Third Coast Bancshares, Inc.

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. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for Third Coast Bank Share's conference call and webcast, to review our first quarter 2024 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.thirdcoast.bank. There will also be a telephonic replay available until May 2nd, 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, April 25, 2024, and therefore you are advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of replay listening or transcript reading. In addition, the comments made by management during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meeting 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 annual report on Form 10-K that was filed on March 7, 2024, 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 were included in yesterday's earnings release, which can be found on the Third Coast website. Now I would like to turn the call over to Third Coast Chairman, President, and CEO, Mr. Bart Caraway. Bart?

Thanks, Natalie, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the TCBX First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. I'll begin with highlights from the quarter. John will cover profitability metrics, in more detail. Audrey will present the credit quality review. Then I will conclude with our outlook and expectations for the second quarter through the remainder of the year. As you can glean from the earnings release, Third Coast beat expectations in nearly every category with successive record quarterly profits attributed to a strong loan growth, enhanced operational efficiency, and successful execution of the company's expense optimization plan. We do expect these factors to continue driving consistent financial improvement as per our plan. In terms of cost savings initiatives, we continue to capitalize on automation, software enhancements, staffing adjustments, and workflow advances. Additionally, we have introduced a new 1% initiative to boost overall efficiencies, wherein we are encouraging every employee to suggest improvements. Altogether, we believe there is still opportunity to gain efficiency in operations, and it remains a high priority for the management team. Our focus on operational leverage has also benefited from strong loan growth of over $107 million in net new funds for the quarter, reflecting a trend of attracting high-quality customers. Deposit growth was also strong, resulting from initiatives implemented over the past year Nearly all business segments have exceeded their deposit goals. In particular, success in deposit acquisition by our commercial and specialty groups. Treasury services have also led to solid core account expansion, and kudos to our retail group and financial advisors for their significant contributions over the last year. I attribute our positive trends to a sound strategic plan, a skilled management team executing well, and a group of exceptional bankers aligned with stakeholder objectives. Additionally, it certainly helps that we operate in resilient and growing markets throughout Texas. We believe our first quarter results underscore the company's long-term ability to provide valuable, relevant services to our market and continues to prove out the value of our strategic model. With that, I'll turn it over to John for the company's profitability update.