Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBC) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call January 26, 2024 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Bob Rivers - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Jim Fitzgerald - Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Treasurer
Conference Call Participants
Mark Fitzgibbon - Piper Sandler
Laurie Hunsicker - Seaport Research Partners
Damon DelMonte - KBW
Operator
Hello, and welcome to Eastern Bankshares Inc. Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call will include forward-looking statements, including statements about Eastern's future financial and operating results, outlook, business strategies and plans as well as other opportunities and potential risks that management foresees. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current estimates or beliefs and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or the timing of events to differ materially from the views expressed today.
More information about such risks and uncertainties is set forth under the caption 'forward-looking statements' in the earnings press release as well as in the 'Risk Factors' section and other disclosures in the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements made during this call represent management's views and estimates as of today and the company undertakes no obligation to update these statements, as a result of new information or future events.
During the call, the company will also discuss both GAAP and certain non-GAAP financial measures. For a reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures, please refer to the company's earnings press release, which can be found at investor.easternbank.com. Please note, this event is being recorded [Operator Instructions] Thank you.
I would now like to turn the call over to Bob Rivers, Chair and CEO. Please go ahead.
Bob Rivers
Thank you, Julie. Good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining our fourth quarter earnings call. I hope year 2024 is off to a good start. With me today is Jim Fitzgerald, our Chief Administrative and Chief Financial Officer, who will review our financial [inaudible].
As I reflect on the year 2023, it was a year of strategic repositioning for Eastern. We remain nimble in navigating in a certain environment while remaining focused on our strategic priorities. We have emerged from 2023 better and stronger despite all of the year's challenges and believe we are well positioned for success in 2024 and beyond. As we answered 2023, Eastern and all banks were facing a big challenge with higher interest rates, changing customer preferences which placed a greater emphasis on liquidity and general economic headwinds. As you all know, these conditions led to the failures of a few US banks, marking a very tumultuous time for our industry. We responded quickly and boldly to this environment by restructuring our securities portfolio in the first quarter. The sale allowed us to immediately improve both our funding position and our earnings outlook. When we look back at this transaction, we are very pleased with the outcomes and very glad we did it early when the industry headwinds became apparent.