RBB Bancorp

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the RBB Bancorp conference call for the third quarter 2021. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, you will have an opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session. You may register to ask a question at any time by pressing the star and 1 on your touchtone phone. Please note that today's event is being recorded, and I will be standing by should you need any assistance. I would now like to turn the conference over to Catherine Way.

Thank you. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss RBB Bancorp's financial results for the third quarter of 2021. With me today from management are President and CEO Alan Tian, EVP and Chief Financial Officer David Morris, EVP and Chief Credit Officer Jeffrey Yeh, EVP and Chief Strategy Officer Simon Peng, EVP and Chief Lending Officer Tammy Fung. Management will provide a brief summary of the results, which can be found in the earnings press release that is available on our investor relations website, and then we'll open the call to your questions. During this conference call, statements made by management may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are based upon specific assumptions that may or may not prove correct. Forward-looking statements are also subject to known and unknown risk and uncertainties and other factors relating to RBB Bancorp's operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of the company. For a detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to the documents the company has filed with the SEC. If any of these uncertainties materialize or any of these assumptions prove incorrect, RBV Bancorp's results could differ materially from its expectations as set forth in the site statement. The company assumes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements unless required. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Alan. Alan?

Thank you, Catherine. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We are pleased to report another quarter of record earnings, strong loan growth, and improving performance ratios. Loan growth during the third quarter was driven by nationwide originations of construction and commercial real estate loans. We were pleased with the geographic diversity of loan originations and believe it validates our strategy of expansion into Asian American communities across the United States. Higher loan balances and stable loan yields contributed to an increase in interest income. Continued focus on our cost of deposits further reduced our interest expense, resulting in record net interest income during the quarter. Net interest income benefited from a $1.8 million CDFI grant that was awarded to the bank to help address the economic impacts of COVID-19 in distressed and underserved communities. We are proud to have received this grant and believe it is a testament to our focus on community developments. Our net interest margin remained stable from the previous quarter, but was down modestly from a year prior due to excess liquidities. Despite the excess liquidities, ROA and ROE increased from last quarter and last year when they were impacted by effects of pandemic. We remain well positioned to pursue additional organic and strategic growth opportunities and look forward to continuing to enhance long-term shareholders' value. With that, I will turn the call over to David to discuss some of the quarter's financial highlights before opening up the call for questions. David?