RBB Bancorp

Greetings and welcome to the RBB Bancorp fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode and a question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Ms. Rebecca Rico. Mom, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Ollie. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss RBD Bankrupt's results for the fourth quarter of 2024. With me today are Johnny Lee, David Morris, Lynn Hopkins, and Jeffrey Yeh. David, Johnny, and Lynn will briefly summarize the results, which can be found in the earnings press release and investor presentation that are available on our investor relations website, and then we'll open up the call to your questions. I would ask that everyone please refer to the disclaimer regarding forwarded statements in the investor presentation and company SEC filings. Now I'd like to turn the call over to RBB Bank Works Chief Executive Officer David Morris. David?

Thank you, Rebecca. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. First, as a bank headquartered in Los Angeles, it's important to acknowledge the tremendous devastation and impact to many Southern California communities due to the wildfires. We are proud of our team's effort to support the affected communities and are committed to assisting with the long recovery process. We've partnered with nonprofit organizations, serving low to moderate income communities, collecting donated supplies in our branches, and donated $30,000 to provide essential services to affected families. While many in Southern California have been impacted by the fires, we are grateful our Royal Business Bank team is safe and we're not aware of any significant exposure to the bank's loan portfolio or the bank's operations. We reported fourth quarter net income of $4.4 million or $0.25 per share. The decrease in earnings compared to the prior quarter relates mostly to credit which we are actively addressing and we'll discuss in detail on today's call. On a more positive note, the net interest margin increased by eight basis points due primarily to a 33 basis points decline in the cost of interest-bearing deposits, which was a welcome reversal to an extended period of increases. Loan balances declined in the fourth quarter But as Johnny will explain, we are confident that growth will resume in the coming quarters. Deposits declined slightly from the last quarter, but we did see a $20 million increase in non-interest-bearing deposits. Finally, before I hand it over to Johnny, I'd like to congratulate him on his new role as President and Chief Executive Officer of RBD, Royal Business Bank. I am confident that the bank is well positioned to succeed under his leadership. And while I look forward to retirement, I will remain on the board of directors of both RBB Bancorp and Royal Business Bank, where I will continue to offer my support to Johnny and the rest of the team. Johnny?