Financial Institutions, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Financial Institution's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief 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. It's now my pleasure to introduce Ms. Kate Croft, Director of Investor Relations for the company. Ms. Croft, you may begin.

Thank you for joining us for today's call. Providing prepared comments will be President and CEO Marty Birmingham and CFO Jack Plants. They will be joined by additional members of the company's leadership team during the question and answer session. 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, uncertainties, and other factors. We refer you to yesterday's earnings release and investor presentation as well as historical SBC filings which are available on our investor relations website for our safe harbor description and a detailed discussion of the risk factors relating to forward-looking statements. We will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures intended to supplement and not substitute for payroll GAAP measures. Non-GAAP to GAAP reconciliations can be found in the earnings release filed as an exhibit to Form 8K or in our latest investor presentation Available on our IR website, www.fisi-investors.com. Please note that this call includes information that may only be accurate as of today's date, July 24th, 2026. I will now turn the call over to President and CEO, Marty Birmingham.

Thank you, Kate, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Our second quarter performance was strong by many measures. Loans increased 2.7% from the end of the first quarter and 4.8% year-over-year driven by commercial lending in our core western and central New York markets. Our ability to effectively manage funding costs supported by a three basis point improvement to net interest margin from the first quarter. Margin was up 21 basis points from the year-ago quarter. credit quality remained stable and non-interest expenses were flat, allowing revenue growth to drive further improvement in our quarterly efficiency ratio to nearly 55%. Capital levels continue to build, underscoring our capacity to support growth while maintaining a strong risk profile. Common equity tier one ratio was 11.44%, up seven basis points from the late quarter and 60 basis points year over year, while our TCE ratio was 9.02%, up 13 and 41 basis points respectively. Lastly, assets under management and our wealth subsidiary were up 13% during the quarter to reach $4 billion on a combination of positive net flows and market-driven gains. Year-over-year assets under management was up 19%. Overall, Discipline execution by our lines of business translated to diversified revenue, well-managed expenses, and sustained earnings and profitability. Net income available to common shareholders of $20.8 million was up 1% from the link quarter and 21% year-over-year. On a diluted basis, we earned $1.04 per share this quarter, consistent with the first quarter and up from $0.85 in the second quarter of 2025. In addition, annual book value per share increased to $28.72 this quarter, up 2% quarter over quarter and more than 10% year over year. In looking at our balance sheet, the commercial activity that we signaled would drive 2026 loan growth has gained momentum. Total commercial loans were up 4.3% and 9.1%, from March 31, 2026 and June 30, 2025, respectively. Commercial industrial lending was particularly strong, but the growth was well-rounded, with our commercial real estate and business banking teams also contributing to our success. In our Syracuse market, where Micron broke ground on its semiconductor campus earlier this year, we're seeing increased activity among industrial suppliers and contractors. We remain enthusiastic about the opportunities this $100 billion investment will create as the region evolves to support development and population growth. Turning to consumer lending, residential mortgage is gaining momentum amid what continues to be a tight housing market in upstate New York. On balance sheet, residential lending increased 1.5% and 2.2% from the end of the linked and year-ago quarters, respectively. Sold and serviced residential mortgages of $302 million were up 1.4% during the quarter and more than 7% year-over-year as we shift more production to our off-balance sheet service portfolio in support of fee income. While the spring and summer are typically more active home buying seasons, production also benefited from our talent bench as producers who have joined since the second half of 2025 continue to grow relationships. Originations were particularly strong in Rochester and Batavia, and both mortgage and home equity applications are up by double-digit rates year-over-year, supporting our positive outlook for the year. Consumer indirect loans, which are originated through a network of more than 360 new auto dealers across New York State, were down 2.1% from the end of the late quarter and 7.5% from the year-ago quarter. This reflects our continued discipline on spreads and prime credit mix. which has led us to allow runoff to outpace originations. Credit metrics remain solid in this line of business with recoveries supporting an improved net charge-off ratio for quarter two of 59 basis points for this portfolio. Given our year-to-date performance, we continue to target full-year 2026 loan growth of 5%. Investment securities were down from the comparable length in year-ago periods by about 9% and 2% respectively. The link quarter decline was primarily due to public deposit seasonality and short-term treasuries that served as collateral on municipal deposits in Q1. Period end deposits of $5.3 billion were down by a modest 0.7% from March 31st and up 2.8% from June 30, 2025. The link quarter variance largely reflects seasonality in our public deposit portfolio, which peaks in the first and third quarters of the year and connects with tax collection and state aid. both in each of our deposit categories, public, non-public, and reciprocal, contributed to the year-over-year increase, partially offset by a decrease in broker deposits. Our team remains highly focused on the retention and acquisition of core non-public deposits, and we continue to target low single-digit deposit growth for the full year. Now, my pleasure to turn the call over to Jack for additional details on our results and guidance. Thank you, and good morning, everyone.