Synovus Financial Corp.

touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press dot and T. Please note this event is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Jennifer Danba, 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. 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 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, Jennifer. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2024 earnings call. Our first quarter results demonstrate tangible progress on the strategic priorities that we have outlined for you over the last several quarters. Synovus produced steady loan growth in key commercial categories such as middle market, corporate and investment banking, and specialty CNI, as well as continued rationalization in loan portfolios where we have less meaningful deposit or fee relationships. We generated core deposit growth in a seasonally weaker quarter and are seeing improving trends in non-interest bearing deposit diminishment, as well as continued contraction in higher cost broker deposits. Core non-interest revenue categories continue to grow on a year-over-year basis while operating expense control remains disciplined, with investments in key areas continuing while keeping total expenses roughly flat. Our quarterly loan losses remain stable and our balance sheet continues to strengthen with further improvement in key safety and soundness metrics, highlighted by lower wholesale funding and higher capital ratios. financial success is a direct result of how well we are meeting the needs and expectations of our clients through trusted advice and valued service in that regard synovus and our talented team members continue to be nationally recognized for service excellence we are extremely proud to report that synovus recently received 25 greenwich awards for our 2023 performance serving small businesses and middle market clients we earned the fourth highest number of total awards among the over 500 banks that were evaluated. We also continue to perform very well against our southeastern peers in the recently released J.D. Power Survey for consumer client satisfaction and trust. Our Grow the Bank initiative continued to gain traction in the first quarter as we finalized our new Green Sky program, expanded our middle market banker team, built our largest CIB pipeline to date, generated over 50 new relationships from our business owner wealth strategy, grew wealth AUM by 12% year over year, added a new commodities hedging capability, and expanded existing relationships with approximately 75% of our treasury sales to existing clients. Speaking of our treasury and payment solutions team, we are excited to introduce a differentiated new solution called Accelerate Pay, which alleviates administrative burdens faced by accounts payable staff and seamlessly integrates into existing workflows, providing an immediate return on investment for our clients. We launched this new capability earlier this month, and the pipeline has been building steadily since the announcement. Lastly, we have a long successful track record in community banking. This quarter, our community bank generated core deposit growth of almost $350 million, and our consumer bank produced growth of approximately $300 million. Our long-standing, well-positioned core businesses continue to drive growth through a value relationship approach, allowing us to invest in new sources of revenue and future growth. Now let's move to slide three for the quarterly financial highlights. Synovus reported first quarter 2024 diluted EPS of 78 cents and adjusted EPS of 79 cents. However, a $13 million incremental FDIC special assessment reduced our reported and adjusted first quarter EPS by 7 cents, following a $51 million or 26 cent EPS impact from the initial special assessment in the prior quarter. As previously mentioned, we generated healthy and consistent loan growth in our high priority commercial business lines, including middle market, corporate and investment banking, and specialty lending, with these categories up 11% annualized. However, period end loan growth was flat in the first quarter due to flat line utilization, commercial real estate and senior housing pay downs and payoffs, and strategic loan portfolio rationalization efforts. Despite seasonal headwinds, our core deposits grew modestly in the first quarter. The team remains highly focused on accelerating core funding generation through sales activities and product expansion, which led to an increase in deposit production of roughly $300 million versus the fourth quarter and at a rate that was approximately eight basis points lower. January's non-interest-bearing deposit decline was impacted by seasonality and but deposit flows improved throughout the course of the quarter with a $299 million increase in the month of March. Given the strength of our core deposit growth, we reduced broker deposits for the third consecutive quarter. Looking at non-interest revenue, we experienced year-over-year growth in key categories, including treasury and payment solutions and our commercial sponsorship lines of business. However, total adjusted non-interest revenue declined modestly from a year ago, primarily driven by lower service charges and wealth management income as a result of the 2023 consumer checking modifications and third quarter 2023 global divestiture. Also, capital markets income was lower relative to more elevated levels experienced in the first quarter of 23, given the strong correlation to loan production. 2023 cost initiatives as well as ongoing diligence has led to flattish overall core expense growth year-over-year, while maintaining a level of strategic investments that positions Synovus well from a competitive standpoint in order to drive long-term shareholder value. On the asset quality front, credit losses were stable with previous quarters. Lastly, given continued economic uncertainty, we further bolstered our common equity Tier 1 ratio in the first quarter through solid earnings accretion and balance sheet management while completing a measured amount of opportunistic share repurchases. Common equity Tier 1 levels are the highest in over eight years and currently sits in the upper half of our stated range of 10% to 10.5%. Now I'll turn it over to Jamie to cover the first quarter results in greater detail. Jamie?