Discover Financial Services

Good morning, my name is Madison and I will be your conference operator today at this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the fourth quarter 2024 discover financial services earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise, if you should need operator assistance, please press star zero Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Mrs Aaron steeper please go ahead, thank you operator.

I'll begin by referencing slides two and three of our earnings presentation, which you can find in the financial section of our investor relations website, investorrelations.discovered.com. Our discussion today contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our notices regarding forward-looking statements that appear in our fourth quarter 2024 earnings press release and presentation, as well as the risk factors detailed in our annual report and other filings with the SEC. Our call today will include remarks from our interim CEO and president, Michael Shepherd, and John Green, our chief financial officer. There will be no question and answer session following today's remarks. However, the investor relations team will be available for any inquiries. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Michael.

Thank you, Aaron. Good morning and welcome to today's call. 2024 was a good and transformative year for Discover. When assuming the role of interim CEO last April, I shared that our top goals were operating the company profitably and safely, continuing to strengthen our risk management and compliance, sustaining our commitment to outstanding customer service, and preparing for the successful completion of our merger with Capital One. I'm happy to report today that we've made considerable progress on each of these goals. We reported net income of $4.5 billion for the full year 2024, and the earnings per share of $17.72, reflecting several factors. On a full year basis, we grew average loans, expanded our deposit base, and benefited from a higher net interest margin. We also successfully completed the sale of our private student loan portfolio which provided financial benefits and streamlined our business model. As we anticipated in our commentary, delinquency formation and net charge-offs began to improve. And despite a modest slowdown in U.S. card sales, overall network volume increased, driven by growth in our Pulse business and demonstrating the strength of our payments network. We continued to invest heavily in risk management and compliance in 2024, and we are seeing meaningful improvements in our programs. Additionally, we've made progress on meeting regulatory requirements and toward fully resolving the card misclassification matter. Throughout the pursuit of these goals, we remain steadfast in our commitment to customers and employees, evidenced by the customer satisfaction and workplace award recognitions we have received. Each of these successes positions us well for our pending merger. Capital One received approval of the merger from the Delaware State Bank Commissioner, and our definitive merger proxy has been transmitted to shareholders in connection with the upcoming shareholder votes. Integration planning efforts are progressing well in preparation for a smooth transition. We continue to firmly believe the merger will advance our company's shared mission to help our customers meet their financial goals, support the communities in which we operate, and create value for our shareholders. With that, I'll now ask John Green to provide an update on our fourth quarter financial results.