Fulton Financial Corporation

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Fulton Financial first quarter 2026 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 that 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 first speaker today, Pat Lafferty, Investor Relations Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thanks for joining us for Fulton Financial's conference call and webcast to discuss our earnings for the first quarter ending March 31st, 2026. Your host for today's conference call is Kurt Myers, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President. Joining Kurt 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 events and 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 27 through 34 of today's presentation for a reconciliation of those non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures. Now, I would like to turn the call over to your host, Kurt Myers.

Well, thanks, Pat, and good morning, everyone. For today's call, I'll provide a few high-level observations and some operating highlights for the first quarter of 2026. Then Rick will review our financial results in more detail and discuss our outlook for the remainder of the year. After our prepared remarks, we'll be happy to take any questions you may have. We are pleased with our start to the year. The first quarter reflects the strength of our foundation and the consistent execution of our strategy. We made continued progress against our strategic priorities by growing the company, delivering effectively, and operating with excellence. As a result, we are effectively serving all of our stakeholders. We've maintained a clear focus on long-term value creation, and the benefits of our community banking model are evident in our performance. Our teams across the organization remain focused on serving customers and operating efficiently in a dynamic environment. From a performance standpoint, first quarter operating earnings were $0.55 per diluted share. Profitability remained strong, with an operating return on average assets of 1.30%, and an operating return on tangible common equity of 14.76%. These results reflect solid execution across the business, disciplined balance sheet management, and effective capital deployment as we repurchase shares while growing tangible book value. During the quarter, strong revenue generation and prudent expense management drove positive operating leverage, demonstrating the underlying earnings power of our business model. This execution resulted in an improvement in our efficiency ratio to 56.7% and supported strong pre-provision net revenue performance, increasing $9.2 million linked quarter to $141 million. Our balance sheet and liquidity position give us the flexibility to meet customer demand and proactively invest in growth opportunities. Our continued investment in talent and capabilities remain central to our strategy, Targeted hiring and selective team lifts continue to enhance our growth efforts as these new team members become productive and help expand pipelines. These investments are translating into stronger activity, higher productivity, and deeper client engagement. Building our overall team is aligned with our long-term growth objectives. Loan activity during the quarter was solid, led primarily by growth in commercial mortgage, including an opportunistic purchase of an in-market commercial loan portfolio. That growth was partially offset by a decline in construction balances, as well as the continued planned runoff of the indirect auto portfolio. Most importantly, origination activity remains healthy, pipelines continue to build, and overall demand fundamentals remain constructive. Commercial loan origination increased meaningfully in 2025, and early 2026 origination is running above prior year levels. Relationship manager productivity has further improved year over year, resulting in increased customer engagement and enhanced sales results. Given these trends, we believe we are well positioned to continue generating disciplined, smart growth. On the funding side, deposit trends were also positive, reflecting strong engagement in each segment of our customer base, supported by effective sales execution and disciplined pricing. Our teams continue to focus on building deeper, meaningful relationships, which is driving results and further improving engagement. This momentum reflects the strength of our relationship banking approach and the continued impact of our customer experience initiatives. We remain focused on maintaining a balanced funding profile while carefully managing deposit costs in a highly competitive environment. Non-interest income was steady during the quarter and again represented more than 20% of total revenue. highlighting the benefits of our diversified business model. Revenue growth in wealth management was partially offset by normal seasonal declines in other fee categories. On a year-over-year basis, fee income grew more than 9% across all businesses compared to the first quarter of 2025. This was led by a 12% increase in wealth management. From an expense standpoint, we remain focused on cost discipline. Expense levels and underlying trends were consistent with our operating plans as we continue to balance targeted investments with improved efficiency across the organization. Credit performance remained stable and was relatively in line with last quarter. Non-performing assets improved to 55 basis points of total assets from 58 basis points in the fourth quarter. We are mindful of the broader landscape including ongoing geopolitical developments and their potential impact on economic conditions, customer sentiment, and market volatility. These dynamics reinforce the importance of disciplined, balanced, and prudent credit decision-making as we move throughout the year. We are also pleased to close the acquisition of Blue Foundry Bancorp on April 1st. This marks an exciting milestone as we bring together two organizations, Our focus is on thoughtful integration, supporting customers, aligning teams, and building on the shared strength of our combined franchise. Integration planning is progressing well, and we look forward to completing these efforts later this summer. As we look ahead, our priorities remain unchanged. We will continue to focus on profitable growth, prudent risk management, and disciplined capital allocation while delivering value for our customers team members, and our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rick to review our first quarter financial results in a little more detail.