Central Pacific Financial Corp New

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Central Pacific Financial Corporation Third Quarter 2021 Conference Call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be open for questions. This call is being recorded and will be available for replay shortly after its completion on the company's website at www.cdb.bank. I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. David Morimoto, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Betsy. And thank you all for joining us as we review the financial results of the third quarter of 2021 for Central Pacific Financial Corp. With me this morning are Paul Yonamine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Catherine Ngo, President, Arnold Martinez, Executive Vice President and Chief Banking Officer, and Anna Hu, Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer. We have prepared a slide presentation that we will refer to in our remarks today. The presentation is available in the investor relations section of our website at cpb.bank. During the course of today's call, management may make forward-looking statements. While we believe these statements are based on reasonable assumptions, They involve risks that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. For a complete discussion of the risks related to our forward-looking statements, please refer to slide two of our presentation. And now I'll turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Paul Yonemune.

Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. As always, we appreciate your interest in Central Pacific Financial Corp. I'd like to comment on some exciting news we sent out yesterday regarding some key executive management promotions to be effective January 1, 2022. They are as follows. Catherine Ngo, currently president of CPF and president and CEO of CPB, will become executive vice chair of the bank and the holding company. Arnold Martinez, currently EVP and chief banking officer, will be promoted to president and Chief Operating Officer of the bank and the holding company. David Morimoto, currently Executive Vice President and CFO, will be promoted to Senior Executive Vice President and CFO of the bank and holding company. And Kevin Dahlstrom, currently EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, will become EVP and Chief Strategy Officer of the bank and holding company. Catherine will continue to serve on the CPB Executive Committee responsible for the management of the bank. Working collaboratively with Catherine and myself, all three of the individuals promoted have played a key role in our financial success the past several years, and I am pleased that they will continue to be part of the team. Our focus on our four key business pillars will continue as before. These include residential lending, small business, Japan market development, and digital expansion. We will also continue to be active in the commercial real estate, CNI, and consumer segments with a focus on driving digital solutions to provide an exceptional customer experience. Our transformation to become a digital first bank is underscored with the upcoming launch of Shaka Checking, Hawaii's first and only digital bank account from a local financial institution. We are preceding the November 8th launch with the state's largest ever social media influencer marketing campaign. We have over 2,000 people on the wait list who are looking to be the first to sign up for Shaka. Product benefits include the opportunity to get your paycheck up to two days early, a reimbursement of ATM fees up to $20 a month, and a higher-than-average return on funds in the account. We feel this product and other digital products like it will help to galvanize our position as the digital banking leader in Hawaii. We will, however, continue to leverage our branch network updating and modernizing our facilities, and investing in the talent required to deliver these products to market with the strong customer service we are known for. Like the rest of the country, the state of Hawaii experienced a spike in COVID case counts in August and September related to the Delta variant. To address this, our state put in place certain measures to curb further spread of the virus And we are pleased the state has been able to get the Delta variant under control as we have seen a rapid decline in case counts in recent weeks. Given this positive trend, earlier this month, the governor implemented the easing of restrictions on gatherings and events on Oahu. And last week, the governor announced welcoming back fully vaccinated domestic travelers for business or pleasure starting November 1st. Our statewide vaccination rate has risen to over 70% as many employers in the state have mandated vaccinations to protect their employees, their customers, and the community in general. With these positive developments, local economists are projecting that visitor numbers will once again continue to rise and Hawaii will have a strong holiday travel season. The state of Hawaii unemployment rate declined to 6.6% in the month of September and is forecasted by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to decline further to 6.4% in 2022. The housing market in Hawaii remains very hot with our median single-family home price surpassing the $1 million mark this past quarter. Overall, the Hawaii economy remains on track for recovery. I'd like to now turn the call over to Catherine Null, our president. Catherine?