WesBanco, Inc.

Hello and welcome to the West Bank of third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants will be in 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 then one on your telephone keypad. And to withdraw your question, you may press star, then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to John Iannone, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to WestBanco, Inc.' 's third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Leading the call today are Jeff Jackson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Dan Weiss, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today's call, an archive of which will be available on our website for one year, contains forward-looking information. Cautionary statements about this information and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures are included in our earnings-related materials issued yesterday afternoon. as well as our other SEC filings and investor materials. These materials are available on the investor relations section of our website, westbanco.com. All statements speak only as of October 24, 2024, and WestBanco undertakes no obligation to update them. I would now like to turn the call over to Jeff. Jeff?

Thanks, John, and good afternoon. On today's call, we will review our strong third quarter 2024 results and provide an update on our operations and current outlook for the fourth quarter. Key takeaways from the call today are continued strong deposit and loan growth combined with solid credit quality. We focused on organic growth and efficiency gains to achieve positive operating leverage. Our transformative acquisition of Premier Financial Corp. remains on track pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. West Banco marked strong momentum in the third quarter, driven by strategic actions that continue to strengthen our balance sheet. These include robust deposit and loan growth and the paydown of higher-cost borrowings. Over the last year, West Banco has grown loans by $1.1 billion and deposits by $750 million. reflecting the continued strength of our teams, markets, and strategies. For the quarter ending September 30, 2024, we reported net income, excluding restructuring expenses available to common shareholders of $36.3 million and earnings per share of $0.56. We successfully raised $200 million of common equity during the quarter to position WestBanco for future growth. Reflecting this capital raise and strong earnings, our tangible common equity ratio increased 132 basis points quarter over quarter to 8.84%. The key story for the third quarter was our continued strong deposit and loan growth, as sequential quarter deposit growth of 12% annualized was double annualized loan growth of 6%. Impressively, Our total and commercial loan growth and deposit growth significantly outperformed the monthly HA data for all domestically chartered commercial banks on both a year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter basis. These proof points demonstrate the success of our strategies and teams. On the deposit gathering side, our recent Summer of One campaign named for our well-received West Bank of One account, was a great success thanks to the partnership between our retail, commercial, marketing, and strategy teams. We opened more than 6,000 new consumer accounts, helping to drive our 12% annualized deposit growth. Additionally, our teams grew total deposits by $750 million, or 6%, during the last 12 months, reflecting their ongoing success and engaging current and prospective customers. On the loan side, third quarter loan growth was 10% year-over-year and 6% quarter-over-quarter annualized, again driven by our commercial and residential lending teams. Total commercial loans increased 12% year-over-year and 8% sequentially on an annualized basis, driven by commercial real estate. Our four newest Loan production offices accounted for nearly 20% of the commercial loan growth year-to-date, led by our Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee offices. These are proof points of the success of our LPO strategy. Our commercial loan pipeline as of September 30th was approximately $830 million, up slightly from a year ago but down from June 30th, as our teams converted the pipeline into another solid quarter of loan growth. Based on the current loan pipeline, we expect solid loan growth during the fourth quarter as well. Since year-end 2021, we have achieved a strong compound annual loan growth rate of 9.4%. It's important to note that we achieved this impressive growth with roughly the same number of bankers thanks to our talented team's continued productivity gains and great recruiting. What makes this growth even more notable is our bankers' success in delivering comprehensive relationship banking solutions, including deposits, ancillary products and services, and wealth management solutions. These relationship-focused efforts position WestBanco as a strong financial services partner, helping further our mission of fostering lasting prosperity for our customers and our organizations. A great example of our relationship banking success occurred in August when a financial center manager observed that an existing client was having difficulty managing their line of credit and capital position. A team spanning retail, business, and commercial banking, along with Treasury, set out to work with the client, understanding their issues, educating them on options, and crafting a tailored solution. Their collaborative efforts resulted in opening of multiple deposit accounts with six-figure balances, an improvement in the client's credit line management, and a reduction in their cost of capital. Our deep understanding of the client's needs and our personalized approach strengthened the client relationship and resulted in a winning solution for both the client and West Banco. Our underwriting and credit standards are a legacy of our company. and we are achieving our strong loan growth without sacrificing credit quality. Our non-performing assets decreased to 0.17% of total assets, which, as can be seen in our supplemental earnings presentation, is less than half the level for all banks with assets sized between $10 and $25 billion. Criticized and classified loans as a percent of total loans have remained in a consistent range for the last nine quarters. While total loans past due increased roughly 20 basis points during the third quarter to 0.44 of total loans, we expect these loans to be resolved by the end of the fourth quarter. Turning to our pending acquisition of Premier Financial, we have filed all necessary bank regulatory applications as well as the initial filings with the SEC to schedule the shareholder meetings and remain on track for a first quarter closing pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. Through this transformative acquisition, we expect to accelerate our positive momentum, build on Premier's legacy of community engagement and support, and together bring the resources of a larger, stronger financial services organization to benefit all of our community. Lastly, I am proud that West Banco has again been recognized for our success in building a workplace culture where purpose, belonging, and opportunity thrive. In August, we were named one of America's greatest workplaces for parents and families by Newsweek. We were one of just seven banks to receive a five-star rating, Newsweek's highest performance mark. By fostering a supportive and family-friendly workplace, we enhance the well-being of our team members and contribute to our broader vision of making every community we serve a better place for people and businesses to thrive. When our employees and our families thrive, so do our organization and communities. I would now like to turn the call over to Dan Weiss, our CFO, for an update on our third quarter financial results and current outlook for the fourth quarter.