“We expect that 2026 will be the year in which this work will start to translate into improved financial performance.”

In context

“ts and the weaker dollar was offset by efficiency savings. Investment and Wealth Management reported pretax income of $148 million, down 14% year-over-year and a pretax margin of 17%. As I mentioned earlier, assets under management of $2.2 trillion increased by 7% year-over-year. In the fourth quarter, we saw net outflows of $3 billion including $23 billion of net outflows from long-term strategies and $20 billion of net inflows into cash. Wealth Management client assets of $350 billion increased by 7% year-over-year, reflecting higher market values. Over the past year, we've worked hard to bring our investment in wealth management business closer to our other BNY platforms, streamlined operations and build towards stronger top line growth, including by making several key strategic hires. We expect that 2026 will be the year in which this work will start to translate into improved financial performance. I'll close with our financial outlook. Page 21 shows the current expectations for 2026. Notwithstanding a very dynamic operating environment, positive operating leverage continues to be our North Star and so we have set ourselves up for another year of more than 100 basis points of positive operating leverage in 2026. This reflects our current expectation for total revenue excluding notable items, to grow by approximately 5% year-over-year in 2026 market-dependent. And accordingly, a plan for approximately 3% to 4% growth in expenses, excluding notable items. Specific to the first quarter, I would like to remind you that staff expenses are typically elevated due to long-term incentive compensation expense for retirement-eligible employees. And on taxes, I'd like to note that over the cour”