Start Time: 09:00 January 1, 0000 9:39 AM ET

Stellar Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:STEL)

Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call

April 28, 2023, 09:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Robert Franklin - CEO

Paul Egge - SEVP, CFO

Steve Retzloff - Executive Chairman

Ray Vitulli - President

Joe West - SEVP, Chief Credit Officer

Courtney Theriot - Chief Accounting Officer

Conference Call Participants

Eric Spector - Raymond James

Matt Olney - Stephens

Will Jones - KBW

Brad Milsaps - Piper Sandler

Operator

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Stellar Bancorp First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Courtney Theriot, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

Courtney Theriot

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 first quarter of 2023. This morning’s earnings call will be led by Stellar’s CEO, Bob Franklin; and CFO, Paul Egge.

Also in attendance today are Steve Retzloff, 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 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 statements, except as maybe required by law. Please see the last page of the text in this morning’s earnings release, which is available on our Web site at ir.stellarbancorpinc.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.

Robert Franklin

Thank you, Courtney, and good morning. Welcome to Stellar Bancorp's first quarter earnings call. I will begin by thanking the great team at Seller Bank for their hard work and dedication in making Stellar truly stellar. During the long weekend provided in February, our team completed a successful system conversion of our merged banks, bringing all Stellar Bank customers under one system. Our staff worked tirelessly to get this right, and I congratulate them on their success.