Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call April 19, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Adriano Duarte - Senior Vice President And Investor Relations Officer
Tony Labozzetta - President and Chief Executive Officer
Tom Lyons - Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Mark Fitzgibbon - Piper Sandler
Bill Young - RBC Capital Markets
Manuel Navas - D.A. Davidson
Tim Switzer - KBW

Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Alex. I’ll be your conference operator today. At this time, I’d like to welcome everyone to the Provident Financial Services, Inc. First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the call over to Adriano Duarte, Investor Relations Officer. Please go ahead.

Adriano Duarte

Thank you, Alex. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter earnings call. Today's presenters are President and CEO, Tony Labozzetta; and Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Tom Lyons.

Before beginning the review of our financial results, we ask that you please take note of our standard caution, as to any forward-looking statements that may be made during the course of today's call. Our disclaimer is contained in yesterday evening's earnings release, which has been posted to the Investor Relations page on our website, www.provident.bank.

Now it's my pleasure to introduce Tony Labozzetta who will offer his perspective on the first quarter. Tony?

Tony Labozzetta

Tony. Thank you, Adriano. Good morning, everyone. And welcome to the Provident Financial Services earnings call. Before I go on to discuss the results for the quarter, I am delighted to say that as of the 11th of April, we have received all regulatory approvals to complete our merger with Lakeland Bancorp. We are grateful for the efforts of the members of our team and the Lakeland team who worked tirelessly to achieve this milestone, and are continue to work diligently to plan for the merger and integration of our two exceptional banks. We expect to complete the merger this quarter promptly following the subordinated debt raised that is a condition to close. This merger will bring together the two high-performing institutions with like-minded cultures, an unwavering commitment to the employee and customer experience, and a dedication-to excellence.

The scale and strong financial performance of our combined organizations will allow us to better invest in our future, compete for market share in the highly attractive and densely populated New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania markets, and serve our customers and communities while creating value for our shareholders. It will further aid us in attracting and retaining top talent and providing even better technological solutions for our customers and employees. We expect that Provident's two fee-based business lines, insurance and wealth management, will augment the broad product and service offerings available to the Lakeland Banc customers.