that are germane to the meeting will be addressed. All questions that comply with the rules and procedures for the meeting will be made available on the company's Investor Relations website following the meeting, including any questions we do not get to today along with the company's answers. Thank you for attending our meeting.

Now I will be pleased to take any questions that stockholders may have. As the Chair stated, all of the questions asked that comply with the meeting's rules will be made available on our Investor Relations site, along with the company's response. Now I'll turn it over to our Corporate Secretary to please read the questions.

Thank you, Mark. We have not received any stockholder questions today.

Thank you very much again for joining us today. That concludes the meeting.

Thank you for attending the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Stockholders of Equitable Holdings, Inc. The meeting and audio webcast are now concluded.