Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Q4 2021 Washington Trust Bancorp Incorporated conference call. My name is Juan and I will be your operator today. If participants need assistance during the call at any time, please press staff followed by number zero. Participants interested in asking a question at the end of the call should press staff followed by number one to join the queue. Today's call is being recorded. And now, I will turn the call over to Elizabeth B. Eckel, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing and Corporate Communications Officer. Ms. Eckel, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Washington Trust Bancorp Inc.' 's 2021 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Conference Call. Joining us for today's call are members of Washington Trust Executive Team, Matt Handy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Gims, President and Chief Operating Officer, Ron Osberg, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and Bill Ray, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer. This presentation may contain forward-looking statements and the actual results could differ materially from what is discussed on today's call. Our complete safe harbor statement is contained in our earnings press release, which was issued yesterday, and another document filed with the SEC. These materials and other public filings are available on our investor relations website at ir.washtrust.com. Washington Trust trades on NASDAQ under the symbol WASH. I'm now pleased to introduce the host of today's call, Washington Trust Chairman and CEO, Ned Handy.

Thank you, Beth. Good morning, all, and thank you for joining our fourth quarter call. We do appreciate your time and continued interest in Washington Trust. This morning, I'll provide an overview of our fourth quarter highlights, and then Ron Osberg will review our financial performance. After our prepared remarks, Mark Gimm and Bill Ray will join us to answer any questions you may have about the quarter. I'm pleased to report that Washington Trust posted strong fourth quarter results with net income of $20.2 million, or $1.15 per diluted share, compared with $18.8 million, or $1.07 per diluted share in the prior quarter. In the quarter, we hit record highs in wealth management revenues, assets under management, and total in-market deposits. Ron will provide more detail. For the full year, we generated net income of $76.9 million, or $4.39 per diluted share. Once again, this quarter, we were well served by the diversity of our revenue sources and our commitment to strong credit practices, which have helped to minimize potential costs associated with the pandemic. Our strong brand positioning in the Rhode Island market supports moderate branch expansion, along with investment in digital capabilities and access points. We have commenced construction of our new branch in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Our team has done an exemplary job of managing through the pandemic, keeping the branches open and staffed and safe for our customers. In 2021, we grew in-market deposits by $678 million, or 18%. Fourth quarter mortgage lending activity remained robust as we continued to take advantage of low rates and the strong markets in which we operate. Full year mortgage originations reached a record high of $1.69 billion. At year end, our wealth management division's assets under administration stood at a record $7.8 billion, and revenues reached a record high. In the quarter, we rebranded and restructured our Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut wealth management offices. They now operate under one unified name, Washington Trust Wealth Management. Washington Trust has built one of New England's premier boutique advisory groups through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions, and this will better position our wealth management group for future growth. As a collaborative organization, we are able to offer clients Washington Trust's complete resources to help them manage their wealth, achieve their financial planning goals, build a legacy, and meet their banking and borrowing needs. As part of the rebrand, we launched an enhanced wealth management website and comprehensive marketing campaign. In 2021, total loans, excluding PPP loans, were up 6%. In the latest quarter, loans excluding PPP were up by 1%, buoyed by growth in residential loans. New loan formation and commercial was strong in the quarter, but was more than offset by payoffs and paydowns. The commercial pipeline is relatively strong entering 2022, but the extent of payoff activity continues to be difficult to predict in the continued low rate environment. We are investing time and talent to be sure we are staying informed about advances in the FinTech space. We believe that active engagement with the FinTech ecosystem is an important method of understanding both new opportunities as well as competitive challenges. We're making incremental improvements to products and processes constantly, and we often partner with our core providers and with FinTech companies to achieve the best outcome. During the quarter, we continue to make progress on our COVID impacted loan deferrals, ending the quarter with only two loans and deferral to one borrower. And forgiveness of PPP loans continue to be processed smoothly through the SBA system. Overall, credit has remained very strong and has contributed to a negative provision for credit losses in the quarter. We feel confident about how we and our customers have managed through the pandemic, although the latest variant confirms the need for a careful approach to determining optimal work structure and timing for transition. We are optimistic about the economic landscape with improved unemployment levels, approximately 10 million jobs still to be filled nationally, strong corporate earnings, and buoyed consumer strength outweighing geopolitical concerns the lingering impact of COVID-19, and the impact of inflation. In the quarter, Washington Trust was named one of the nation's best banks to work for by American Banker Magazine for the second straight year. Notably, Washington Trust was the only Rhode Island-based institution to receive this recognition. I want to take this opportunity to thank our employees for their perseverance, their positive outlook, and their consistent concern for each other and our customers. We continue to invest in our workforce to ensure our team is well compensated and has the right training, tools, and technology. We are attuned to the challenges of a hybrid work environment and offer wellness programs to ensure our employees maintain a good work-life balance. With that, I'll turn the call over to Ron for a more detailed review of our financial performance.