Brookline Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRKL) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call April 25, 2024 1:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Laura Vaughn - Attorney
Paul A. Perrault - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Carl M. Carlson - Co-President & Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

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

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to Brookline Bancorp, Inc.'s First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note, this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Brookline Bancorp's Attorney, Laura Vaughn. Please go ahead.

Laura Vaughn

Thank you, Emily, and good afternoon, everyone. Yesterday, we issued our earnings release and presentation, which is available on the Investor Relations page of our website, brooklinebancorp.com and has been filed with the SEC. This afternoon's call will be hosted by Paul A. Perrault and Carl M. Carlson.

This call may contain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Brookline Bancorp. Please refer to Page 2 of our earnings presentation for our forward-looking statement disclaimer. Also, please refer to our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

Any references made during this presentation to non-GAAP measures are only made to assist you in understanding Brookline Bancorp's results and performance trends and should not be relied on as financial measures of actual results or future predictions. For a comparison and reconciliation to GAAP earnings, please see our earnings release.

I'm pleased to introduce Brookline Bancorp's Chairman and CEO, Paul Perrault.

Paul A. Perrault

Thanks, Laura. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on today's earnings call. At the start of the year, prevailing market sentiment suggested inflation was well contained and the Federal Reserve would implement substantial rate cuts, potentially up to 6 to 7 reductions throughout 2024.

However, the economic landscape remains dynamic. Unemployment rates persist at historically low levels, consumer spending remains steady and overall economic vitality endures as inflation remains a persistent concern. Within a matter of months, the market now anticipates only one rate cut for the year with some even speculating no cuts at all. The five-year and 10-year treasury rates have surged over 80 basis points since the end of last year.