Eastern Bankshares, Inc.

Today's call will include forward-looking statements. The company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements involves risks and uncertainties and is not guaranteed of future performance. Actual results may materially differ from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors. These factors are described in the company's earnings press release and most recent 10-K filed with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements made represent management's views and estimates as of today, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these statements because of new information or future events. The company will also discuss both GAAP and certain non-GAAP financial result measures. For reconciliations, please refer to the company's earnings press release. I'd now like to turn the call over to Bob Rivers, Eastern Executive Chair and Chair of Board of Directors.

Thank you, Joelle. Morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. With me today is Eastern CEO Dennis Sheehan and our CFO, David Rosato. Eastern recently celebrated its fifth anniversary as a public company. Before Dennis and David walk through our results, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge this important milestone and share why I'm excited about our future. As shown on slide two today, Eastern is a $25.5 billion organization with the fourth largest deposit market share in Greater Boston, and we are the largest independent bank headquartered in Massachusetts. Since our IPO, we have very intentionally expanded our footprint across attractive markets and built the scale we need to invest in the business while maintaining the understanding, accessibility, and engagement that makes us our region's hometown bank. This strategy, and most importantly our people, our culture, and our extensive community involvement are what enable us to expand and deepen customer relationships, attract top talent, and capture growth opportunities. This has driven meaningful improvement in earnings, profitability, and shareholder returns. One of the keys to our success has been our ability to stay true to who we are while growing and positioning Eastern for the future. That includes bringing in talented people to compliment the many longtime Eastern employees who have contributed to our success. I'm so proud of what we've accomplished together. We are well positioned to serve our customers and communities with excellence, which underpins our ability to drive continued shareholder value. Now I'll turn it to Des.

Thank you, Bob. As someone who's been in the Boston market for more than three decades, I can attest to how impressive the transformation of Eastern has been over the last five years. I'm incredibly proud to be part of this team, and I share Bob's enthusiasm about the future and the opportunities ahead. Turning now to the quarter, we are very pleased to have received the required regulatory approvals for our merger with Harbor One, which is on track for a November 1 close. This partnership strengthens Eastern's leading presence in Greater Boston and expands our branch footprint into Rhode Island, providing even more opportunities for organic growth. We're excited to bring together two banks that share a strong commitment to customers, community partners, and employees. I want to thank the teams from both organizations for their outstanding efforts And we look forward to welcoming our new customers and colleagues to Eastern as we build on the strong legacies of both institutions. We're also pleased to announce today the resumption of our share buyback program, which underscores our confidence in the future. Third quarter operating earnings of $74.1 million increased 44% from a year ago and generated solid returns. Operating return on assets of 1.16% was up 34 basis points from the prior year quarter, and operating return on average tangible common equity increased 300 basis points to 11.7% over the same period. On a linked quarter basis, operating income was down from a very strong second quarter, which benefited from higher than expected net discount accretion due to early loan payoffs and fee income. Our ongoing strategic investments in hiring talent and commercial lending continue to deliver strong results. Over the past year, we have increased the number of relationship managers by approximately 10%. Eastern has become an attractive destination for high quality talent, particularly those with large bank experience. We have the size to matter competitively, yet are small enough for them to apply their trade and provide a sense of ownership in building Our loan growth continues to reflect the impact of this strategy. Total loans grew 1.3% in quarter and 4.1% year to date, driven primarily by strong commercial lending results. The commercial portfolio has grown just under 6% since the beginning of the year, and the pipeline remains solid, ending the quarter at approximately $575 million. Wealth management is an important component of our long-term growth strategy, and the wealth demographic and our footprint provide significant opportunities. Beyond strong investment solutions and results, we provide comprehensive wealth services, including financial, tax, and estate planning, as well as private banking. Assets under management reached a record high of $9.2 billion in the third quarter, driven by market appreciation and modest positive net flows. We've been pleased with the integration of the Eastern and Cambridge Trust wealth teams and the strong retention of clients and talent since the merger. We're also enhancing our internal distribution capabilities. Our retail branch network, through training and greater awareness, is becoming a meaningful driver of referrals. Notably, in the first half of this year, retail generated more funded wealth business than Eastern achieved in any prior full year. On the commercial side, the strengthening alignment between our wealth management and banking businesses is in the early stages, but beginning to produce results. There is still a lot more work ahead, but we are encouraged by the momentum of our wealth business, which was recently named the largest bank-owned independent advisor in Massachusetts for the second consecutive year. Finally, our capital position remains robust, and we continue to generate excess capital. Tangible book value per share at quarter end was $13.14, an increase of 5% from June 30 and up 10% from the beginning of the year. In addition to using capital for organic growth, we are committed to returning capital to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchases and consistent and sustainable dividend growth. As such, we are very pleased the board authorized a new 5% share repurchase program of up to 11.9 million shares. David, I'll hand it over to you to review our third quarter financials.