Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Bridgewater Bank Shares 2025 Third Quarter Earnings Results Call. My name is Megan and I will be your conference operator today. All participants have been placed in listen-only mode. After Bridgewater's opening remarks, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, please press star then 1 on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. Please note that today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to introduce Justin Horstman, Vice President of Investor Relations, to begin the conference call. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Megan, and good morning, everyone. Joining me on today's call are Jerry Bach, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Joe Schabowski, President and Chief Financial Officer, Nick Place, Chief Banking Officer, Katie Murrell, Chief Credit Officer, and Jeff Shelberg, Deputy Chief Credit Officer. In just a few moments, we will provide an overview of our 2025 third quarter financial results. We will be referencing a slide presentation that is available on the investor relations section of Bridgewater's website, investors.bridgewaterbankmn.com. Following our opening remarks, we will open the call for questions. During today's presentation, we may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. We caution that such statements are predictions and that actual results may differ materially. We see the forward-looking statement disclosure in the slide presentation in our 2025 third quarter earnings release for more information about risks and uncertainties which may affect us. The information we will provide today is as of and for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, and we undertake no duty to update the information. We may also disclose non-GAAP financial measures during this call. We believe certain non-GAAP financial measures, in addition to the related GAAP measures, provide meaningful information to investors to help them understand the company's operating performance and trends, and to facilitate comparisons with the performance of our peers. We caution that these disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with GAAP. Please see our slide presentation and 2025 third quarter earnings release for reconciliations of non-GAAP disclosures to the comparable GAAP measures. I would now like to turn the call over to Bridgewater's Chairman and CEO, Jerry Bach.

Thank you, Justin, and thank you everyone for joining us this morning. In the third quarter, our team continued to demonstrate our ability to take market share by growing deposits and generating loans, which resulted in steady net interest income growth. We saw strong core deposit growth with balances up 11.5% annualized. This continues to be a testament to our talented banking teams and the relationship model we prioritize. The relatively steady pace of core deposit growth we have seen over the past year has positioned us to be more aggressive on the loan front as our loan deposit ratio remains near the lower end of our target range. We generated strong loan growth of 6.6% annualized during the third quarter as we continue to see growth across multiple asset classes, including the affordable housing space. This helped drive a $1.6 million increase in net interest income during the quarter. We also saw one basis point of net interest margin expansion to 2.63%. Joe will talk more about the margin in a minute, but we are optimistic about our ability to see more meaningful expansion in the coming quarters. Asset quality continues to be a strength as non-performing assets remained at consistently low levels, and net charge-offs were just 0.03% of loans. We continue to see some modest risk rating migration within the portfolio, which our Chief Credit Officer, Katie Murrell, will touch on shortly. But we continue to feel good about the portfolio overall. Lastly, we've developed a reputation for consistently building tangible book value, which you can see on slide four. As tangible book value per share increased 20% annualized in the third quarter and is up 14% annualized year to date. This continues to be how we drive shareholder value. Before I turn it over to Joe, I want to share an update regarding the successful completion of two significant initiatives in the third quarter. The launch of our new retail and small business online banking platform in July and the systems conversion of our acquisition of First Minnetonka City Bank in September. The new online banking platform gives our clients an updated, robust platform to enhance the way they manage their finances at Bridgewater. In addition, it provides our smaller entrepreneurial clients with a platform designed specifically for them. The team worked tirelessly to ensure smooth migrations initially for Bridgewater clients and then convert to our newly acquired clients a few months later. The success of both conversions reinforced my confidence that we have the right team to take advantage of future M&A opportunities as they become available. In August, we also announced some transitions to our strategic leadership team. Most notably, Mary Jane Crocker, our chief strategy officer, and Jeff Shelberg, our chief credit officer, will both be retiring in 2026. Mary Jane will join our board of directors next year, while Jeff will continue to work alongside Katie in a deputy chief credit officer role until his retirement, ensuring Bridgewater's credit culture remains consistent. Jeff and Mary Jane have been with me at Bridgewater since founding the bank in 2025. I'm so appreciative of their contributions, and quite simply, Bridgewater would not be what it is without them. By executing the succession plan we have been working on for a few years, I am confident in the leadership of the bank going forward. We elevated Katie Murrell to Chief Credit Officer, Jessica Stachskull to the new role of Chief Experience Officer, and Laura Aspasuf to her role of Chief Administrative Officer. All three are talented individuals with strong worth ethics bringing a diverse set of skills. I am thrilled that we have the internal talent to continue to drive our unconventional culture and continue our growth trajectory. Overall, I believe Bridgewater is well positioned as we head into the fourth quarter and in 2026. Our outlook for loan and deposit growth remains very strong as we continue to see opportunities from M&A disruption in the Twin Cities. Our goal is to grow to become a $10 billion bank by 2030, and we believe we're on track to get there. Our balance sheet is well positioned for meaningful net interest margin expansion in this rates down environment. With the system's conversions behind us, we look for expense growth to return to more normalized levels in line with asset growth. and the Twin Cities market trends remain favorable, which will hopefully support continued strong asset quality. With that, I will turn it over to Joe.