SouthState Bank Corporation

Hello all and a warm welcome to the South State Corporation first quarter 2022 conference call. My name is Lydia and I'll be your operator today. If you'd like to ask a question at the end of the presentation, you may do so by pressing start followed by one on your telephone keypad. It's my pleasure to now hand you over to our host, Will Matthews, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead when you're ready.

Good morning and welcome to South States first quarter 2022 earnings call. This is Will Matthews and joining me on this call are Robert Hill, John Corbett, and Steve Young. The format for the call will be that we will provide prepared remarks and we'll then open it up for questions. Yesterday evening, we issued a press release to announce earnings for Q1 2022. We've also posted presentation slides that we will refer to on today's call on our investor relations website. Before we begin our remarks, I want to remind you that comments we make may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements we may make are subject to the Safe Harbor rules. Please review the forward-looking disclaimer and Safe Harbor language in the press release and presentation for more information about risks and uncertainties which may affect us. Now I'll turn the call over to Robert Hill, Executive Chairman.

Good morning, and thank you for joining the South State earnings call. Our results for the first quarter showed progress in many areas, as you will hear from John and Will. The area where I see the most excitement as we start this year is in the energy created by our teams gathering again in person. We have held events across our company this quarter that brought our people together. These events have been a welcome opportunity to spend time face-to-face with each other. You can see the power of personal relationships that are being rekindled, and in some cases, just beginning. Our team has been amazing working through unprecedented circumstances, and to see them so excited to be together again is exhilarating. These relationships are the magic that create a high-performing bank, and to see this reunion is a welcome sign of the potential at South State. I'll now turn the call over to John Corbett.