Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript April 19, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Jeff Tengel - Chief Executive Officer
Mark Ruggiero - Chief Financial Officer and Head of Consumer Lending

Conference Call Participants

Mark Fitzgibbon - Piper Sandler
Steve Moss - Raymond James
Laurie Hunsicker - Seaport Research
Chris O'Connell - KBW

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the INDB Independent Bank First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] Should After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions]

Before proceeding, please note that during this call we will be making forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors, including those described in our earnings release and other SEC filings. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any such statements.

In addition, some of our discussions today may include references to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Information about these non-GAAP measures, including reconciliation to GAAP measures, may be found in our earnings release and other SEC filings. These SEC filings can be accessed via the investor relations section of our website. Please also note that this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Jeff Tengel, CEO. Please go ahead.

Jeff Tengel

Thanks, Nick. Good morning, and thanks for joining us today. I'm accompanied this morning by CFO and Head of Consumer Lending, Mark Ruggiero.

Our first quarter performance continues to demonstrate the resilience of our franchise in a difficult environment and is a testament to our long-term proven operating model as a customer-focused community bank. Mark will take you through the details in a few minutes after I share some thoughts.

While the current higher-for-longer interest rate sentiment clearly creates a challenging environment not only for Rockland Trust, but for the entire industry, we continue to definitely navigate this uncertain environment. We are laser-focused on a number of key strategic priorities all centered around protecting short-term earnings, while positioning the bank for earnings growth when the overall environment improves.

One of those priorities is actively managing our commercial real estate office portfolio, while working to create a more diversified loan portfolio. We know we have a CRE concentration, but it's important to keep in mind that we've been here before. Throughout the last decade, we have made a number of acquisitions that, in some cases, created temporary CRE concentrations. Each time, we actively manage this segment while growing other parts of our business to bring us back in balance. We fully expect to do the same now. This historical context is important to note. We have the muscle memory and experienced staff to execute this same game plan.