RBB Bancorp

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the RBB Bancorp first quarter 2023 earnings call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode, and we will open the floor for your questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Catherine Way, Investor Relations Officer at RBB Bancorp. Ma'am, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Thank you. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss RBB Bancorp's financial results for the first quarter of 2023. With me today are President and Chief Executive Officer David Morris, Chief Financial Officer Alex Coe, Chief Credit Officer Jeffrey Yeh, Chief Administrative Officer Gary Pan, and Chief Risk Officer Vincent Luiz. David and Alex will briefly summarize the results, which can be found in the earnings press release that is available on our Investor Relations website. and then we'll open up 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 Legislation 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 risks 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, RBB Bancorp's results could differ materially from its expectations as set forth in these statements. The company assumes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements unless required by law. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to David Morris. David?

Thank you, Catherine. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Despite the industry challenges of the first quarter, Royal Business Bank continued to make progress on the organizational realignment we began a year ago. Since the start of the year, we brought on Alex Koh as our new Chief Financial Officer. And we recently added Bob Franco and Scott Palofkov to the Board of Directors. We believe these actions, taken after many productive discussions with our shareholders, will allow us to turn the page on the events of last year and build shareholder value. In a quarter which saw multiple bank failures, we also increased our deposits. And for that, we have our we have our loyal customers to thank. We work every day to serve this country's vibrant Chinese-American community, and it is gratifying to see the strength of those relationships in a time of stress. I'd like to take a moment to discuss our strategic priorities for 2023 before handing it over to Alex. First, we are focused on resolving all outstanding matters related to the events of last year. I can assure you that management and the Board are focused on putting these events and the related expenses behind us. Second, we are focused on liquidity and intend to reduce our leverage this year. As a precaution following the bank failures in March, we increased our time deposit financing to ensure we had sufficient liquidity on hand. We expect we will maintain a higher level of liquidity and plan to reduce the loan-to-deposit ratio to 95% by the end of the year. Given the volatility in the market and the economic uncertainty, we believe this is the best strategy to protect long-term shareholder value. Third, we intend to focus on supporting core existing customer relationships. Prioritizing these relationships will allow us to reduce our leveraged while enhancing our deposit franchise. With that, I am pleased to hand it over to Alex, who will discuss the financial results before we open the call up to questions. Alex?