Stellar Bancorp, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Stella Bancorp, Inc. Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, to Courtney Theriault, EVP and Chief Accounting Officer of Stellar Bank. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and thank you to all who have joined our call today. Good morning. I'm Courtney Terrio, the Chief Accounting Officer of Stellar Bank, and our team would like to welcome you to the Stellar Bank Corp, Inc. Earnings Call for the third quarter of 2022. This morning's earnings call will be led by Bob Franklin, CEO of the company. Also in attendance will be Steve Retzlaff, Executive Chairman of the company, Ray Vitulli, President of the company, and CEO of Stellar Bank, Paul Egge, Senior Executive Vice President and CFO of the company and Stellar Bank, and Joe West, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Credit Officer of Stellar Bank. Before we begin, I need to remind everyone that some of the remarks made today constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities litigation reform act of 1995. We intend all such statements to be covered by the state's harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Act. Also note that if we give guidance about future results, that guidance is only a reflection of management's belief at the time the statement is made, and such beliefs are subject to change. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, except it may be required by law. please see the last page of the text in this morning's earnings release, which is available on our website at ir.stellerbankcorpinc.com for additional information about the risk factors associated with forward-looking statements. At the conclusion of our remarks, we will open the line and allow time for questions. I now turn the call over to our CEO, Bob Franklin.

Thank you, Courtney, and good morning to everyone. First and foremost, I'd like to welcome the entire ABTX and CBTX teams to the Steller family. It took a little longer than we initially planned, but we are so pleased to have completed our merger so that we can finally be one organization. I'd like to personally thank Steve Retzlaff and Ray Vitulli for their constant support and partnership as we work together to unite these two great organizations to support our vision. I also want to thank the great teams of both organizations that have performed admirably as we have awaited this transition. We are beginning our journey as Stellar Bancorp, but until we complete our core system integration in the first quarter of 2023, we will continue to conduct business as Allegiance Bank and Community Bank of Texas, a division of Allegiance Bank. That said, we cannot wait to open our doors as Stellar Bank. We will release our brand to the market over the next few months as we get closer to conversion to allow our customer base to begin to become familiar with our brand. Our first priority is making sure that all of our stakeholders are comfortable with the merger. We are mindful of maintaining our great team, our incredible customer base, and assuring our community partners that we that we will be there to provide the same great support that both banks are known for in the market. We believe there is great power in the combined franchise. Stellar Bank is well positioned as we take our place in the top tier of banks in our market. We will also be uniquely positioned as the largest locally headquartered bank in our market. We are and will remain a true community bank taking local deposits and lending those deposits back into our local communities. Today, we are reporting our last quarter as standalone CBTX and ABTX. Our goal is to give you some context around the two banks' third quarters before merger close and to begin to show the great earning power gained by combining these two organizations together. I will focus my remaining commentary on the current operating environment and our strategic priorities. It has been repeated many times, don't fight the Fed. The Federal Reserve is making very clear their intentions to curb inflation by any means necessary, creating a unique and unprecedented market backdrop. So while we appreciate the benefits of higher rates, we must also be sensitive to the impacts on our customers, and our markets in general. We will focus on capital and liquidity and stay disciplined on credit given the uncertainty of the economy in 2023. We have an experienced lending staff and a strong credit culture. We have a uniquely relationship-driven deposit base and a staff that stays close to those customers. We reside in one of the best markets in the United States to do business, and the long-term future for our franchise is great. We will continue our determination to make sure that we have a successful combination of these two franchises. I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Paul Egge.