Stellar Bancorp, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Stellar Bancorp, Inc. Report's third quarter 2023 results 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, please press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Courtney Theriault, Chief Accounting Officer.

Thank you, Operator, and thank you to all who have joined our call today. Good morning. Our team would like to welcome you to our earnings call for the third quarter of 2023. This morning's earnings call will be led by our CEO, Bob Franklin, and CFO, Paul Egge. Also in attendance today are Steve Wretzloff, Executive Chairman of the company, Ray Vasooli, President of the company and CEO of the bank, and Joe West, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer of the 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 as amended. We intend all such statements to be covered by the safe 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 beliefs 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 as 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.stellerbankcorp.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 will now turn the call over to our CEO, Bob Franklin.

Thank you, Courtney, and good morning, and welcome to the Stellar Bank Bancorp Third Quarter Earnings Call. I begin my comments by thanking our fine team at Stellar Bank for their great work and extra effort to strengthen Stellar Bank's infrastructure. Our combination just over a year ago is now in its second phase of refinement following our core conversion, developing one culture, developing and better defining our staffing needs, refining our expenses to scale to an $11 billion organization, and aligning our efforts to make Stellar Bank the bank of choice in our markets. Though the industry continues to experience pressure on the deposit side, due mainly to interest rates, we have seen our base move towards stabilization. Rates have also put pressure on our net interest margin, but the negative effects are beginning to minimize And though we would not call a bottom with the uncertainties that still exist in the market, we feel we are close. Our credit metrics remain good and our markets remain strong, but we must be cautious as the effects of rapidly rising interest rates work through the economy. We did charge off one loan in the quarter, which was the result of a continued deterioration of a previously identified credit noted in the fourth quarter of 2022. The issues experienced in this credit are specific to the borrower and do not appear to be a trend within our loan book. We continue to believe that our underwriting and our markets remain good. We are determined to concentrate on building capital, liquidity, and staying focused on good underwriting. We are also making sure that we monitor our existing portfolio for any negative trends that may form in the future. We are pleased with our balance sheet positioning as we move to the fourth quarter of the year. Our goal is to put our institution in a position of having all options available to it as we move into 2024. Achieving our goal will create value for our shareholders, our employees, our customers, and our communities. I'll now turn the call over to Paul Legge, our CFO.