Synovus Financial Corp.

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 touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I'll now turn the call over to Cal Evans, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning. During today's call, we will reference the slides and press release that are available within the investor relations section of our website, synovus.com. Chairman, CEO, and President Kevin Blair will begin the call. He will be followed by Jamie Gregory, Chief Financial Officer, and they will be available to answer your questions at the end of the call. Our comments include forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks 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 because 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, Kevin Blair will provide an overview of the quarter.

Thank you, Cal. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our second quarter 2023 earnings call. Before we get into our results, I'd like to sincerely thank Cal for his tremendous contributions over the last two years serving in his investor relations role. Cal's been instrumental as we've all navigated through the economic highs and lows with his strong background in market analytics and credit. He's guided us well, worked hard to strengthen relationships, and built even greater trust with all of you who cover us and the investors you stand for. We are thrilled to welcome Jennifer Demba to the team, bringing her vast industry knowledge and sell-side perspective into our strategy setting and shareholder activities. Her extensive financial services background will be incredibly valuable as we move through the current cycle, as well as execute on our strategic plan. So thank you, Cal, and officially welcome Jennifer. We couldn't be in better hands with the two of you in your new roles for our company. What you'll see today is financial performance that remains quite strong, with PPNR up 8% year over year and an adjusted return on tangible common equity of 18%, despite a slowing economic environment and tighter liquidity market, which led to another quarter of contraction in our net interest margin. We continue to see evidence that our relationship-based model serves as a strong platform to attract and retain talent as well as clients. Our team member turnover is the lowest it's been in many years, engagement levels are high, and we continue to add talent and key revenue producing in corporate services areas. From a client perspective, deposit production remains strong with second quarter levels over 130% higher compared to the same period last year. While loan production remains muted versus last year, commitment levels increased 4% versus last quarter, and second quarter adjusted fee income is up 10% versus the previous year. And while you'll see shifts in some of our expectations for the year to adjust to the trends we're seeing internally and externally, we also still strongly believe our success to date, as well as our path forward, is the result of our intentional approach to expand our business, diversify our client base, and gain share of wallet, all while increasing our investments in innovative solutions to further enhance the client experience and sources of revenue. We have also quickly responded to the changing economic environment and the recent industry headwinds to better manage the emerging risk. Over the course of the year, we have increased our CET-1 ratio by approximately 20 basis points, reduced the percentage of deposits that are uninsured, increased contingent funding sources to $26 billion, and reduced the midpoint of our expense guidance for the year by three percentage points, excluding the impact of the QualPay transaction. Our bank has made significant strides in recent years, paving a path forward towards achieving our long-term financial goals. While pursuing growth opportunities and maximizing profitability in this environment, we remain committed to optimizing our overall risk profile. By implementing robust risk management practices, closely monitoring market trends, and adapting to regulatory changes, we aim to ensure the stability and resilience of our operations. Our dedicated teams strive to strike a balance between growth and risk management, fostering a culture of prudence and innovation that sets us on a trajectory of sustainable success. Now let's move to slide three for the quarterly financial highlights. When looking at the same period in the previous year, revenue and PPNR grew at high single-digit rates supported by strong operating metrics, which linked quarters saw revenue and PPNR headwinds as a result of increased deposit costs and NIB remixing, leading to margin contraction. Loans increased $309 million, or 1%, quarter over quarter. As we saw in the first quarter, this growth rate declined from prior year levels as we continue to experience lower loan production due to client demand and our increased emphasis on returns and relationship-based lending. After seasonal tax-related outflows in April, core deposits increased modestly and ended the quarter roughly flat with the first quarter. Much like the rest of the industry, we continue to see pressures from noninterest-bearing deposit remixing as clients have increased their use of their operating funds, thereby further reducing average balance per account. Our underlying credit performance remains solid, and although our credit metrics are experiencing some expected increases as a result of the current environment, overall credit trends are healthy, and we have not seen meaningful change in the underlying performance of our borrowing base or stress focused in any particular industry or asset class. Lastly, as I've stated previously, we continue to focus on maintaining a strong capital position as we navigate through the uncertain environment. And with the CET1 position ending the quarter at 9.85%, we are well in sight of achieving our objective of exceeding 10% CET1 by the end of the year. Now I'll turn it over to Jamie to cover the second quarter results in greater detail. Jamie? Thank you, Kevin.