Stellar Bancorp, Inc.

Thank you for standing by. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Stellar Bancorp Inc. Q2 2024 earnings call. 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. Thank you. I'd now like to turn the call over to Courtney Theriault, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and thank you all that have joined our call today. Good morning. Our team would like to welcome you to our earnings call for the second quarter of 2024. This morning's earnings call will be led by our CEO, Bob Franklin, and CFO, Paul Egge. Also in attendance today are Steve Redfloss, Executive Chairman of the company, Ray Vitulli, 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 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 statements, 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.stellarsancorp.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 Bancorp earnings call for the second quarter. We are pleased to report our results that represent the great work of the Stellar team. Our goal has been to de-risk our balance sheet during the cycle of higher interest rates by focusing on capital, liquidity, and credit. Our second quarter results reflect these efforts. Our commercial real estate portfolio is now within the regulatory guidance and our goal is to manage and maintain these levels moving forward. While our focus has always been and will remain on relationship banking, we are taking a more balanced approach to our lending. This approach includes a higher emphasis on small to medium-sized businesses and we continue to emphasize the acquisition of those operating accounts that are so important to our organization. We have added great personnel to our staff to lead these efforts across our footprint. We are pleased with the success of our officer development program and how they have supplemented our CNI efforts. We look forward to great results from them over the years to come. We remain cautious as we look to the back half of the year without clarity on interest rates, as well as being in an election year. We are excited about the future. and ready to play offense when the economy and quality funding create room for growth. Our goal has been to provide Stellar Bank optionality and its strategic goals by building a strong deposit base, maintaining a good net interest margin, and building our capital base. We believe this positions us to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves moving into and through 2025. We are well-positioned and proud of the markets we serve in building our strong Texas franchise. I will now turn the call over to Paul Egge, our CFO, for more detail on the quarter.