East West Bancorp, Inc.

And welcome to the East-West Bancorp's fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing star, then zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Juliana Balika, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Vaishnavi. Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining EastWest Bancorp's fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings call with Dominic Ng, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Irene Oh, our Chief Financial Officer. This call is being recorded and will be available for replay on our Investor Relations website. During their remarks, Dominic and Irene will reference a slide deck that is available on our Investor Relations site. Management may make projections or other forward-looking statements which may differ materially from the actual results due to a number of risks and uncertainties, and management may discuss non-GAAP financial measures. For more detailed descriptions of the risk factors and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures, please refer to our filings of the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Form 8-K filed today. I will now turn the call over to Dominic.

Thank you, Juliana. Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining us for our earnings call. I will begin the review of our financial results with Slide 3 of our presentation. A strong financial performance in 2022 was characterized by strong revenue growth, which was driven by strong loan growth and net interest margin expansion in a rising interest rate environment, combined with disciplined expense management and solid and stable asset quality. Together, all these drivers result in industry-leading profitability, both for the full year and the fourth quarter of 2022. EastWest achieved record earnings of $1.1 billion or $7.92 per share for the full year of 2022, an increase of 30% year-over-year. Our 2022 total revenue of $2.3 billion was our highest ever and grew 29% year-over-year. Our pre-tax Pre-provision income of $1.6 billion grew 40% year over year in 2022. We returned a 1.8% on assets and 21% on tangible equity for the full year. Now, for the fourth quarter of 2022, we reported net income of $337 million and earnings per share of $2.37, which grew 55% annualized quarter over quarter. Our industry leading returns were 2.1% on assets and 25% on tangible equity for the fourth quarter. Our fourth quarter pre-tax, pre-provision profitability was nearly 3%. Now let's go to slide four, and slide four presents a summary of our balance sheet. As of December 31st, 2022, Total loans reached an all-time high of $48.2 billion, an increase of $771 million, or 6% annualized from September 30. Fourth quarter average loan growth was likewise 6% annualized. Average loan growth in the fourth quarter was well balanced between our major loan portfolios of commercial real estate, residential mortgage, and commercial and industrial. Total deposit were record 56 billion as of December 31st, 2022, an increase of 2.1 billion, all 16% annualized from September 30. For fourth quarter average deposit growth was 7% annualized. Growth was driven by time deposits reflecting a successful branch-based CD campaign during the fourth quarter. Our deposit book is well diversified by deposit type, and 38% of total deposits were in non-interest bearing demand deposits as of December 31st. Our loan to deposit ratio decreased to 86% as of the end of the year, from 88% as of September 30th. Turning to slide five, as you can see in the exhibit on this slide, all our capital ratios expanded quarter over quarter. As of December 31st, 2022, we had a common equity tier one ratio of 12.7%, a total capital ratio of 14%, and a tangible common equity ratio of 8.7%. Quarter over quarter, our book value and our tangible equity per share increased 6%. I'm pleased to announce that EastWest Board of Directors approved a 20% increase to the quarterly common stock dividend from 40 cents per share to 48 cents per share, and equivalent to an annual dividend of $1.92 per share. The new dividend will take effect in the first quarter, payable on February 21st, 2023, to stockholders of record on February 6th, 2023. Moving on to a discussion about loan portfolio, beginning with slide six. As of December 31st, 2022, CNI loans outstanding were 15.7 billion, sequentially up 2% annualized and up 11% year over year. Our CNI portfolio is well diversified by industry and sector. Slide seven and eight show the details of our commercial real estate portfolio, which is well diversified by geography and property type and consists of low loan to value loans. Total commercial real estate loans were 19.1 billion as of December 31st, 2022, up 8% annualized from September 30 and up 18% year over year. In slide nine, we provide details regarding our residential mortgage portfolio, which consists of single family mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Our residential mortgage loans are primarily originated through East West Bank branches. I would highlight that 82% of our HELOC commitments were in a first lien position as of December 31st, 2022. Residential mortgage loans totaled $13.3 billion as of December 31, 2022, up 9% annualized from September 30, and up 19% year-over-year. I will now turn the call over to Irene for a more detailed discussion of our asset quality and income statement. Irene.