Financial Institutions, Inc.

Hello and welcome to the Financial Institution's third quarter earnings release and conference call. My name is Emma and I'll be your operator today. Today's call is being recorded and participants are currently in listen-only mode. If you'd like to ask a question at the end of the presentation, please press star followed by one. To withdraw your question, please press star followed by two. To ask for assistance, please press star followed by zero. It is now my pleasure to hand the call over to Shelley Doran, Director of Investor Relations, to begin, please go ahead.

Thank you for joining us for today's call. Providing prepared comments will be President and CEO Marty Birmingham and CFO Jack Plant, Chief Community Banking Officer Justin Bigum, and Director of Financial Planning and Analysis Mike Grover will join us for Q&A. Today's prepared comments and Q&A will include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks and certain genetic factors. We refer you to yesterday's earnings release and historical SEC filings available on our investor relations website for a safe harbor description and a detailed discussion of the risk factors relating to forward-looking statements. We'll also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures intended to supplement and not substitute for comparable GAAP measures. Reconciliations of these measures to get financial measures were provided in earnings relief filed as an exhibit to a Form 8-K. Please note that this call includes information that may only be accurate as of today's date, October 29th, 2021. I'll now turn the call over to President and CEO Marty Bowman-Hamm.

Thank you, Shelly. Good morning and welcome to our third quarter 2021 earnings call. Once again, our team was pleased to deliver strong results reporting net income of $17.2 million, or $1.05 per diluted share. Net income was down to the second quarter's $20.2 million, or $1.25 per share, and significantly higher than third quarter 2020 net income of $12.3 million, or $0.74 per share. Our earnings reflect incremental organic growth across our businesses, as well as a third consecutive quarter of reserve for loan loss release, and corresponding provision for loan loss benefit. Pre-tax pre-provision income for the quarter was $21.2 million, a $209,000 increase in the second quarter of 2021, and a $1.9 million increase from the third quarter of 2020. In early August, we completed the relocation of our five-star bank branch in the city of Elmira to an area included in the New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative. Exciting redevelopment is underway in the city of Elmira for the first time in decades, and we are pleased to partner with other businesses to help revitalize this urban area. The relocated Elmira branch features our new branch design, including advancements in financial technology paired with the comfort of community banking with five-star certified personal bankers. The branch move also reduces annual operating costs as a result of more favorable lease terms and lower square footage. Our SDN insurance subsidiary completed a full-time transaction in early August with the acquisition of Northwoods Capital Benefits, a Buffalo-based employee benefits and human resources advisory firm. This acquisition expands SDN's employee benefits business and adds important expertise to the organization. Northwoods founder and their director of client service have joined SDN to continue their long-term client relationships and help us build new ones. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Jack so he can provide additional details on results and guidance.