Banner Corporation

Joe Rice, our chief credit officer, and Rich Arnold, our head of investor relations. Rich, would you please read our forward-looking safe harbor statement?

Sure, Mark. Good morning. Our presentation today discusses Banner's business outlook and will include forward-looking statements. These statements include descriptions of management's plans, objectives or goals for future operations, products or services, forecasts of financial or other performance measures, and statements about Banner's general outlook for economic and other conditions. We also may make other forward-looking statements in the question and answer period following management's discussion. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those discussed today. Information on the risk factors that could cause actual results to differ are available in the earnings press release that was released yesterday and the recently filed Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024. Forward-looking statements are effective only as of the date they are made, and Banner assumes no obligation to update information concerning its expectations. Mark?

Thank you, Rich. As is customary, today we will cover four primary items with you. First, I will provide you high-level comments on Banner's first quarter performance. Second, the actions Banner continues to take to support all of our stakeholders, including our Banner team, our clients, our communities, and our shareholders. Third, Joe Rice will provide comments on the current status of our loan portfolio and the potential impact due to the trade tariffs. And finally, Rob Butterfield will provide more detail on our operating performance for the quarter, as well as comments on our balance sheet. Before I get started, I wanted to thank all of our 2,000 colleagues in our company who are working extremely hard to assist our clients and communities. Banner has lived our core values summed up as doing the right thing for the past 135 years. Our overarching goal continues to be to do the right thing for our clients, our communities, our colleagues, our company, and our shareholders and to provide a consistent and reliable source of commerce and capital through all economic cycles and change events. I am pleased to report again to you that is exactly what we continue to do. I am very proud of the entire Banner team that are living our core values. Now let me turn to an overview of our performance. As announced, Banner Corporation reported a net profit available to common shareholders of $45.1 million or $1.30 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31st, 2025. This compares to a net profit to common shareholders of $1.09 per share for the first quarter of 2024 and $1.34 per share for the fourth quarter of 2024. Our strategy to maintain a moderate risk profile and the investments we have made and continue to make in order to improve operating performance have positioned the company well for the future. The strength of our balance sheet, coupled with our strong reputation we maintain in our markets, will allow us to manage through the current market volatility. Rob will discuss these items in more detail shortly. To illustrate the core earnings power of Banner, I would direct your attention to pre-tax, pre-provision earnings excluding gains and losses on the sale of securities and changes in fair value of financial instruments. Our first quarter of 2025 core earnings were $59 million compared to $53 million for the first quarter of 2024. Banner's first quarter of 2025 revenue from core operations was $160 million compared to $150 million for the first quarter of 2024. We continue to benefit from a strong core deposit base that has proved to be resilient and loyal to Banner, a very good net interest margin, and core expense control. Overall, this resulted in a return on average assets of 1.15% for the first quarter of 2025. Once again, our core performance reflects continued execution on our super community bank strategy. That is growing new client relationships, maintaining our core funding position, promoting client loyalty and advocacy through our responsive service model, and demonstrating our safety and soundness through all economic cycles and change events. To that point, our core deposits continue to represent 89% of total deposits. Further, we continued our solid organic growth with loans increasing 5 percent and core deposits increasing 3 percent over the same period last year. Reflective of this performance, coupled with our strong regulatory capital ratios and the fact that we increased our tangible common equity per share by 13 percent from the same period last year, we announced a core dividend of 48 cents per common share. Finally, I'm pleased to say that we continue to receive marketplace recognition and validation of our business model and our value proposition. Banner again was named one of America's 100 best banks and one of the best banks in the world by Forbes. Newsweek named Banner one of the most trustworthy companies in America and the world again this year. And just recently named Banner one of the best regional banks in the country. J.D. Power & Associates named Banner Bank the best bank in the Northwest for retail client satisfaction, and S&P Global Market Intelligence ranked Banner's financial performance among the top 50 public banks with more than $10 billion in assets. Additionally, the Kroll Bond Rating Agency affirmed all of Banner's investment-grade debt and deposit ratings. And as we've noted previously, Banner Bank received an outstanding CRA rating. Let me now turn the call over to Jill to discuss the trends in our loan portfolio and her comments on Banner's credit quality. Jill?