Allegiance Bancshares, Inc.

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Second Quarter Allegiance Bank Shares, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question at that time, please press star 1-1 on your touchstone telephone. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Ms. Courtney Theriault, Chief Accounting Officer. Ma'am, please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and thank you to all who have joined our call today. This morning's earnings call will be led by Steve Redfloss, CEO of the company, Ray Vitulli, President of the company and CEO of Allegiance Bank, Paul Ege, Executive Vice President and CFO of Allegiance Bank, and Shanna Cuzzle, Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Before we begin, I need to remind everyone that some of the remarks made today constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. We intend all such statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Act. Also note that if we give guidance about future results, that guidance is only a reflection of management's belief at the time the statement is made, and such beliefs are subject to change. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. Please see the last page of the text in this morning's earnings release. which is available on our website at allegiancebank.com for additional information about the risk factors associated with forward-looking statements. We also have provided an investor presentation on our website. Although it is not being used as a guide for today's comments, it is available for review at this time. At the conclusion of our remarks, we will open the line and allow time for questions. I now turn the call over to our CEO, Steve Redsoff.

Thank you, Courtney, and good morning, everyone who's participating with us on today's call. We thank you for your time and interest. You know, we're quite pleased with our strong and steady progress to higher core operating performance thus far in 2022 as we've established yet another record level of relationship-based loan originations while maintaining discipline on recurring non-interest expenses. Although our headline EPS for the second quarter was lower than the first quarter in the year-ago quarter, our core operating performance improved on many levels, particularly after adjusting with the impact of TPPC income and non-recurring items. Paul will expand on this in greater detail in his commentary, but the primary improvement driver was core loan growth. Our second quarter core loan growth of $112 million represented a 10.7% annualized run rate, which follows a 12.8% first quarter run rate. This key growth metric reflects both the committed effort of our field and central booking departments, but also of the strength of the regional economy. Of the 20 largest MSAs in the U.S., Houston is among the seven which have now fully replaced the job losses that resulted from the pandemic and now also includes job expansions in the energy sector. Texas overall continues to post very strong employment gains compared to the rest of the nation. I will not belabor the point, but will say that we are encouraged by the growth opportunity that is presented within our geographic footprint. Notwithstanding our overarching positive sentiment, today's macro level volatility, reflective of inflation and the impact of higher interest rates on the overall economy, clearly evokes a degree of care and caution as it relates to establishing changes to near-term tactics and strategies. The team has made manifold progress as it relates to our preparedness for the merger with Community Bank of Texas. As we have come together with our integration planning, our alignment to a fully unified strategy and culture have progressed to a level that further fosters our confidence that we will most certainly benefit the scale and a uniquely powerful market position in one of the best markets in the country. To that end, we have received shareholder approval from both sides and regulatory approval from the FDIC and the Texas Department of Banking. Once we get the nod from the Federal Reserve, we are prepared to schedule the merger close and get closer to operating as a stellar bank. While briefed today, it's my high degree of confidence about our current posture and my appreciation for the talent and committed efforts of our staff or to determine the length of my comments, I would go on for hours. With that, I'll turn it over to Ray for a more detailed review of our operational results, followed by Paul, who will cover our financial results.