TrustCo Bank Corp NY

Good day and welcome to the Trusco Bank Corp earning call and webcast. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero on your telephone keypad. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star and then one. To withdraw your question, you may press star and two. Before proceeding, we would like to mention that the presentation may contain forward-looking information about Trosco Bank Corp New York. That is intended to be covered by the safe harbour and forward-looking statements provided by the private securities litigation reformat of 1995. Actual results and trends could differ materially from those set forth in such statements due to the variation risks. Uncertainties and other factors, more detailed information about these and other risk factors can be found in our press release that preceded this call and in the risk factors and forward-looking statement section of our annual report on form 10k and as an update by our quarterly reports on form 10q the statements are valid only as a date hereof and the company's disclaimer any obligations to update this information except as may be required by applicable law. Today's presentation contains non-GAAP financial measures, the reconciliation of which measures to the most comparable GAAP figures are included in our earnings press release, which is available under Investor regulations tab of our website at trustcobank.com. Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference call over to Mr. Robert J. McCormick, Chairman, President, and CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. As the host said, I'm Robert McCormick, President of the bank. Thank you for joining us this morning to hear a little more about our results. We had a very good year at the bank in 2021. Our net income was $61.5 million, up over 17% from the prior year, and an all-time record for our company. Loans were up just under $200 million to $4.4 billion, which is also an all-time high. Our performance ratios all showed improvement over prior periods. Non-performing loans to total loans and total assets were 0.42%. and a loan loss reserve amounting to 1% of loans. We are now operating under CECL, and Mike Ozemek will have detail on that in his presentation. about $231 million to about $5.3 billion. Interest expense continued to drop in keeping with the market and growth in core accounts with less dependence on time deposits. We continue to have a large investment portfolio with a tremendous cash position. We have done this in anticipation of a changing rate environment. Our financial services area continues their good performance with over $1 billion under management. ROA and ROE both showed improvement year over year. We increased our cash dividend, executed on a reverse stock split, and stayed active in our buyback program. We also increased our capital ratios and shareholders' equity. We continue to take a full-service, essential approach while operating under varying COVID protocols. We closed one branch and opened one in Palm Coast, Florida. As I think you all know, Florida has become a large part of our business. We are taking operation for us to give a brief update. After Eric, he will turn it over to Michael Ozemak for details on the numbers, and then Scott Salvador will break down loans, leaving us time for some questions. As we begin 2022, our 120th year, by the way, we do so with optimism. We are pleased with 2021, but look forward to unaware of 2022. Eric? Thanks, Rob.

As this is my first time on the call, I thought I would briefly recap some Florida facts and milestones. Trusco's Florida branch network of 53 offices encompasses 15 counties. 37 of the offices are within Central Florida. The remainder are split between the East Coast, north of South Florida, and the West Coast around the Sarasota area. All 53 locations were opened de novo. As of 12-31-19, Florida loans outstanding, exceeded $1 billion for the first time. As of 12-31-20, deposits followed suit, ending the year over $1 billion as well. Poll deposits in Florida ended 2021 up for the year, despite significant seeding maturities, which rolled over into core savings and money market accounts. Taking advantage of more favorable Florida labor market, Trusco moved its Deposit Operations Department to Florida in 2021. Operations joins our call center, which relocated from New York to Florida a few years earlier. Deposit Operations is located at our Florida headquarters in Longwood, Florida. Among our 53 offices in Florida is our newest office, which opened in late September. Palm Coast is our first office in Flagler County on the East Coast and is adjacent to existing offices in Volusia County. Finally, we recently signed a lease to open a loan office in Naples, Florida. Next is Mike Ozemek to discuss the numbers.