Synovus Financial Corp.

Good morning and welcome to the Synovus third quarter 2020 earnings call. All participants will be in listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kevin Brown, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning. During the call today, we will be referencing the slides and press release that are available within the Investor Relations section of our website, synovus.com. Kessel Stelling, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will begin the call. He will be followed by Jamie Gregory, Chief Financial Officer, and Kevin Blair, President and Chief Operating Officer. Our executive management team is available to answer your questions at the end of the call. We ask that you limit yourselves to two questions. Let me remind you that our comments may include forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risk and uncertainties, and the actual results could vary materially. We list these factors that might cause results to differ materially in our press release and in our SEC filings, which are available on our website. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, early developments, or otherwise, except as may be required by law. During the call, we will reference non-GAAP financial measures related to the company's performance. You may see the reconciliation of these measures in the appendix to our presentation. And now, here's Kessel Stelling.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. While I normally close each call with a big thank you to our team, I want to really begin today's call with a thanks to all of our 5,000-plus team members across our five-state footprint. Just last month, six months after converting to drive-through and appointment only, our retail branch network reopened to walk-in customers. Although things are far from back to normal, we're fundamentally a relationship bank, and I've enjoyed so much hearing from our frontline team members who take such pride and pleasure in serving our customers in person, even if it's across a plexiglass barrier or from a distance of six feet. Our team's response to this ongoing pandemic continues to demonstrate what's unique about this company, our culture of service, our focus on customers and communities, our adaptability in changing circumstances, and our ability to execute. All of those, along with continued economic recovery, contributed to our strong performance in the third quarter of 2020. Before I turn the call over to Jamie, I'll share highlights of the third quarter on slide three. Diluted EPS was 56 cents per share compared to 57 cents last quarter and 83 cents a year ago. Adjusted diluted EPS was 89 cents per share compared to 23 cents last quarter and 97 cents a year ago. The primary difference between reported and adjusted figures for the quarter was a 30 cent per share impact from a goodwill impairment of our mortgage reporting unit that Jamie will detail shortly. Period-end loan balances of $39.5 billion were down $364 million from the prior quarter, with commercial loan growth partially offsetting declines in the consumer portfolio. 1% of loans had a full principal and interest deferral at the end of the quarter, down from 15% in May. Total deposits of $44.7 billion were up $471 million from the prior quarter. Broad-based court transaction deposit growth of $1.6 billion allowed us to accelerate our deposit pricing and remixing strategy, which led to stable net interest income at $377 million. The net interest margin declined three basis points to 3.10%, slightly better than we expected, as headwinds from student loan sales and bond portfolio repositioning completed in the second quarter were partially offset by the favorable trends in deposit pricing and remixing. Adjusted non-interest revenue of $116 million was strong, up $20 million from the prior quarter. The improvement was led by quarter-over-quarter increases in net mortgage revenues of $8 million and core banking fees of $5 million. Adjusted non-interest expense of $269 million was down $8 million from the prior quarter, led by an improvement of $5 million in employment expenses. Provision for credit losses of $43 million were down 98 million from the prior quarter. The ACL ratio increased six basis points to 1.80%, excluding P3 balances. The past due NPA and net charge-off ratios remained relatively stable. The CET1 ratio increased 40 basis points to 9.3%, following strong core performance in the settlement of transactions we executed in the second quarter. The total risk-based capital ratio increased 46 basis points to 13.16%, the highest level since 2014. Jamie will now share more detail about the quarter.