Provident Financial Services, Inc

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Abby and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Provident Financial Services second quarter earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one a second time. Thank you, and I would now like to turn the conference over to Adriano Duarte, Investor Relations Officer. You may begin.

Thank you, Abby. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our second quarter earnings call. Today's presenters are President and CEO Tony Lavazetta and Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Tom Lyons. Before beginning the review of our financial results, we ask that you please take note of our standard caution as to any forward-looking statements that may be made during the course of today's call. Our full disclaimer is contained in this morning's earnings release, which has been posted to the Investor Relations page on our website, provident.bank. Now, it's my pleasure to introduce Tony Labazzetta, who will offer his perspective on our second quarter. Tony.

Thank you, Adriano. And welcome, everyone, to the Provident Financial Services earnings call. The Provident team delivered an impressive performance this quarter. Our team gained momentum with solid earning asset growth, improved margins and asset quality, record earnings, and expansion of tangible book value. During the quarter, we reported net earnings of $72 million, or $0.55 per share. Our annualized return on average assets was 1.19%, and our adjusted return on average tangible equity was 16.79%. For the second quarter, pre-tax, pre-provision, return on average assets was 1.64%. These core financial results improved from the trailing quarter and the same quarter last year, and we are confident in our ability to sustain this momentum throughout the remainder of 2025. We continue to build our capital position, which comfortably exceeds levels deemed to be well capitalized. For the quarter, our tangible book value per share grew 45 cents to $14.60, and our tangible common equity ratio expanded to 8.03%. As such, this morning, our board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend, 24 cents per share, payable on August 29th. During the quarter, our deposits increased 260 million, our annualized growth rate of 5.6%. We continue to improve our average cost of total deposits, which decreased to 2.1%. During the second quarter, our commercial lending team closed approximately $764 million in new loans, bringing our production to a record $1.4 billion for the first half of the year. As a result, our commercial loan portfolio grew at an annualized rate of 8%. This quarter's production consisted of 20% commercial real estate and 80% commercial and industrial loans. Our strong capital formation, combined with our production mix, has reduced our CRE ratio to 444%. Adjusting for merger-related purchase accounting marks, the CRE ratio is actually 408%. Notwithstanding the high level of loan closings this quarter, our loan pipeline remains robust at approximately $2.6 billion, and the weighted average interest rate is stable at 6.3%. The pull-through adjusted pipeline, including loans pending closing, is approximately $1.6 billion. We've remained confident about the strength of our pipeline and our ability to achieve our commercial loan growth expectations for the rest of the year. Our credit quality is strong relative to our peer group, with a modest improvement in our non-performing assets and a decline in delinquencies and classified loans. Our net charge-offs decreased this quarter to just $1.2 million, or three basis points of average loans. These numbers demonstrate our commitment to prudent underwriting and portfolio management standards. Overall, Providence fee-based businesses performed well this quarter. Provident Protection Plus maintained its strong performance with an 11.3% increase in revenue for the second quarter, and its income was up 10.1% compared to the same period in 2024. Given market conditions early in the quarter, Beacon Trust's revenue declined 5.2% due to a decrease in average market value of assets under management. However, asset valuations have recovered, and Beacon closed the quarter with $4.1 billion in AUM, which is consistent with the trailing quarter. The Beacon team is focused on building AUM, and I am pleased to report that Beacon has hired a new chief growth officer to further this objective, with a projected start date late in the third quarter. Overall, we are proud of our performance this quarter. We have a dynamic team and a solid foundation to grow our core businesses. expand profitability, and create even more value for our stockholders and customers. Building on our strong results, we believe we will continue this momentum and achieve our desired goals for the remainder of 2025. Now, I will turn the call over to Tom for his comments on our financial performance. Tom?