United Community Banks, Inc.

pre-tax, pre-credit earnings, and other non-GAAP financial information. For these non-GAAP financial measures, United has provided a reconciliation to the corresponding GAAP financial measure in the financial highlights section of the earnings release, as well as at the end of the investor presentation. Both are included on the website at ucbi.com. Copies of the first quarter's earnings release and investor presentation were filed this morning on Form 8K with the SEC. and a replay of this call will be available in the investor relations section of the company's website at ucbi.com. Please be aware that during this call, forward-looking statements may be made by representatives of United. Any forward-looking statements should be considered in light of risks and uncertainties described on pages 5 and 6 of the company's 2024 Form 10-K, as well as other information provided by the company in its filings with the SEC and included on its website. At this time, I'll turn the call over to Lynn Harten.

Good morning, and thank you for joining our call today. We're happy to report a strong start to 2025. Operating earnings were 59 cents per share, with an operating return on assets of 1.04%, both solid improvements from a year ago. Loans grew at an annualized pace of just over 5%, and deposits grew at an annualized rate of 5% as well. We saw growth in non-interest-bearing DDA for the first time in several quarters, with balances up $46 million from year-end. Our net interest margin increased 10 basis points over the fourth quarter, driven by lower deposit costs. Credit continues to reflect quality underwriting, with non-performing assets lower and credit losses stable from last quarter. Operating expenses were lower both from last quarter and when compared to the first quarter of 2024. I'd like to congratulate and thank our teams throughout the bank for strong, balanced performance as we begin the year. This quarter, J.D. Power recognized United for the 11th time as the retail banking satisfaction winner for the Southeast. They also recognized us as being number one in trust and number one in people this year. It's an amazing accomplishment for our team. United teammates continue to live out our values of team, truth, trust, and the golden rule. I am proud to be part of this great group of people. With these results and the strength of our balance sheet, we are well positioned to succeed despite the uncertainties developing in the economy. Ultimate tariff impacts are impossible to predict at this point. As you can imagine, we have been soliciting feedback from our clients on the issue, and they reflect confidence in their ability to navigate the environment successfully. Impacted companies are adjusting quickly, with price increases, sharing or splitting tariffs with suppliers, finding ways to change their material sourcing, and cutting costs in other areas to maintain margins. Consumer spending and employment in our markets remain strong. We are watching the environment closely but see no calls for elevated levels of concern at the current time. Jefferson, why don't you cover the quarter in more detail now?

Thank you, Lynn, and good morning. On page five, we were very pleased with our deposit growth in the first quarter. We enjoyed $309 million of deposit growth, or 5.3% annualized. We achieved this growth even with approximately $85 million and seasonal public funds outflow in the quarter. We were also happy to see 3% annualized DDA growth. I would also like to add that the deposit growth funded more than all of our solid loan growth in the quarter. We were proactive in lowering our deposit cost. Our cost of total deposits improved by 15 basis points in the quarter. We have a total deposit beta of 30% so far and we continue to believe that we are on pace for a high 30% range to posit beta through the cycle. We were able to reprice $1.4 billion in CDs, costing 4.14% that matured in the first quarter to 3.49% while growing the book slightly. On page six, we show that we have additional opportunity in repricing CDs with $1.3 billion maturing at 3.78%. We should be able to save 25 to 30 basis points on these maturities. On page seven, we turn to the loan portfolio where growth continued specifically in areas that we are targeting. We had 7% annualized growth in CNI, which includes owner-occupied CRE. And we also had 15% annualized growth in the Navitas book. We have also been targeting our HELOC loan book for growth, and we were pleased with 13% annualized growth in that area. Turning to page eight, where we highlight some of the strengths of our balance sheet. We believe that our balance sheet is in good position from a liquidity and capital standpoint to be ready for any economic volatility. We have no wholesale borrowings and very limited broker deposits. Our loan-to-deposit ratio is low and stayed at 78% with our balanced loan and deposit growth. Meanwhile, our CET1 ratio increased to 13.3% and remains a source of strength for the bank. Moving to page 9, we look at capital in more detail. Our TCE ratio was up 21 basis points and went over 9%, and we had increases in most of our regulatory capital ratios. We were able to grow capital in a solid way, even with good loan growth in the quarter. Our TCE and all of our capital ratios remain above peers, which we believe will allow us to be opportunistic in our capital use. Moving on, spread income increased 6.5% compared to last year. and 3.2% annualized from the fourth quarter, even with two fewer days. The margin came in 10 basis points higher in the first quarter. The increase was in line with our expectation and came mainly due to our ability to bring down deposit costs. Excluding two basis points and less purchase accounting adjustments, our core margin increased by 12 basis points. Moving to page 11, On an operating basis, non-interest income was down $4.8 million from last quarter. That said, our run rate of fee income was essentially flat, excluding last quarter's notable items, such as an MSR write-up and realized securities gains. Operating expenses on page 12 were improved by $1 million in the quarter, which we were pleased with as we were able to generate some operating leverage in a quarter That is typically our weakest seasonal quarter. Moving to credit quality, net charge-offs were 21 basis points in the quarter, flat to Q4 as Navitas losses improved and offset slightly higher bank losses. I will finish on page 14 with the allowance for credit losses. Our loan loss provision was $15.4 million in the quarter and more than covered our $9.6 million in net charge-offs. We also covered loan growth with the provision, and the allowance for credit losses moved up just slightly to 1.21% of loans. We reduced our Hurricane Helene Reserve by $2.6 million to $7.2 million as we are feeling more comfortable with potential loss content. We believe that our current provision is sufficient to cover any potential losses. With that, I'll pass it back to Lynn.