Amerant Bancorp Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Enron Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. If anyone should require assistance during the conference, please press star, then zero on your touch-tone telephone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host. Ms. Laura Raffi, Investor Relations Officer. Thank you. Ma'am, please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning to everyone on the call, and thank you for joining us to review Ameren Bancorp's second quarter 2020 results. With me this morning are Miller Wilson, Chief Executive Officer, Carlos Zafiriola, Chief Financial Officer, Miguel Palacios, Chief Business Officer, and T.L. Fisher, Credit Risk Manager. Before we begin, note that the company's press release, comments made on today's call, and responses to your questions contain forward-looking statements. The company's business and operations are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond its control, and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Please refer to the cautionary notices regarding forward-looking statements in the company's press release. For a more complete description of these and other possible risks, please refer to the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2019, and the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31st, 2020, as well as the subsequent filings with the SEC, which you can access these filings on the SEC's website. Please note that Amaranth has no obligation and makes no commitment to update or publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements in order to reflect new information or subsequent events, circumstances, or changes in expectations, except as required by law. You should also note that the company's press release, earnings presentation, and today's call include references to certain adjusted financial measures, also known as non-GAAP financial measures. This refers to Appendix 1 of the company's earnings presentation for a reconciliation of each non-financial measure to its most comparable gap financial measure. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Wildman.

Good morning, and thank you for joining Ameren's second quarter 2020 earnings call. Today, I will begin by discussing how Ameren continues to navigate the current environment, including an update around the initiatives put in place to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and our second quarter highlights. Carlos will then review our financial performance for the quarter in further detail. After our prepared remarks, Carlos, Miguel, Kiel, and I will answer questions. As I said last quarter, the safety of our employees and customers is our number one priority. our business continuity plan remains in place, and as a result, we have been able to seamlessly serve customers and keep our employees, customers, and communities safe. As the number of COVID-19 cases has increased in the communities where we operate, we are diligently following our business continuity plan and are taking a cautious and phased approach as Ameren employees begin to return to the office. Specifically, employees are only returning to the office voluntarily at a capacity of not more than 25% at any given time, except our New York LPO, which is capped at 50%. Our DCP continues to successfully support approximately 86% of our employees with remote work capabilities. Regarding our banking centers, we have returned to regular business hours. That said, the entire Amaranth team is following strict government safety guidelines as our goal continues to be to provide customers with the service they have come to expect while maintaining a safe environment. Additionally, Amaranth continues to provide customized loan payment relief options to customers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. in accordance with regulatory guidelines, including interest-only payments and forbearance options. At the end of the second quarter, loans outstanding which have been modified under these programs totaled $1.1 billion. Modified loans on which the interest-only and or forbearance period had expired totaled $519.5 million. or 46% of total modified loans. As of July 17th, modified loans totaling $164.9 million had scheduled payments due. The company collected payments due on $136.9 million of these loans through this date. Modified loans totaling $354.6 million of payments due by July 31st. Ameren also continued to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. As of June 30th, we had received approval for over 2,000 loans totaling $218.6 million. Over 90% of these loans were under $350,000 each. which translates into approximately 26,000 jobs saved. We're extremely proud of Ameren's contribution. Looking ahead, we will continue to provide relief while closely monitoring the company's credit and liquidity risks. The Executive Management Committee has taken an even more active role in this monitoring process. We have tightened our credit underwriting practices and significantly increased the frequency of loan portfolio reviews. Together, these actions will ensure Amaranth's credit quality is closely managed amidst these unusual and highly unpredictable circumstances. Please turn to our second quarter highlights on slide four. Despite COVID-19-related headwinds, I am proud of the entire Ameren team for continuing to push forward and execute our relationship-focused strategy. In the second quarter, we recorded a loan loss provision of $48.6 million compared to a provision of $22.0 million in the first quarter and a release of $1.4 million in the year-ago period. Carlos will discuss the drivers of this provision in more detail shortly. As a result of this provision, we're reporting a net loss of $15.3 million compared to net income of $3.4 million in the first quarter and net income of $12.9 million in the three months ended June 30 of 2019. Lower interest income also contributed to this net loss. which was partially offset by lower non-interest expenses. It is worth highlighting that even though our loan loss provision has increased significantly, our operating income, which excludes the provision for income tax, the provision for loan losses or reversals, and net gains on security sales, increased to $21.6 million, up 53.9% year-over-year, and up 29.7% quarter-over-quarter. Also in the quarter, our broker-dealer, Ameren Investments, successfully participated in the distribution of the senior notes, which, among other factors, contributed to stronger year-over-year non-interest income. The investments team, also launched Amarant Investments Mobile, an application that facilitates customers' engagement with their Amarant investment accounts. This application further supports our relationship-focused strategy as well as our digital transformation. Please turn to slide five. As I mentioned, we had a net loss of $15.3 million compared to net income of 3.4 million in the first quarter of 2020, and net income of 12.9 million reported in the three months ended June 30th, 2019, largely due to the higher provision for loan losses. The adjusted net loss, which excludes restructuring expenses, was 14.2 million compared to adjusted net income of 3.7 million in the first quarter, and $15.0 million reported in the three months ended June 30, 2019. Our return on assets was a negative 0.75%, or a negative 0.7 on an adjusted basis, and our loss per share was $0.37, or $0.34 on an as-adjusted basis. Total loans as of June 30th were $5.9 billion, an increase of 3.6% compared to the first quarter. This increase was largely driven by the PPP loans granted in the quarter and partially offset by declines in other loan originations attributable to the lack of business activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the more stringent credit underwriting guidelines currently in place. Funds from these PPP loans also drove total deposits, which were $6.0 billion as of June 30th, up 3.1% from the prior quarter. The funds small business customers had not fully utilized totaled $132.7 million at the end of the quarter. Additionally, we were pleased to see our foreign deposits increased by 3.5 million, or 0.1%, compared to the prior quarter. We are optimistic and hope this improvement will continue. Shareholders' equity was $830.2 million as of June 30, a decrease of 1.3% compared to the prior quarter. This decrease in stockholders' equity is mainly the result of the company's net loss in the second quarter partially offset by higher valuations of the company's debt securities available for sale attributable to the decline in market interest rates in the same period. I will now hand over the call to Carlos.