Great Southern Bancorp, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Great Southern Bancorp third quarter 2025 earnings 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'll need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised, today's conference is being recorded. I would like to hand the conference over to your speaker today. Christina Maldonado, please go ahead.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Great Southern Bancorp. Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. Today, we'll be discussing the company's results for the quarter ending September 30th, 2025. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that during this call, forward-looking statements may be made regarding the company's future events and financial performance. These statements are subject to various factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. For a list of these factors, please refer to the forward-looking statements disclosure in the third quarter earnings release and other public filings. Joining me today are President and CEO Joe Turner and Chief Financial Officer Rex Copeland. I'll now turn the call over to Joe.

All right, thanks, Christina, and good afternoon to everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Our third quarter results reflect the continued strength and consistency of our core banking fundamentals and a solid earnings performance in what remains a competitive and dynamic environment. Core credit and operating results remain strong, supported by disciplined expense management, prudent loan underwriting, and a stable deposit base. We reported net income of $17.8 million for the quarter, or $1.56 per diluted common share. That was up from $16.5 million, or $1.41 in the same period a year ago. The year-over-year increase in net income primarily reflects improved net interest income no provision for credit losses, and continued management of non-interest expense. These results demonstrate our ability to deliver consistent profitability while carefully structuring the balance sheet and maintaining a conservative risk profile. Net interest income totaled $50.8 million for the third quarter, an increase of $2.8 million or 5.8% compared to the $48 million reported in the same period a year ago. Our annualized net interest margin improved to 372 from 342 a year ago, reflecting stable loan yield, disciplined asset liability management, and effective funding cost control in a highly competitive deposit environment. Core deposits held steady during the quarter, underscoring the strength of our customer relationships and the value of our community banking business. On the lending side, gross loans totaled $4.54 billion, which was a decline of $223 million or 4.7% from December 31, 2024. The decrease primarily reflects elevated commercial real estate and multifamily loan payoff, along with a reduction in outstanding construction loans as many projects were completed. Given our emphasis on balancing loan growth with appropriate pricing and loan structure, loan production in the quarter only partially offset the heightened payoff activity. Construction lending continues to show solid momentum with total unfunded construction commitments steady at approximately $600 million and monthly fundings of $30 to $40 million. We remain focused on maintaining sound underwriting standards and disciplined credit practices demonstrated through sound underwriting standards and disciplined credit practices, which have resulted in exceptional asset quality and negligible loan charge-offs. On the funding side, total deposits decreased $77.5 million, almost exclusively in the broker deposit area. The deposit market remains highly competitive with sustained rate pressure in both core and broker deposit segments. We are proactively managing this dynamic by balancing rate discipline with customer retention, choosing to prioritize certain funding sources over others at times. Future repricing opportunities will be closely monitored as market rates and deposit competition continue to evolve. At September 30, 2025, non-performing assets were $7.8 million, representing 0.14% of total assets and a $273,000 decrease from June 30, 2025. We did not record provision for credit losses on outstanding loans in the third quarter of 2025, These results highlight the continued strength of our loan portfolio and judicious risk management practices. Expense management remains a top priority as well. Non-interest expense for the third quarter of 2025 was $36.1 million, up from $33.7 million in the year-ago quarter. The year-over-year increase primarily was a result of higher legal and professional fees, upgrades in our core technology and upgrades in our core technology system. In the third quarter of 2025, we achieved an efficiency ratio of 62.45%. As we look ahead to the remainder of 2025, we remain focused on maintaining strong positions related to credit quality, capital, and liquidity. Even amidst ongoing competition and elevated funding costs, we are committed to delivering consistent long-term value for our shareholders. Let me now turn the call over to Rex Copeland for a detailed discussion of our financials.