Comerica Incorporated

Greetings and welcome to the Comerica First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If you would like to register a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star 0 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Kelly Gage, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Donna. Good morning and welcome to Comerica's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Participating on this call will be our President, Chairman, and CEO, Kurt Farmer, Chief Financial Officer, Jim Herzog, Chief Credit Officer, Melinda Chausse, and Chief Banking Officer, Peter Sebsic. During this presentation, we will be referring to slides which will provide additional details. The presentation slides and our press release are available on the SEC's website, as well as in the investor relations section of our website, america.com. This conference call contains forward-looking statements. In that regard, you should be mindful of the risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to vary materially from expectations. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Please refer to the safe harbor statement in today's earnings presentation on slide two, which is incorporated into this call, as well as our SEC filings for factors that can cause actual results to differ. Also, this conference call will reference non-GAAP measures, and in that regard, I direct you to the reconciliation of these measures and the earnings materials that are available on our website, Comerica.com. Now, I'll turn the call over to Kurt, who will begin on slide three.

Thank you, Kelly, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our call. Today, we reported first quarter earnings of $138 million, or 98 cents per share. Although loan demand remained muted, we continue to see improvement in customer sentiment, translating into increased pipelines and signaling opportunities for growth. Our historically strong deposit franchise demonstrated resilience as deposits outperformed expectations and normal seasonal patterns. These favorable trends enabled continued normalization of our liquidity position as we reduced wholesale funding by over $5 billion throughout the quarter. In fact, over the last four quarters, we repaid almost $12 billion in wholesale funding while preserving significant available capacity. Beyond our financial results, we were incredibly proud of recognition received for our efforts to prioritize our employees and communities. Greenwich Awards showcase our successful focus on small business, and we see great potential for continued growth in this space. Earlier this month, we hosted an event at our new collaborative workspace in North Texas, And our second large office transformation is underway in Michigan. As a product of our modernization efforts, these business and innovation hubs leverage advanced technology designed to meet the evolving needs of our colleagues and customers through dedicated business centers. Immediate feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we feel this workplace strategy will be key to attracting and retaining talent while offering unique benefits to small businesses and local communities. First quarter financial highlights are on slide four. Average loans were impacted by rationalization efforts from 2023, including the exit of mortgage banker finance, which is now substantially complete. Deposits outperformed expectations, and in fact would have been relatively flat, excluding the deliberate reduction in broker time deposits. Net interest income was impacted by lower loans, slightly higher deposit costs, and one less day in the quarter, but overall performed better than projected. Credit remains strong, as net charge also moved even lower this quarter. Both non-interest income and non-interest expenses were impacted by notable items, and we saw a discrete benefit to taxes. Prudent capital management and lower loans drove an increase in our estimated CET1 to 11.47%, even higher above our 10% strategic target. Stepping back, strong liquidity, credit, and capital supports our solid foundation, and positioned us to prioritize responsible growth in the second half of the year. Now I'll turn the call over to Jim, who's going to review our financial results in some more detail. Jim?