National Bank Holdings Corporation

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the National Bank Holdings Corporation 2024 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. My name is Shelly, and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I will now turn the call over to Emily Gooden, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Shelley, and good morning. We will begin today's call with prepared remarks, followed by a question and answer session. I would like to remind you that this conference call will contain forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements regarding the company's strategy, loans, deposits, capital, net interest income, non-interest income, margins, allowance, taxes, and non-interest expense. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed today. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which are disclosed in more detail in the company's most recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements speak only as of the date of this call and National Bank Holdings Corporation undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements. In addition, the call today will reference certain non-GAAP measures, which National Bank Holdings Corporation believes provides useful information for investors. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the GAAP measures are provided in the news release posted on the Investor Relations section of www.nationalbankholdings.com. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over and introduce National Bank Holdings Corporation Chairman, President, and CEO, Mr. Tim Laney.

Thanks, Emily. Good morning, and thank you for joining us as we discuss National Bank Holdings first quarter results. I'm joined by our Chief Financial Officer, Aldis Berkins. We delivered quarterly earnings of 82 cents per diluted share and a return on tangible common equity of 15.14%. Credit remains strong with zero basis points of annualized charge-offs. We experienced a slow start with loan production early in the quarter with business clients deferring action in anticipation of the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates. Once it became clear that rates were not coming down in the near future, client activity picked up and we have a very strong pipeline for the second quarter. We grew our core deposit 6.8% over the first quarter of 2023, while preserving our low deposit beta across this entire rate cycle. Expenses were well managed, especially in light of the fact that this year we are incurring over $18 million of expense related to the amortization of our investments today into Unify. And I'll cover a more detailed update on 2Unify after Aldous takes us through the quarter. Aldous?