Fulton Financial Corporation

Welcome to the Fulton Financial second quarter 2025 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Matt Joswak, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thanks for joining us for Fulton Financial's conference call and webcast to discuss our earnings for the second quarter ending June 30, 2025. Your host for today's conference call is Kurt Myers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Joining her is Rick Kramer, Chief Financial Officer. Our comments today will refer to the financial information and related slide presentation included with our earnings announcement, which we released yesterday afternoon. These documents can be found on our website at FULT.com by clicking on investor relations and then on news. The slides can also be found on the presentations page under investor relations on our website. On this call, representatives of Fulton may make forward-looking statements with respect to Fulton's financial condition, results of operations, and business. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, and actual results could differ materially. Please refer to the Safe Harbor Statement on forward-looking statements in our earnings release and on slide two of today's presentation for additional information regarding these risks, uncertainties, and other factors. Fulton undertakes no obligation other than as required by law to update or revise any forward-looking statements. In discussing Fulton's performance, representatives of Fulton may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the supplemental financial information included with Fulton's earnings announcement released yesterday and slides 16 through 22 of today's presentation for reconciliation of those non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures. Now I'd like to turn the call over to your host, Kurt Myers.

Well, thanks, Matt, and good morning, everyone. For today's call, I'll be providing a few high-level comments as well as some operating highlights for the quarter. Then Rick will review our financial results in more detail and discuss updates to our 2025 operating guidance. After our prepared remarks, we'll be happy to take any questions you may have. We are pleased with our strong second quarter operating earnings. Our community banking strategy continues to attract and retain valuable customers. We are delivering great customer outcomes, which translate into strong results for our shareholders. We are also proud to reinvest in our communities, making a positive impact and changing lives for the better. This impact is made clear by the many stories in our corporate social responsibility report, which we released in June, and you can find on our investor relations website. So let me turn to the numbers. Operating earnings of $100.6 million, or $0.55 per share, represents a $0.03 linked quarter increase and a record for the company. These results demonstrate the impact of consistent positive operating leverage while maintaining a strong balance sheet. Total revenue increased linked quarter as we delivered growth in net interest income and fee income. Effective expense management continues to contribute nicely to our overall profitability as well. Combining those positive trends, our quarterly efficiency ratio was 57.1%, our operating return on average assets increased to 1.3%, and operating return on average tangible common equity increased to 16.26%. With these results, we were able to deliver our first $100 million operating net income quarter in company history. During the quarter, we were opportunistic and repurchased shares while growing tangible book value per share 9.5% on a linked quarter annualized basis. Our strong performance, disciplined approach to balance sheet management, diversified business model, and strong liquidity and capital positioned the company for continued success. Now let me provide a few more comments on the quarter. Total loans grew $150 million, or 2.5%, as originations were solid. This growth was more than offset the strategic runoff of our indirect auto portfolio and managed reductions in certain commercial loans. Based on our year-to-date performance and our origination trends, we continue to expect low single-digit loan growth for the year. Turning to deposits, we remain focused on balancing long-term deposit growth with prudent interest cost management. During the quarter, we saw a modest decline in balances, largely due to seasonal trends. Based on new customer acquisition and overall customer sentiment, we continue to be positioned for long-term deposit growth. Turning to the income statement, Revenue growth was driven by a strong non-interest margin and a solid linked quarter increase in non-interest income. All non-interest income categories grew linked quarter. Wealth management hit an all-time high in quarterly revenue. We're adding team members and continuing to grow our customer base. Commercial banking fees also hit an all-time high as customer activity continues to drive growth. Consumer banking and our residential mortgage business delivered solid linked quarter growth as well. Overall, our non-interest income businesses continue to make a consistent and meaningful contribution to overall revenue, and we have a solid strategy for continued growth. Lastly, let me touch on credit. Overall, we remain cautious given general economic and geopolitical uncertainty. However, we continue to see steady performance in our portfolio. Charge-offs and our provision expense were down one quarter. We experienced an uptick in non-accrual loans. However, these balances remain in line with recent periods. Overall, our coverage ratio remains appropriate given our cautious outlook. Now I'll turn the call over to Rick to discuss the details of our financial results and provide comments on our 2025 operating guidance in a little more detail.