East West Bancorp, Inc.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the East West Bancorp Third 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 one on your telephone keypad. 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 Adrienne Atkinson, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good afternoon, and thank you, everyone, for joining us to review East West Bancorp's third quarter 2024 financial results. With me are Dominic Ng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Del Moral-Niles, Chief Financial Officer, and Irene Oh, Chief Risk Officer. This call is being recorded and will be available for replay on our Investor Relations website. The slide deck referenced during this call 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. Management may discuss non-GAAP financial measures. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures, please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Form 8-K filed today. I will now turn the call over to Dominic.

Thank you, Adrienne. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter earnings call. I'm pleased to report another strong quarter of balanced growth in support of our customers. Third quarter 2024 net income was $299 million or $2.14 per diluted share. We grew average loans by 1% quarter over quarter and further diversify our loan portfolio by emphasizing residential and C&I lending. We grew average deposits by 3% quarter over quarter through continued growth of granular customer deposits and relationships. Net interest income grew by 20 million, or 4%, from second quarter, primarily driven by increased income from loans. We also lowered the cost of average interest-bearing deposit in the quarter. The average cost of time, money market, and savings deposit each declined from the second quarter. Our balance sheet growth was complemented by a consecutive quarter of record fee income. These revenues were driven by a notable strength in lending, wealth management, and deposit fees, reflecting our consistent execution and ability to broaden and deepen customer relationships. Our disciplined approach to credit management serve us well in the third quarter. East-West classified loans, non-accrual and non-performing asset ratios improved during the quarter. Nonetheless, we remain vigilant about managing our credit risk and are proactively managing our risk profile. We have delivered substantial returns for shareholders during the quarter, We reported tangible book value per share growth of 7% and generated over 17% return on average tangible common equity. Chris, I will turn it to you for more detail on our financial performance.