SouthState Bank Corporation

Thank you for standing by. My name is Mark and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to South State Corporation Q3 2024 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Will Matthews, Chief Financial Officer of SouthState Corporation. Will, please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to SouthState's third quarter 2024 earnings call. This is Will Matthews. I'm here with John Corbett, Steve Young, and Jeremy Lucas. We'll follow our normal format where John and I'll make a few brief remarks and then turn it over for Q&A. Before we begin our remarks, I want to remind you that the comments we make may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws and regulations. 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 our forward-looking statements and risks and uncertainties which may affect us. Now I'll turn the call over to John Corbett, our CEO.

Thank you, Will. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us for South State's third quarter results. For the quarter, we generated broad-based growth in loans, deposits, revenue, and earnings per share. Asset quality metrics remain stable, and expenses are in check. And with the backdrop of an improving yield curve, the setup is looking pretty good for 2025. We've got a positive GDP forecast and low unemployment, so it feels like we're transitioning to a period of expanding margins and accelerating growth, two ingredients that are good for any business. It's also been a quarter that presented the challenge of the hurricane season. Our hearts go out to our teammates and clients that endured the worst of the storms. For the most part, the severe damage you see in the news is isolated to specific areas and not reflective of the broader geography. However, power outages, cell phone disruption, and gasoline shortages were widespread for a week or more. Our business continuity team kept the bank running without disruption, so it really wasn't as much of an operational challenge since we've been through this before. But it was a chance to pull together as a community bank and for neighbors to help neighbors and for our team members to help one another. At South State, we have an employee-funded foundation called the Sunshine Fund. and that foundation provided generators, groceries, and needed supplies to fellow employees that were impacted by the storm. Several of you reached out with notes of concern and we appreciate that. We continue to be excited about our partnership with Independent Financial. Everything appears to be on track. We received shareholder approval in August and things are progressing as planned with the regulatory approval process. Rather than waiting until closing, Both the independent and South State teams are traveling together now throughout Texas, Colorado, and throughout the Southeast. We're building new friendships long before we get to the closing and a conversion next summer. All in all, things are looking pretty good. Our strategy is to build our firm in the best markets with the best scale and the best business model and culture. Our colleagues from independent share that vision. And together, we're working towards that goal, which we believe will drive long-term shareholder value. Will, why don't you go ahead and walk us through the moving parts on the balance sheet and the income statement?