Huntington Bancshares Incorporated

Greetings and welcome to the Huntington Bank Shares 2023 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A 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. I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Tim Sadabras, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, Operator. Welcome, everyone, and good morning. Copies of the slides we will be reviewing today can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website, www.huntington.com. As a reminder, this call is being recorded, and a replay will be available starting about one hour from the close of the call. Our presenters today are Steve Steinauer, Chairman, President, and CEO, and Zach Wasserman, Chief Financial Officer. Rich Pohle, Chief Credit Officer, will join us for the Q&A. Earnings documents, which include our forward-looking statements disclaimer and non-GAAP information, are available on the investor relations section of our website. With that, let me now turn it over to Steve.

Thanks, Tim. Good morning, everyone, and welcome. Thank you for joining the call today. We're pleased to announce our first quarter results, which Zach will detail later. Huntington is very well positioned. We operate a diversified franchise with disciplined risk management. Our approach to both our colleagues and customers is grounded in our purpose to make people's lives better, help businesses thrive, and strengthen the communities we serve. And during times like these, Huntington's purpose is evident in how we look out for each other and serve as a source of strength for our customers and communities. Now on to slide four. These are the key messages I want to highlight to you. First, we have one of the strongest deposit franchises of any regional bank. We have a diversified base of primary bank customer relationships, which has been built over many years supported by our fair play philosophy. We also have the leading percentage of insured deposits as of year end. Second, we maintain a robust liquidity position consistent with our longstanding approach to conservative risk management practices. Third, our capital base is solid and building. Common equity tier one has increased for three quarters in a row, and we intend to continue to build to the high end of our range. Fourth, our credit reserves are top tier. Credit quality continues to perform exceptionally well and remains a hallmark of our disciplined credit management. Fifth, we are dynamically managing through the current environment, bolstering capital and liquidity. We're also incrementally optimizing the balance sheet and loan growth while continuing to proactively manage the expense base. Finally, we are well positioned to operate through uncertainty with a focus on our long-term strategy and our commitment to top quartile returns. I believe Huntington is built to thrive during times like this and ultimately to benefit and to capture opportunities as they arise. Moments of market disruption present opportunities to take market share, to win new customers, and to hire great talent. We are confident in our strategy and strong position. Moving on to slide five, we enter this period of disruption in the best position the company has been since I've joined over a dozen years ago. The reputation our colleagues have created of best-in-class customer service results in customer confidence and trust in us. The 2023 J.D. Power Award for Customer Satisfaction reflects our colleagues' efforts. Grounded in our fair play philosophy, we continue to acquire and deepen primary bank relationships, resulting in our granular and diversified deposit base. For many years, we focused on gathering deposits that are sticky operating accounts and proactively placed larger deposits off balance sheet. We continue to invest across the franchise to drive deposit growth. We are also incrementally optimizing loan growth to generate the highest returns and ensure the capital we deploy is put to the highest and best use. And we remain focused on delivering the revenue synergies we previously shared, accelerating the growth of our fee businesses, and deepening our customer relationships. In regards to capital, CET1 increased 19 basis points from the prior quarter to 9.55%. And we plan to build capital to the high end of our range over the course of 2023. Our credit reserves are top tier in the peer group at 1.9%. We will continue to be proactive in our expense management. In the first quarter, we completed a number of actions to support our ongoing efficiency programs, such as the 31 branch consolidations, the voluntary retirement program, and our organizational realignment with reductions in personnel. And in addition to Operation Accelerate, we have a roadmap to deliver continued efficiencies going forward. Importantly, risk management is embedded within all our business lines. At Huntington, everyone owns risk, and we continue to operate within our aggregate moderate to low risk appetite. Finally, I want to reiterate, Huntington is built for times like this. We have a strong, well-diversified franchise with a distinctive brand and loyal customers. Our high quality deposit base, robust liquidity, and solid credit metrics are the direct result of focused and disciplined execution over many years. We have an experienced management team supported by highly engaged colleagues executing on our strategy. And as you know, management is collectively a top 10 shareholder and we are fully committed to driving top-tier performance and growing shareholder value. Zach, over to you to provide more detail on our financial performance.