Third Coast Bancshares, Inc.

Greetings, and welcome to the Third Coast Bank's second quarter 2026 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, Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Third Coast Bancshares' second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With me today is Bart Caraway, founder, chairman, president, and chief executive officer, John McWhorter, chief financial officer, and Audrey Spaulding, 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 investor section of our website at ir.thirdcoast.bank. There will also be a call replay available until July 30th, and more information on how to access these replay features was included in yesterday's earnings release. Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, July 23rd, 2026, and therefore you were 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 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 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 founder, chairman, president, and CEO, Mr. Bart Caraway. Bart?

Thank you, Natalie, and good morning to everyone. It was another strong quarter for Third Coast. We delivered a new record for EPS performance. continue to generate disciplined loan and deposit growth as projected, improve core profitability, and maintain solid credit performance. These results reflect the continued execution of the same priorities we have shared with investors since becoming a public company nearly five years ago. Disciplined growth, relationship-based funding, positive operating leverage, and consistent credit execution. The growth in record diluted earnings per share, tangible book value, and net interest income reinforces the core progress and core strategic priorities and further demonstrates the quality and durability of our earnings profile. The quarter reflected progress across each of the areas we focus on most. Namely, we generated strong loan growth while maintaining discipline underwriting and risk appropriate loan pricing standards and continue to project a robust and steady loan pipeline. We continue to expand and improve our deposit base, supporting both growth and profitability as evidenced by our 65 million in growth in DDAs. We've produced meaningful operating leverage with operating income growing faster than expenses, a consistent theme that has proven out Thank you for joining us. Sharpens our strategic focus on our core banking platforms while still allowing us to continue serving factoring clients through a strategic partnership and ongoing revenue sharing arrangement. Second, we continue to leverage our securitization capabilities as a key element of our broader balance sheet management strategy, closing our third securitization on July 15th. We now view these activities as a normal extension of our funding and capital management toolkit, and we expect future uses of them to support growth opportunities as conditions warrant. Third, and perhaps more importantly, we continue to attract top talent to our already exceptional team. As a talent magnet, It should not be a surprise that remarkable talent continues to seek us out. We added five experienced commercial banking professionals during the second quarter and expect to hire a similar number in the third quarter. We believe our ability to consistently attract talented bankers is one of the clearest indicators of the quality of our bank that we are building and bodes well for long-term growth potential. Overall, we believe the second quarter demonstrates our continued ability to grow revenue, improve profitability, maintain disciplined credit standards, all while investing in the future of Third Coast. With that, I'll turn it over to John to cover the financials.