BM Technologies, Inc.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the BM Technologies fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings conference call. Please note that this event is being recorded. Following management's prepared remarks, we will hold a question and answer session. For those joining us on the webcast, you can submit your questions online where the management team can see them. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Brian Prinevo, Investor Relations for BM Technologies. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for BM Technologies' fourth quarter and full-year earnings call. Before we begin, we would like to remind you that some of the statements we make today may be considered forward-looking. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, that may cause actual performance results to differ materially from what is currently anticipated. Please note that these forward-looking statements speak as of the date of this presentation, and we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in light of new information and future events, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K and 10-Qs, for a more detailed description of the risk factors that may affect our results. Copies may be obtained from the SEC or by visiting the investor relations section of our website. At this time, I will turn the call over to Lavleen Sidhu, VM Technologies CEO. Lavleen?

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. Joining today's call is Jim Dellinger, our CFO, and Jamie Donahue, our President and Chief Technology Officer. We will be discussing our fourth quarter and full year results and also providing updates on our business. I will provide a high-level overview of our strategy to double down on our higher education business and execute on our customer for life strategy. And Jamie will provide an update on our technology modernization efforts that are the precursor to delivering on this plan that positions our company for an exciting future of growth and innovation. Since we last spoke, we completed the transfer of deposits to our new partner bank, First Carolina Bank. in December 2023. We're thrilled that this has been completed and it will have a meaningful impact on our operations in 2024 and beyond. Beginning in December 2023, we are now able to receive this enhanced revenue stream. Importantly, this is revenue that drops to the bottom line as profit. Separately, throughout 2023, we implemented initiatives as part of our Profit Enhancement Plan, or PEP. that reduced core operating expenses by approximately $9.5 million for the year. We expect to realize further benefits and to get the full year benefits of the PEP in 2024. We sequentially improved our core EBITDA performance every quarter throughout 2023. Between additional interchange revenue, our growth initiatives, and continued cost reduction efforts, we are optimistic that we'll return to positive core EBITDA in 2024. However, what we are most excited about is our technology modernization efforts that we have been investing in over the last 24 months, which are finally coming to fruition. In a moment, Jamie will walk us through some of the technology investments and how this better positions our company for the future. But I want to briefly touch on the reasons for this necessary investment. The fact is that in the world of FinTechs, we are an older FinTech that, and with that comes the benefit of stability and scale, but also with legacy technology on the higher education side of our business. This legacy technology has been holding us back and capitalizing on the competitive advantage we have in this market. For example, we estimate that less than one in five of our higher education disbursement services customers convert their refunds to active Bank Mobile Vibe check-in accounts. And although hundreds of thousands of new accounts are open each year, we are also seeing about the same number of accounts become inactive. That means we have significant untapped potential to deepen customer relationships, increase CLV, and unlock new revenue streams for an existing customer base. As we shared on our last call, We have committed to doubling down on our student business and moving into growth mode. This is a unique opportunity only available to BMTX due to our unique customer acquisition model and longstanding contractual relationships with colleges and universities across the country. By upgrading our technology, we are going back to our roots of when we first started the business in 2015. Our roots of innovation, co-creating a product based off of the needs of our customers, using data analytics and enhanced marketing tools to understand and engage with our customers, and most importantly, leveraging exponentially growing technologies like AI to deliver best-in-class experiences to them. I will now hand it over to Jim to briefly discuss our 2023 financials. Thank you, Louise.