Synovus Financial Corp.

Good morning and welcome to the Synovus fourth quarter 2024 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 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 Jennifer Denver, Senior Director, 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, Genovese.com. Kevin Blair, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer will begin the call. He will then 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. Last night we were pleased to release strong 2024 fourth quarter and full year results. Synovus reported fourth quarter EPS of $1.25, which was up 6% from the previous quarter. Excluding the FDIC special assessment, adjusted fourth quarter EPS rose 18% year over year. For 2024, EPS was $3.03, while adjusted EPS was $4.43. 2024 was a year of healthy, focused growth, effective collaboration, and delivery of exceptional value to our clients, team members, and shareholders. Over the past year, Synovus executed well on the strategies we outlined in late 2023 and demonstrated solid momentum, which should continue in 2025 and beyond. Last year, we grew balances 4% in our higher growth commercial lending segments, which includes middle market, corporate and investment banking, and specialty lending. While we had strong loan production in these segments, they were impacted by significant payoffs in 2024 due to broad-based market activity. We also grew core deposits by 3% and launched a new legal industry deposit vertical and small business banking product bundles. As a result of our relationship banking approach, we grew treasury management, capital markets, and wealth fees at a healthy and sustainable pace. At the same time, we continue to exercise disciplined operating cost control in 2024 with adjusted non-interest expense declining 3% and an adjusted efficiency ratio of 54.33%. Our loan losses improved year over year, and the preliminary common equity tier one ratio increased 62 basis points to 10.84%. Finally, we had strong profitability metrics with adjusted return on average assets of 1.15% and adjusted return on tangible common equity of 15.84%. Now let's move to the financial highlights for the fourth quarter. The most notable highlights in the fourth quarter included net interest income growth, significant quarter-over-quarter improvement in our cost of deposits, net interest margin expansion, and continued growth in non-interest revenue. Also, net charge-offs were at the lower end of the expected range, while capital ratios continued to move higher. Adjusted revenue increased 3% on a sequential and year-over-year basis. Lower deposit and funding costs and loan hedge maturities drove 3% quarter-over-quarter growth in net interest income. Funded loan production remained strong, but period end and average loans declined from a drop in commercial line utilization elevated levels of loan payoffs, and further strategic non-relationship loan rationalization. Healthy core deposit growth was supported by public fund seasonality, as well as growth in money market and operating deposits across our core commercial business line. Our team members remain focused on accelerating core funding generation through sales activity and product expansion, such as the new legal industry deposit vertical. Adjusted non-interest revenue increased 2% from the prior quarter as stronger core banking, capital markets, and wealth management income more than offset lower mortgage lending and commercial sponsorship revenue. Adjusted non-interest expense was up 2% from the third quarter and down 12% year over year. Ongoing cost initiatives and continued diligence have contained overall expense growth. At the same time, we have continued making strategic investments that position Synovus to drive long-term shareholder value. On the asset quality front, as expected, net charge-offs were 26 basis points compared to 25 basis points in the third quarter and 31 basis points in 2024. Lastly, we further bolstered our common equity Tier 1 ratio in the fourth quarter through solid earnings accretion while executing about $50 million of share repurchases. Before I turn it over to Jamie, I want to acknowledge Chief Credit Officer Bob Derrick's significant contributions to this company over his more than 20 years at Synovus. Today's earnings call is his final one before he retires at the end of March. Bob has been a tremendous credit organization leader over the past five years, and we wish him well in his retirement. Now Jamie will review our fourth quarter results in greater detail. Jamie?