Amalgamated Financial Corp.

good morning ladies and gentlemen welcome to the amalgamated financial corp first quarter 2021 earnings conference call during today's presentation all parties will be in listen-only mode following the presentation the conference will be open for questions with instructions to follow at that time as a reminder this conference is being recorded i would now like to turn the conference over to mr drew levin chief financial officer please go ahead sir thank you operator and good morning everyone

We appreciate your participation in our first quarter 2021 earnings call. With me today is Lynn Fox, board chair and interim president and chief executive officer, and Jason Darby, chief accounting officer, who will become the interim CFO as of Monday. As a reminder, a telephonic replay of this call will be available on the investor section of our website for an extended period of time. Additionally, a slide deck to complement today's discussion is also available on the Investors section of our website. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that this call may contain certain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We caution investors that actual results may differ from the expectations indicated or implied by any such forward-looking information or statements. Investors should refer to slides two and three of our earnings slide deck as well as our 2020 10-K, filed on March 15, 2021, for a list of risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such statements. Additionally, during today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP measures which we believe are useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with the U.S. GAAP. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measure can be found in our earnings release as well as on our website. At this point, I'll turn the call over to Lynn.

Thank you, Drew, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your time and attention today. First, I would like to thank Drew for his many contributions over the past six years as he has been part of the team that has driven a strategic turnaround of the bank's operations, and laid the foundation that positions Amalgamated for the future. Drew, while we're sad to see you go, we wish you great success in your new endeavor. We're looking forward to see what you accomplish next. As chair of the board of Amalgamated, I certainly recognize the uncertainty that our shareholders and employees must feel given the departure of Drew and Keith and given they have been the public face of Amalgamated to investors since the IPO. That said, I'm very grateful for the senior leadership team that we have assembled over the past six years and their teams, which gives me great confidence that the bank's operations will continue to run at a very high level. Jason Darby is an excellent example of the depth and breadth of our senior team. Since joining Amalgamated in 2015, He has consistently demonstrated extraordinary leadership, impressive financial acumen, and a deep knowledge of every facet of amalgamation. Jason has been instrumental in helping Drew build our financial department, and I'm very pleased that he has accepted the position of Interim Chief Financial Officer. I'm extremely proud of our entire management team, who has maintained a strong focus on ensuring the business continues to perform which our financials clearly demonstrate. Jason is in great company with Martin Morrell and Sam Brown, who manage our consumer and commercial business for the company, and both of whom have been instrumental in growing Amalgamated to where it is today and improving the efficiency of our operations. Martin, who is our Chief Operating Officer, joined Amalgamated from American Express five years ago, where he headed the Strategic Planning Group's International Office in London. Prior to American Express, he was Capital One, where he pioneered their first direct bank offering. Sam, who is our Executive Vice President and Director of Commercial Banking, joined the company six years ago after serving as Director of the White House Business Council. As President Obama's liaison to the private sector, Sam worked on economic policies to help America's working families and businesses succeed. The contributions of Sam and his entire team to Amalgamated can be seen through the strong continued growth of our deposit franchise and transformation of our lending strategy. As we talk about the great footing the bank is on today, I'm both encouraged and grateful for the team and all that they have done to position Amalgamated's next CEO for continued success. The incoming CEO will inherit a great institution, one that we are all very proud to be a part of. As you know, a special committee of the board has been working with the Ella Group, a very well-known and established search firm, to help us identify our next CEO. This process has been robust and comprehensive, and we have vetted numerous candidates, all of which were highly qualified. Amalgamated is a very special institution, and finding the company's next CEO is of paramount importance to both the board and the bank, and in particular a CEO that blends together financial expertise with mission-driven leadership experience. This was a process that required time and utmost due diligence. While I cannot yet name who our next CEO is at this time, I'm pleased to announce that we are in the process of finalizing an employment agreement with a terrific executive who myself and the entire board is thrilled to have joined the bank. I felt that because we are close to the final stages and making this earnings announcement, it was important to provide you with an update. However, this is the extent that I am able to comment on as things are not yet finalized. We're very excited about where we are and look forward to updating you more formally when the time is right. The future is certainly bright for our company as we embark upon the next chapter in our journey with Amalgamated's next CEO and further expand upon our socially responsible initiatives. Today, more than ever, our long-term positioning as a socially responsible company and a solid ESG investment is more relevant than ever. Our reputation and our corporate values bind us together as an institution and drive our successes. One example of this during the first quarter is our public endorsement of HR40, which sets up a commission to explore reparations for African Americans. We were the first major bank to endorse HR40 and believe this is a first step in moving our country forward in building an equitable economy that creates opportunity for all individuals to thrive. Additionally, we have helped to orchestrate a commitment by financial institutions at the White House Climate Summit this week to double down on their commitment to net zero finance emissions. These are great examples of how the bank's mission has been deeply ingrained in our culture, our work, and here to stay as we move forward. This is also a terrific example of how we can drive positive change while also growing the value of the bank. To that end, we're excited to announce that we've hired a new head of sales for our ESG suite of products that we're rolling out in our trust department. This is a terrific opportunity for Amalgamated, another example of how we are investing in our future while also doing good in the world. Before I turn the call back over to Drew, I briefly want to touch on our share buyback, which we reauthorized last week after the formation of the holding company. The board continues to be thoughtful and balanced in our capital allocation strategy, with capital for our strong organic growth remaining our top priorities. This decision to authorize this buyback program provides additional flexibility to create value for our shareholders when we see our shares trading well below what we believe to be their intrinsic value, and we also plan to use it to help offset dilution from current and future equity grants. And so with that, I'll turn the call back over to Drew.