Renasant Corporation

Good day and welcome to the Renasant Corporation 2021 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing star then zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, press star then one on your touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kelly Hutchison, Renasant Corporation. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Renasant Corporation's 2021 Second Quarter Webcast and Conference Call. Participating in this call today are members of Renasant's Executive Management Team. Before we begin, please note that many of our comments during this call will be forward-looking statements which involve risk and uncertainty. There are many factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements. Although the markets in which we operate reopened over the first half of 2021 in connection with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, The spread of the Delta variant reminds us that the impact of the pandemic and the federal, state, and local measures taken to arrest the virus may remain significant factors impacting our financial condition and operating results for the foreseeable future. Other factors include but are not limited to interest rate fluctuation, regulatory changes, portfolio performance, and other factors discussed in our recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our recently filed earnings release, which has been posted to our corporate site, www.renaissance.com, at the Press Releases link under the News and Market Data tab. We undertake no obligation, and we specifically disclaim any obligation, to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or changes to future operating results over time. In addition, some of the financial measures that we may discuss this morning are non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release. And now I will turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Mitch Waycaster.

Thank you, Kelly, and good morning. We appreciate you joining the call today. Before Kevin and Jim discuss results for the second quarter, I want to offer comments to the 2021 results thus far and share our outlook for the second half of the year. Many of the trends present in the first quarter continued into these last three months. We experienced slightly improved credit metrics, saw more deposit inflows, and produced net loan growth. Earnings reflected a lower margin contribution which was partially offset by gains elsewhere in the company. Looking forward, we are optimistic about loan growth continuing despite the headwinds of elevated payoffs. Our team is focused on efficiency gains from both revenue and expense initiatives that should be increasingly evident in future periods. We operate in a number of dynamic markets that will give us opportunities for new business. Renaissance emphasis on capital, asset quality, reserve levels, and considerable core deposit base remain central to how we manage the company. I will now turn the call over to Kevin.