Popular, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Popular, Inc. First Quarter 2026 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to the Investor Relations Officer at Popular, Inc., Paul Cardillo. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. With me on the call today is our President and CEO, Javier Ferrer, our CFO, Jorge Garcia, and our CRO, Lidio Soriano. They will review our results for the first quarter and then answer your questions. Other members of our management team will also be available during the Q&A sessions. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that during today's call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding POPULAR, such as projections of revenue, earnings, credit quality, expenses, taxes, and capital, as well as statements regarding POPULAR's plans and objectives. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements are discussed in today's earnings release and our SEC filing. You may find today's press release and our SEC filings on our webpage at popular.com. I will now turn the call over to Javier.

Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone. Please turn to slide four, where we share highlights of our strong operating performance in the first quarter. We reported net income of $246 million and earnings per share of $3.78, up $12.25 million per share from the fourth quarter. The improvement was driven by higher net interest income, margin expansion, and lower operating expenses. Net income and EPS improved by 38% and 48%, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2025. We continue to invest in our businesses and expand our capabilities in support of our strategic objectives. When we deliver for customers, our franchise strengthens and our shareholders benefit. Overall credit trends remain favorable with lower MPLs and improved MPL ratios. Quarterly net charge-offs increased primarily due to a single previously identified commercial relationship. We also demonstrated our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders by repurchasing $155 million in common stock and paying a quarterly common stock dividend of 75 cents per share. Our RODSI was 15.5 percent, up from 14.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, and 11.4 percent a year ago. We are very pleased with these returns and remain focused on reaching our 14 percent through the cycle objective. Before turning the call over to Jorge, I will comment on the business environment in Puerto Rico. Business activity in Puerto Rico remains positive, supported by steady trends in employment and consumer activity, with manufacturing, construction, and tourism leading the way. We're closely monitoring ongoing geopolitical developments as sustained higher oil and commodity prices can impact our customer base. As of the end of the first quarter, we have not seen significant signs of economic stress. The labor market remains healthy, with the unemployment rate at 5.6%, stable near historic lows. Three sectors have outperformed the broader labor market, construction, transportation and warehousing, and leisure and hospitality. Consumer spending remains healthy, Combined credit and debit card purchase by Banco Popular customers increased by approximately 5% compared to the first quarter of 2025. We continue to see healthy demand for homes in Puerto Rico. Mortgage balances at Banco Popular increased modestly during the quarter. Momentum in the construction sector continues to be solid, with public and private investment fueling high employment and strong activity. We're optimistic that these trends will persist given the backlog of obligated federal disaster recovery funds. On the private side, real estate and tourism development projects and the renewed focus on reshoring to Puerto Rico by global manufacturing companies should continue to support economic growth on the island. The tourism and hospitality sector continues to be an important contributor to a Puerto Rico economy. Year-to-date through February, hotel occupancy increased to 83%, up from 76% in the same period last year. Over the same period, ref par increased 6%. Hotel demand averaged roughly 400,000 room nights, representing 10% growth versus the same months in 2025. Passenger traffic at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport was down 2% in the first quarter after a record year in 2025. JetBlue also announced an expansion of its San Juan hub with five new non-stop domestic routes beginning in the spring of 2026. Cruise activity has also been a meaningful tailwind. After record cruise arrivals in 2025, Arrivals accelerated sharply in the first two months of 2026, with year-to-date arrivals through February up 40% year-over-year. In addition, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company announced a strategic partnership with Royal Caribbean beginning in July of this year that would establish San Juan as the cruise line's home port. Moving to our strategic framework, we continue to advance our three objectives. A growing number of initiatives are gaining traction simultaneously, and the pace of execution is accelerating. One of our objectives is to be the number one bank for our customers by delivering exceptional service and products. A key part of that is making it easier for customers to engage with Popular through our digital channels. We recently launched an integrated marketplace within our digital app MiBanco, one of Puerto Rico's most widely used mobile apps. The platform gives our retail customers access to exclusive offers, discounts and benefits from a wide variety of merchants while enabling businesses, many of them small and medium size, to reach a high volume of potential customers. This allows us to create meaningful connections between our retail and commercial customers, and strengthens the value of banking with Popular. We also launched two new corporate credit cards designed to facilitate payments and optimize cash flow. Both have gained traction and driven purchase volume. In addition to our core retail and commercial efforts, we are advancing targeted segment strategies to improve service, enable more personal relationship-based engagement, and position popular as the primary bank earlier in our relationship with our customers. A recent example is our newly launched program designed to meet the unique financial needs of doctors, dentists, and veterinarians. The momentum behind these initiatives reflects the energy and focus of our teams. We are encouraged to see, that execution translating into stronger results, and we expect the benefits to become more visible over time. And with that, I turn the call over to Jorge for more details on our financial results.