FinWise Bancorp

Greetings and welcome to Finvise Bancorp fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to your host, Juan Arias, SVP in Investor Relations at ICR. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good afternoon, and welcome to Finwise Bank Group's earnings call. The company released its financial results for the quarter-ended December 31, 2021. The earnings press release is available on the Investor Relations section of the company's website at investors.finwisebankgroup.com. I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made in the course of this call are not based on historical information and may constitute forward-looking statements covered by the safe harbor provisions of the private securities litigation reform act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. I refer you to the company's filings made with the SEC, including its earnings press release issued earlier today for a more detailed discussion of the risk and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements today. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements that may be made during the course of this call. Additionally, certain non-GAAP financial measures will be discussed on this conference call. Our presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliation to these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable measures prepared in accordance with GAAP can be accessed through our filings with the SEC, including our earnings press release issued earlier today at www.sec.gov. Hosting the call today are Mr. Kent Landvater, CEO and President of ThinWise Bancorp, and Mr. Javis Jacobson, Chief Financial Officer of ThinWise Bancorp. With that, I will turn the call over to Mr. Landbatter.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our first earnings call as a public company. I also want to thank you for your interest in and support of FinWise Bancorp. On today's call, I will provide an update on our business developments, the current operating environment, and share some perspective on the strength of our business model. Our Chief Financial Officer, Javis Jacobson, We'll then walk you through our financial results in more detail. We'll then open up the call for questions. Also joining us on the call today are Jim Noon, our Chief Credit Officer, and Don Cannon, our Chief Operating Officer. We executed well in the key facets of our business in 2021, including the completion of our company's IPO, which will help us continue the build-out of our operating infrastructure and fund future growth initiatives. We also delivered another year of exceptionally profitable growth, highlighted by a meaningful increase in loan originations, robust operating efficiency, and industry-leading returns. All of this is enabled by our strategic relationships with third-party loan origination platforms, our Finview analytics platform, our relatively low-cost core deposits, which have been highly reliable, and superior execution by our seasoned team members. Before I provide some financial highlights, I want to briefly speak to the FinWISE story to provide some color on the strengths of the company we built, how we provide meaningful value to our customers, and our strategy to maintain our industry-leading performance going forward. Ten years ago, when I was approached about becoming the president of the bank, I quickly recognized a unique opportunity. Finwise had a powerful charter that can reach broader markets and provide access to stable, low-cost funding. Plus, the platform was flexible and wasn't saddled with legacy branch networks or outdated IT systems that could limit innovation. So we set out to build an innovative, technology-focused bank that would stay one step ahead of evolving customer expectations. Innovation is key to who we are and is ingrained in our mindset. We have implemented a strategy that has resulted in a highly profitable fintech lending model with nationwide reach and compelling growth rates. Our evolving data acquisition and analytics platform, fed by multiple loan product types, allows us to capture deep and broad data sets, which may be used for, among other things, building diverse and scalable revenue streams. We have four primary business lines, strategic programs, which is where we form relationships with FinTechs to help us originate loans, which we may then sell, either a portion of the loan or the whole loan, to an investor as identified by us or our strategic program service providers. The other three primary lines of business include SBA 7A lending, residential and commercial real estate lending, and point-of-sale lending, which is where we offer loans to finance the purchase of retail goods and services. These four business lines provide us with diversity across credit classes and income streams. I also wanted to briefly call your attention to how we stack up against traditional banks and non-bank financial service companies. The key takeaway here is that FinWise is essentially a fintech wrapped in a bank charter. We are branch-like, not branchless. Our one branch in Sandy, Utah provides us with a meaningful source of deposits and profitable products. Our funding is generally lower cost, relatively stable, and does not rely directly on capital markets. Technology plays a significant part in defining who we are, and we use it to inform decisions, manage risk, and enhance the customer experience. Overall, our lending products span the credit spectrum from prime to non-prime. The products we offer are diverse and federally regulated, and they range from deposit to loan products and services, and provide millions of dollars in loans to small business owners. We also take pride in our strategic relationships that provide a wide range of loans and support the call for banks to expand access to credit for hardworking American families at have limited access to credit. With these products, borrowers are offered an alternative to significantly inferior, less regulated, and substantially more expensive financing options. Our hope is that these loan products not only address short-term financial needs but also provide our customers with the opportunity to lower their cost of credit. We also have a very rigorous process for selecting strategic program service providers, and we seek to work with companies that have strong values and that also follow strict regulatory guidelines. Lastly, we follow a very disciplined internal underwriting infrastructure designed to prudently manage credit risk. So with that, let me give you a brief summary of our financial highlights. For the full year of 2021, we generated $31.6 million in net income, a meaningful increase versus the full year of 2020. For the fourth quarter of 2021, net income was $10.1 million, a substantial increase from $8.4 million in the third quarter of 2021, and more than double the net income from the fourth quarter of 2020. Growth over both of these periods was powered mainly by solid net interest income driven by substantial pickup in loan originations, as well as solid non-interest income reflecting significant strategic program fees. Lastly, we maintained robust profitability measures. In summary, I am tremendously proud of what we have created at FinWise Bancorp. We believe our value proposition has clearly resonated in the market. bolstered by our team's talent, as well as our third-party relationships, without whom none of this would be possible. I'm very excited for our future and our ability to continue to deliver long-term value for our customers, third-party relationships, and shareholders. With that, I now would like to turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Javis Jacobson, who will discuss our financial operations in more detail. Javis?