Brookline Bancorp, Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to Brookline Bancorp Inc's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Brookline Bancorp's attorney, Laura Vaughan. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Emily, and good afternoon, everyone. Yesterday, we issued our earnings release and presentation, which is available on the investor relations page of our website, brooklinebankcorp.com, and has been filed with the SEC. This afternoon's call will be hosted by Paul A. Perlt and Carl M. Carlson. This call may contain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations, and business of Brookline Bank Corp. please refer to page two of our earnings presentation for our forward-looking statement disclaimer. Also, please refer to our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain risk factors that require actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Any references made during this presentation to non-GAAP measures are only made to assist you in understanding Brookline Bancorp's results and performance trends. and should not be relied on as financial measures of actual results or future predictions. For a comparison and reconciliation to GAAP earnings, please see our earnings release. I'm pleased to introduce Brookline Bancorp's Chairman and CEO, Paul Perrault.

Thanks, Laura. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on today's earnings call. At the start of the year, prevailing market sentiment suggested inflation was well-contained and the Federal Reserve would implement substantial rate cuts, potentially up to six to seven reductions throughout 2024. However, the economic landscape remains dynamic. Unemployment rates persist at historically low levels, consumer spending remains steady, and overall economic vitality endures as inflation remains a persistent concern. Within a matter of months, the market now anticipates only one rate cut for the year with some even speculating no cuts at all the five-year and 10-year treasury rates have surged over 80 basis points since the end of last year unfortunately the prolonged period of high higher interest rates continues to hinder the anticipated improvement in net interest margins we remain vigilant in our efforts to navigate this challenging environment while the new england and new york economies continue to perform well the impact of rising interest rates on loan demand is evident. Our deposit composition and funding costs further contribute to the strain on the net interest margins and overall revenues. Our goal is to provide boutique commercial banking services to our valued customers efficiently. Careful investments in our team of bankers, technology, and locations play a pivotal role in achieving this objective. This quarter, we celebrated the grand opening of our relocated PCSB branch in Mount Vernon, New York. Additionally, our newest Bank of Rhode Island branches in Cranston and Newport, Rhode Island are off to a very promising start. I will now turn you over to Carl, who will review the company's first quarter results.