MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Midwest Corporate's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be open for questions with instructions to follow at that time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Barry Ray, Chief Financial Officer of Midwest One Financial Group.

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We appreciate your participation in our earnings conference call this morning. With me here on the call are Chip Reeves, our Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Devasher, our President and Chief Operating Officer, and Gary Sims, our Chief Credit Officer. Following the conclusion of today's conference, a replay of this call will be available on our website. Additionally, a slide deck to complement today's presentation is available on the investor relations section of our website. Before we begin, let me remind everyone on the call that this presentation contains forward-looking statements relating to the financial condition, results of operations, and business of Midwest One Financial Group Inc. Forward-looking statements generally include words such as believes, expects, anticipates, and other similar expressions. Actual results could differ materially from those indicated. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are interest rates, changes in the mix of the company's business, competitive pressures, general economic conditions, and the risk factors detailed in the company's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Midwest One Financial Group, Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this presentation. I would now like to turn the call over to Chip.

Thank you, Barry. Good morning, and we truly appreciate everyone joining for this quarter's call. Today, I'll provide a high-level overview of our fourth quarter results. as well as highlights regarding the continued execution of our strategic initiatives. Len will provide an update on our lines of business, and Barry will conclude with a more detailed review of the fourth quarter and the impact of October's balance sheet repositioning. We're very pleased with our fourth quarter results, which exhibited the dramatic impact of the bond portfolio repositioning and the paydown of higher-cost borrowings. Those actions, combined with lower deposit costs, drove a 92 basis point improvement in our net interest margin, leading to a 30% quarter-over-quarter increase in net interest income. This, along with continued focus on our strategic initiatives, led to net income of $16.3 million and a return on average assets of 1.03%. Turning to the continued execution of our strategic initiatives, our premium deposit franchise showed its strength with total deposits increasing 2% compared to the link quarter. And importantly, non-interest-bearing deposits grew 4% on a link quarter basis, aided by our year-long investments in treasury management. In April of 2023, we laid out a strategic plan with emphasis on driving wealth management and establishing an SBA vertical. The results of these initiatives are seen in our fourth quarter and full-year financial results, which Len will discuss further in his comments. For the quarter, loan growth was flat, primarily due to elevated payoffs, many of which were loan resolutions, and you see the classified assets decreased substantially. We're pleased with our 2024 asset quality metrics and remain focused on problem loan resolutions while we continue with our disciplined growth strategy. Thank you to our team members who have been resolute in the transformation of Midwest One and in their commitment to our customers. Together, we've positioned the bank to become a consistent, high-performing company, and we look forward to the opportunities in 2025 and beyond. Now I'll turn the call over to Len.