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Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation (AUB +0.90%) reported third quarter results that included a decrease in its taxable equivalent net interest margin to 3.88% as funding costs rose and customers migrated to higher-yielding deposit products. Management reported that loan growth was led by the commercial and industrial and construction portfolios, reaching a period-end total of $29.3 billion. The company completed a subordinated debt refinancing, issuing $250 million in new notes to redeem $168 million in outstanding higher-rate debt. Management maintained its full-year guidance for several key metrics while lowering its net charge-off expectations based on current credit trends. The company also continued its strategic expansion into North Carolina, opening new branches in the Raleigh region.
Operator: Hello, and welcome to Atlantic Union Bankshares third quarter 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press 1-1 on your telephone. You would then hear an automated message advising that your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press 1-1 again. I would now like to turn the call over to William Cimino, head of investor relations. You may begin.
William Cimino: Thank you, Tawanda, and good morning, everyone. I have Atlantic Union Bankshares president and CEO, John C. Asbury and executive vice president and CFO, Alexander D. Dodd with me today. We also have other members of our executive management team with us for the question-and-answer period. Please note that today's earnings release and the accompanying slide presentation we are going through on this webcast are available to download on our investor website investors.atlanticunionbank.com. During today's call, we will comment on our financial performance using both GAAP metrics and non GAAP financial measures.
Important information about these non GAAP financial measures, including reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures, are in the appendix to our slide presentation and in our earnings release for the third quarter of 2026. We will also make forward looking statements, which are not statements of historical fact and are subject to risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that actual performance will not differ materially from any future expectation or result expressed or implied by these forward looking statements. Undertake no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward looking statement except as required by law.
Please refer to our earnings release and slide presentation issued today our other SEC filings for further discussion of the company's risk factors and other important information regarding our forward looking statements, including factors that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied. All comments made during today's call are subject to that safe harbor statement. And at the end of the call, we will take questions from the research analyst community. And now I will turn the call over to John.
John C. Asbury: Thank you, Bill. Good morning, everyone. This was a solid quarter with healthy loan growth, strong credit quality, and a modest increase in adjusted operating earnings. Higher net interest income and lower credit costs supported the result while funding cost increased and fee income moderated. I will briefly cover the quarter's highlights and share some market perspective before Alexander reviews the financial results. Our third quarter results reflect disciplined execution and sound underlying performance despite a more challenging funding environment. With merger related items behind us, the only significant adjustment this quarter was a loss on debt extinguishment related to our subordinated debt refinancing.
Over the past several years, we have deployed capital deliberately to strengthen the franchise and support long term growth This quarter provides further evidence that our investments is supporting earnings capacity and organic growth while our earnings and capital generation continue to provide flexibility to invest in the franchise and return capital to shareholders. As always, we remain focused on soundness, profitability and growth in that order. Our North Carolina expansion is underway. We began with 1 branch in the Raleigh region and plan to add 7 new branches there. Bringing us to 8 across the region when complete. 1 new location's already open, and 2 more are scheduled to open by early November.
Beginning next year, we also expect to open 3 branches in Wilmington area. In parallel, we are expanding our commercial banking teams in North Carolina. Together, these investments are designed to build full service relationships, support long term deposit gathering and commercial banking growth, and generate attractive risk adjusted returns over time. We believe our model translates well to these markets. We combine local market knowledge, local decision making, and responsiveness with the capabilities and balance sheet strength of a larger regional bank. That is the value proposition we are bringing to North Carolina, and it is the value proposition that we have executed well across the rest of the franchise.
I will briefly cover our third quarter highlights and share some market perspective before Alexander reviews the financial results. The operating environment does remain uncertain. Shaped by geopolitical tensions, energy price volatility, persistent inflation, and an evolving interest rate outlook. Within our customer base, activity remains constructive, though, and loan pipelines are healthy. Customers are becoming more selective as financing and project costs remain elevated, but overall activity level remains supportive of profitable growth. Against that backdrop, client activity and disciplined execution produced healthy loan growth during a traditionally seasonally slower quarter. We remain focused on profitable growth supported by relationship based funding appropriate pricing and attractive risk adjusted returns.