CrossFirst Bankshares, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Cross First Bank Shares first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mike Daly, Chief Accounting Officer and Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Good morning.

Before we begin, please be aware this call will include forward-looking statements, including statements about our business plans, growth opportunities, expense control initiatives, cash requirements and sources of liquidity, capital allocation strategies and plans, and our future financial performance. These comments are based on our current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. Our forward-looking statements are as of the date of this call, and we do not assume any obligation to update or revise them, except as required by law. Statements made on this call should be considered together with the risk factors identified in today's earnings release and our other filings with the SEC. We may also refer to adjusted or non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures can be found in our earnings release. These non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be a substitute for or superior to financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Our presentation will include prepared remarks from Mike Maddox, President and CEO of Cross First Bank Shares, Randy Rapp, President of Cross First Bank, and Ben Klaus, CFO of Cross First Bank Shares. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, our operator Cindy will facilitate a Q&A session. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mike, who will begin on slide seven of the presentation, available on our website and filed with our earnings release.

Mike? Thank you, Mike. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss Cross First Quarter financial results. Our company had a solid first quarter with strong organic loan and deposit growth, stable credit quality, expansion of non-interest income, and an increase in earnings. We continue to benefit from operating in dynamic markets with experienced talent. This combination provides steady growth as we execute our strategy focused on serving our clients and driving enhanced shareholder return. Total assets grew to a record $7.5 billion with loan growth at 8% on an annualized basis. Net income was $18.2 million or $0.36 earnings per share. We continue to build capital with improvement in our ratios and growth in book value despite negative AOCI movement. These performance metrics demonstrate our ability to generate sustainable profits for our shareholders, and our incredible people are drivers behind our success. To that end, I am thrilled to announce that last week our company was honored by Gallup with the prestigious Don Clifton Strengths Based Culture Award for the second year in a row. This award recognizes companies with workplace cultures that put the strengths of leaders, managers, and employees at the core of how they work every day. Receiving this global award for the second year in a row is a true reflection of our collective efforts in fostering a culture that values individual strengths, collaboration, and continuous growth. It is also a testament that when you focus on the relationship between employee contributions and the overall business outcomes, you will build a culture of engaged employees, which leads to an increase in performance. Despite a challenging macro environment, we continue to see good new business opportunities in our markets and verticals. This has allowed us to continue to have a moderate level of loan growth while maintaining a focus on quality deals and appropriately managing risk. This strategy has helped us navigate uncertainties in the market and ensure the stability of our loan portfolio. Commercial real estate continues to be an area of heightened focus for us and our industry. As a result of our strong clients and economically robust markets, we are not seeing deterioration in this portfolio. Our investor office portfolio predominantly comprised of suburban and single tenant properties located in our footprint continues to remain strong and perform as anticipated. Randy will cover more details on the loan portfolio in a moment, but I do want to highlight that the increase in our CRE portfolio is in large part due to the two strategic acquisitions we made over the last 18 months. We are now predominantly fulfilling prior loan commitments and are focused on reducing our concentration in CRE back toward historic levels. We had nice organic growth in client deposits this quarter, led by Kansas City, Oklahoma, and Phoenix markets, despite the continued highly competitive environment. We are also happy with the year-over-year growth in non-interest income, fueled in part by the development of our newer markets and verticals. Specifically, SBA and Treasury fees were a significant part of the non-interest income expansion. The growth in loans, deposits, and non-interest income reflects our commitment to providing secure and reliable banking services to our clients and building trusted relationships within our markets and verticals. We will continue to focus on deposits and non-interest income opportunities and have aligned our bankers' incentive plans and goals to drive that focus. This historic rising rate environment has been challenging for financial institutions putting pressure on net interest margins, earnings, and capital. Our highly variable balance sheet has benefited us, which Ben will cover in more detail shortly. I remain confident in our ability to navigate the evolving financial landscape and optimistic about our future due to the strong markets we operate in. We have a highly experienced team of bankers focused on optimization and efficiencies. as we continue to scale our operations while enhancing franchise value. As we look ahead, we remain committed to our strategic goals and will continue to focus on delivering value to our clients, shareholders, and communities. We intend to continue to grow prudently, efficiently, and profitably by optimizing operations, maximizing key technology investments, while continuing to manage expenses. Thank you for your continued support and trust in Cross First. And now I'd like to turn the call over to our president of Cross First Bank, Randy Rapp.