Hope Bancorp, Inc.

Good day and welcome to the HOPE Bancorp 2025 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Maxime Olivan, Strategic Finance Manager. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Bailey. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Hope Bancorp Investor Conference Call for the third quarter of 2025. As usual, we'll be using a slide presentation to accompany our discussion this morning. which is available in the Presentations page of our Investor Relations website. Beginning on slide two, let me start with a brief statement regarding forward-looking remarks. The call today contains forward-looking projections regarding the future financial performance of the company and future events. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially. Hope Bank Corp pursues new obligation to revise any forward-looking projections that may be made on today's call. In addition, some of the information referenced on this call today are non-GAAP financial measures. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures, please refer to the company's filings with the SEC, as well as the safe harbor statements in our press release issued this morning. We have allotted one hour for this call. Presenting from the management side today will be Kevin Kim, Polk Bank Works Chairman, President, and CEO, and Juliana Beliska, our Chief Financial Officer. Peter Koh, our Chief Operating Officer, is also here with us as usual and will be available for the Q&A session. With that, let me turn the call over to Kevin Kim. Kevin?

Thank you, Maxime. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Let us begin on slide three with a brief overview of the quarter. The third quarter of 2025 was a very positive one for Bank of Hope, marked by continued progress across our strategic priorities to improve profitability and reflecting solid execution across the organization. Improvement in asset quality was a key highlight, as was loan growth across all our major loan segments. Throughout the year, we have been making sustained investment in talent to support our growth, and I'm very pleased with the progress we have made so far. Before we dive into this quarter's results, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to all the bankers at Bank of Hope, for their unwavering dedication and commitment to excellence. Their hard work is the driving force behind our success, and I'm incredibly proud of what we are building together. And now, on to a discussion of our results. Net income for the third quarter of 2025 totaled $31 million, up 28 percent year-over-year, from $24 million in the year-ago quarter, and off from a net loss of $28 million in the second quarter. Second quarter results were impacted by elevated notable items related to a securities portfolio repositioning, the close of the territorial Bancorp acquisition on April 2nd, and impact from a California state tax law change. Excluding notable items, third quarter 2025 net income of $32 million was up 29% from net income of $24.5 million in the second quarter of 2025. In the third quarter, we saw loan growth across all our major loan portfolio segments of CNI, commercial real estate, and residential mortgage. Our net interest margin expanded 20 basis points, which was our best linked quarter expansion since 2012. And importantly, our asset quality improved, led by our disciplined approach to credit management, which resulted in a 57 percent reduction in net charge-ups and noticeable improvement in classified and special mention loans, including a 17 percent reduction in CNI-criticized loans. Moving on to slide four, All our capital ratios increased quarter over quarter and remain well above the requirements for well-capitalized financial institutions, providing us with a healthy cushion to support growth and navigate an evolving macroeconomic environment. Our board of directors declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.14 per share, payable on November 21st, to stockholders of record as of November 7, 2025. Continuing to slide five, we continue to be focused on strengthening our deposit franchise, deepening primary banking relationships with our customers, and lowering deposit costs through ongoing optimization of our deposit mix and disciplined pricing. As of September 30, 2025, Deposits totaled $15.8 billion, reflecting a 1% decrease from $15.9 billion as of June 30th, primarily driven by a $139.5 million reduction in broker deposits, partially offset by growth in customer deposits. Non-interest-bearing deposits totaled $3.5 billion as of September 30th, up 1%, quarter of a quarter. Moving on to slide six, at September 30th, 2025, gross loans, including health for sale, totaled $14.6 billion, up 1.2 percent quarter of a quarter, equivalent to 5 percent annualized, with growth across all our major loan segments. Year over year, production has been strengthening. while maintaining disciplined underwriting and pricing standards. Loan growth this quarter also benefited from lower levels of payoffs and paydowns. Across the organization, we have been investing in talent to drive sustainable, prudent growth and enhance our corporate and commercial banking capabilities. As a bank, we are focused on driving business development and deepening client relationships to expand market presence. With that, I will ask Juliana to provide additional details on our financial performance for the third quarter. Juliana?