Synovus Financial Corp.

good morning and welcome to the synovus fourth quarter 2023 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 start then one on your telephone keypad to withdraw your question please press star followed by two Please note this event is being recorded, and I will now turn the call over to Jennifer Denver, Director 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. Kevin Blair, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, will begin the call. He will be followed by Jamie Gregory, Chief Financial Officer, and we will be available to answer your questions at the end of the call. Our comments 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 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, Jennifer. Entering 2023, our primary corporate goal was summarized as focused execution. That objective was rooted in delivering productivity gains within our core businesses, allowing us to deepen relationships, grow our client base, and enhance financial performance. And secondarily, continuing to accelerate the contributions generated through our new growth initiatives and adding talent in key businesses and markets to expand our presence and profitability. We made steady progress in these areas, which led to solid growth and built on our foundation to deliver healthy and consistent earnings and tangible book value growth over time. In the midst of executing on our plan, we were presented with unforeseen challenges, and our Synovus team acted quickly and decisively in order to mitigate risk and better position the bank for a more challenging liquidity and economic environment. Despite a more challenging environment, we produced healthy and consistent loan growth in key commercial business lines, including middle market, corporate and investment banking, and specialty lending. Corporate and investment banking, which was officially launched in mid-2022, continues to prudently grow and execute with over $650 million in loans outstanding and became PPNR positive in the middle of last year. Also, our team was laser focused on accelerating our core funding generation through sales activities, product expansion, and specialty businesses. As a result, we delivered an 83% increase in total deposit production in 2023. We delivered strong double-digit growth in adjusted fee income in 23 as our treasury and payment solutions, capital markets, and wealth management teams continue to expand their contributions supported by new solutions, analytics, and an intense focus on building full relationships. Also, we further augmented and diversified our non-interest revenue stream with an expanded balance sheet light relationship with GreenSky. We maintain top quartile efficiency through proactive expense rationalization and disciplined cost management while continuing to make the investments in areas that will drive long-term shareholder value. On the asset quality front, we continue to experience very manageable levels of credit losses and see no systemic deterioration across our asset classes and footprint. Finally, the balance sheet was strengthened in 2023 from solid core deposit growth and a reduction of office commercial real estate loans and higher cost wholesale funding. We also increased our common equity tier one ratio to over 10% through solid earnings accretion and prudent balance sheet optimization. Moreover, the business mix was streamlined with the sale of our asset management firm, Globalt, which enables us to reallocate investment into higher returning business lines. Now let's move to slides three and four for an overview of the fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial highlights. Synovus reported 2023 fourth quarter diluted earnings per share of 41 cents and adjusted earnings per share of 80 cents. For 2023, we reported $3.46 in diluted earnings per share and $4.12 in adjusted EPS. However, the $51 million FDIC special assessment reduced fourth quarter reported and adjusted earnings per share by 26 cents. Therefore, excluding the FDIC assessment, fourth quarter reported EPS would have been 67 cents and adjusted EPS would have been $1.06. Higher funding costs and loan losses were headwinds for the banking industry in 2023. But in this challenging environment, Synovus was able to grow core deposits core non-interest revenue, and maintain discipline expense control. Even with the challenges in excluding the FDIC special assessment, adjusted pre-provision net revenue increased about 2% last year. Net interest income grew $20 million for the year, or roughly 1%, despite an 11 basis point margin contraction. Excluding strategic loan sales of $1.6 billion in 2023, period end loans increased about 3%, led by CNI business lines, including middle market, CIB, and specialty lending. Despite muted activity, CRE also experienced year-over-year growth driven by increased utilization on previously committed construction facilities. There continues to be an increased emphasis on stronger returns and more deposit relationship-based lending, and we are pleased with the increased margin and relationship profitability profile of the 2023 originations. On the funding side, total core deposits increased 3% and total borrowings declined 57% in 2023. Our fourth quarter net interest margin of 3.11% was stable quarter over quarter and better than our prior guidance as a result of modestly lower than expected core interest bearing deposit costs. Also, we were able to reduce higher cost funding in broker deposits and FHOB borrowings due to the continued success of our deposit production activities. We remain confident that our net interest margin has reached a positive inflection point and should be relatively stable in the first quarter. A more stable monetary policy environment coupled with fixed rate asset repricing should support the NEM as we progress throughout 2024 and provide a multi-year tailwind for net interest income. Despite continued headwinds from a soft mortgage environment and intentional reductions in checking program fees, Adjusted non-interest revenue increased 11% in 2023, supported by increases in treasury and payment solution fees, capital market fees, and wealth management fees, as well as higher green sky income. Non-interest expense remains well contained. Our proactive cost rationalization and management initiatives have placed Synovus in a strong position as we start 2024. In this uncertain environment, asset quality remains healthy. Excluding our loan sales, net charge-offs were a manageable 38 basis points in the fourth quarter and 28 basis points for the full year. Non-performing assets increased at a slower pace over the last three months, and we further built the allowance for credit losses. Finally, we continue to focus on maintaining a strong capital position as we navigate through a more uncertain economic environment. And with our CET1 position ending the quarter at 10.22% up from the 9.63% a year ago, we remain confident in our capital profile and well within our targeted capital levels of 10 to 10.5%. We continue to make consistent progress in diversifying and optimizing our business mix with growth in several key areas, including middle market, commercial banking, CIB, treasury and payment solutions, capital markets, banking as a service, and wealth management. These are the core businesses where we have shown the right to win and through execution and expansion will deliver solid revenue growth well into the future. Our talent is what truly differentiates Synovus. Our key objectives for the team in 2024 are one, prudently growing the bank, two, winning full relationships, and three, enhancing profits. We are committed to delivering on these objectives while preserving and even improving key elements of our safety and soundness profile. I have great confidence in our ability to not only meet our goals, but also to outpace our competition. Now I'll turn it over to Jamie to cover the quarterly results in greater detail.