Third Coast Bancshares, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Third Coast Bank fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief 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. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Natalie Hairston with Dennard Lasker Investor Relations. Thank you, Natalie. You may begin.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for Third Coast Bank Shares conference call and webcast to review our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2022 results. With me today is Bart Carraway, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, John McWhorter, Chief Financial Officer, and Audrey Duncan, Chief Credit Officer. First, a few housekeeping items. There will be a replay of today's call, and it will be available by webcast on the Investors section of our website. at ir.tcbssb.com. There will also be a telephonic replay available until February 3rd, 2023, and more information on how to access these replay features was included in yesterday's earnings release. Please note that the information reported on this call speaks only as of today, January 27th, 2023, and therefore you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay listening or transcript reading. In addition, the comments made by management during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management. However, various risks, uncertainties, and contingencies could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the statements made by management. The listener or reader is encouraged to read the company's prospectus, or the annual report on Form 10-K that was filed on March 17, 2022, to better understand those risks, uncertainties, and contingencies. The comments made today will also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in yesterday's earnings release, which can be found on the Third Coast website. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Third Coast Chairman and President and CEO, Mr. Bart Carraway. Bart?

Thanks Natalie, and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I'll begin by highlighting significant events for the full year and fourth quarter. John will then provide a more detailed financial review, and Audrey will give a credit update. Then, before we take your questions, I'll return to discuss our outlook. Third Coast had a remarkable first full year as a public company. Throughout 2022, we were successful in executing the company's business strategy both financially and operationally. Financially speaking, here are some highlights. Third Coast reported record-level growth of over 50% in gross loans, deposits, and total assets during 2022 when compared to 2021. Specifically, gross loans increased to $3.1 billion, our best year yet. We believe the steps taken during 2022 to grow the loan portfolio have set up for a strong foundation for future periods. Deposits also reached record levels, increasing to 3.2 billion, fueled by extremely strong business development efforts from our newly hired and existing lenders. And total assets grew to 3.8 billion, despite the changing economic conditions and aggressive interest rate hikes. Likewise, we reported excellent fourth quarter results. We exceeded internal expectations on net interest margin and return on assets and net income. Asset quality remained strong, demonstrated by overall excellent asset quality ratios and metrics. And we significantly increased liquidity at year end with strong deposit growth. From an operational perspective, we successfully opened four new branch locations in Georgetown, Fort Worth, Kingwood, and San Antonio, Texas, bringing our total to 16. The company added incredible bench strength in operations, risk, and compliance with the additions of Michael Deckert as Chief Operations Officer and Vicki Alexander as Chief Risk and Compliance Officer. And we promoted top talent internally with a promotion of Bill Babora to Chief Banking Officer. Together with other Third Coast leaders, The extensive experience and deep industry knowledge of our management team highlights the bank's ability to drive significant efficiencies as we continue to scale operations, compliance, and commercial banking. The bank advanced its commitment to environmental, social, and governance with campaigns geared towards e-statements adoption and sustainable corporate habits. Third Coast also commemorated Arbor Day by planting over 340 trees to honor each of our talented employees. Finally, Third Coast furthered its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by providing unconscious bias training for managers and staff, launching a women's and banking employee resource group, and establishing the bank's diversity council. Third Coast's 2022 performance is the direct result of the bank's talented staff and experienced leaders, each of whom are dedicated to and engaged in the company's strategic vision. In addition to our employees, I'd like to take a moment to sincerely thank everyone involved with the bank's continued success, especially the bank's customers, investors, directors, and management. Third Coast pledges to give future and existing clients the personal service they deserve while assuring our commitment to maintain exceptional asset quality. With that, I'll turn over the call to John for more detailed financial review. John?