Hancock Whitney Corporation

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Hancock Whitney Corporation's fourth quarter

with the earnings release and presentation and in the company's most recent 10K and 10Q, including the risks and uncertainties identified therein. You should keep in mind that any forward-looking statements made by Hancock Whitney speak only as of the date on which they were made. As everyone understands, the current economic environment is rapidly evolving and changing. Hancock Whitney's ability to accurately project results or predict the effects of future plans or strategies or predict market or economic developments is inherently limited. We believe that the expectations reflected or implied by any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, but are not guarantees of performance or results. And our actual results and performance could differ materially from those set forth in our forward-looking statements. Hancock Whitney undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Some of the remarks contain non-GAAP financial measures. You can find reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures in our earnings release and financial tables. The presentation slides included in our 8K are also posted with the conference call webcast link on the investor relations website. We will reference some of these slides in today's call. Participating in today's call are John Harrison, President and CEO, Mike Ackery, CFO, Chris Saluca, Chief Credit Officer, and Shane Loper, Chief Operating Officer. I will now turn the call over to John Harrison.

Thank you, Catherine. Happy New Year to everyone, and thank you for joining us today. The fourth quarter of 2025 was a strong finish to a remarkable year. We saw year-over-year improvement in EPS of 8%, PPNR growth of 6% and tangible book value per share increased 12%. As we look forward to 2026, we remain focused on growing our balance sheet and continuing to improve profitability. As part of our multi-year organic growth plan, we expect to hire up to 50 additional revenue generating associates this year. Additional offensive players will meaningfully support growth targets while improving profitability through a focus on full relationship clients. We are pleased to announce today that we completed a bond portfolio restructuring last week, which is detailed on slide seven of the investor deck. On an annual basis, we expect the restructuring exercise to benefit NIM by seven basis points, and EPS will improve 23 cents per share. Mike will give more details on the restructuring in his remarks. We provided guidance on page 22 for what we believe will be a very successful new year. This guidance reflects our organic growth benefits as well as impact from the bond portfolio restructuring. Now for a few notes on the fourth quarter, we had another quarter of very solid earnings with an ROA of 1.41% and an efficiency ratio under 55%. Fee income growth again continued this quarter and expenses remained well managed, including thoughtful investments supporting revenue generating activities. Net interest income continued to grow as we reduced the cost of funds and enjoyed higher security yields. NEM was relatively flat down one basis point from prior quarter as a decline in loan yield outpaced our higher yield on securities and lower cost of funds. Loans grew 362 million or 6% annualized. As shown on slide 11 of the investor deck, our production was quite strong. Our increase in production this quarter more than offset an increase in prepayments which produced a net growth of mid-single digits. With the investments we're making into new revenue producers, we expect this trend to continue and loan growth in 26 will be mid-single digits compared to the previous year-end. Deposits were up $620 million, or 9% annualized, largely driven by seasonal activity in public fund DBA and interest-bearing accounts, which increased $417 million. As a reminder, we usually experience seasonal public fund outflows in the first quarter of each year. Our interest-bearing transaction balances were up 223 million, with higher balances driven by competitive products and pricing. Retail time deposits decreased 90 million due to maturities during the quarter, and DDA balances were up 70 million, inclusive of a $191 million increase in public fund DDAs. DDA mix ended the quarter at a strong 35%. We expect our investments in financial centers and revenue producers will support our guidance for deposits, which we anticipate will increase low single digits from 2025 levels. As previously announced, we fully exhausted our share buyback authority last quarter, which impacted capital ratios. Despite enhanced repurchase volume, we ended the quarter with TCE a little over 10% and a common equity tier one ratio of 13.66%. Our board approved a new 5% buyback plan that will be effective through the end of 26. We are very optimistic as we look forward to the coming year. Our work over the past several years has resulted in solid capital levels, a robust allowance for credit losses, superior profitability, ample liquidity, benign asset quality, and now positive trends in balance sheet growth. We are excited for the opportunities in the coming year and believe we are positioned well for a successful and growing 2026. Lastly, I would like to introduce you all to President of Hancock Whitney Bank and Chief Operating Officer Shane Loper. He will be joining us on our earnings calls going forward. With that, I'll invite Mike to add additional comments.