Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (The)

Good morning. My name is Bailey and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the first quarter 2026 earnings call for the Bank of N.T. Butterfield and Sun Limited. All participants will be in a listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key then zero on your telephone keypad. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Noah Fields, Butterfield's Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today, we will be reviewing Butterfield's first quarter 2026 financial results. On the call, I am joined by Michael Collins, Butterfield's chairman and chief executive officer, Michael Scrum, president and chief financial officer, and Jody Feldman, managing director of Bermuda. Following their prepared remarks, we will open the call up for a question and answer session. Yesterday afternoon, we issued a press release announcing our first quarter 2026 results. The press release and financial statements, along with a slide presentation, that we will refer to during our remarks on this call are available on the investor relations section of our website at www.butterfieldgroup.com. Before I turn the call over to Michael Collins, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion will refer to certain non-GAAP measures which we believe are important in evaluating the company's performance. For reconciliation of these measures to US GAAP, please refer to the earnings press release and slide presentation. Today's call and associated materials may also contain certain forward-looking statements which are subject to risks, insurgencies, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Additional information regarding these risks can be found in our SEC filings. I will now turn the call over to Michael Collins.

Thank you, Noah, and thanks to everyone joining the call today. The first quarter of 2026 represents a strong start to the year with solid financial performance and continued execution of our disciplined growth strategy. We were pleased to announce the agreement to acquire Wallinson & Hunter in Guernsey, reinforcing our commitment to build scale in key markets. Demand across our core businesses of banking, wealth management, and trust remained robust, reflecting the strength of our client relationships and the resilience of our franchise. Net interest income benefited from lower costs, while deposit volumes remained stable across all jurisdictions. At the same time, we improved non-interest expenses, demonstrating our ability to manage costs effectively in a low-rate, more volatile environment. I'm also pleased to report that following our announcement in February, the acquisition of Walt Rawlinson and Hunter Guernsey has now closed. This is a strategically important transaction that enhances the scale and capability of our private trust business in Guernsey and further strengthens our position as a leading international provider of trust services with group assets under administration of $146 billion. Looking ahead, acquisitions remain a key driver of our growth. We will continue to pursue high-quality opportunities in island banking and trust that align with our strategy and deliver long-term value for our stakeholders. Butterfield is a leading offshore bank and wealth manager with strong leading market positions in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands and an expanding retail presence in the Channel Islands. Across our markets, we deliver a broad range of services, including trust, private banking, asset management, and custody, which are designed around the needs of our clients. We also support international private trust clients in the Bahamas, Switzerland, and Singapore, and originate high net worth residential mortgages for prime London properties through our London office. I will now turn to the first quarter highlights on page five. Waterfield reported net income of $62.6 million, and core net income of $63.2 million. We reported core earnings per share of $1.55, with a core return on average 10% of common equity of 24.1% in the first quarter. The net interest margin was 2.75% in the first quarter, an increase of six basis points from the prior quarter, with the cost of deposits falling 13 basis points to 124 basis points from the prior quarter. But we again are announcing a quarterly cash dividend of 50 cents per share. During the first quarter, we continued to repurchase shares with a total of 800,000 shares at a cost of $42.4 million. We continue our active capital management and plan to continue to return excess capital that we do not require to support the business and growth initiatives. I will now turn the call over to Jody for an update on Bermuda and Cayman markets and businesses.