Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Enterprise Financial Services Corp. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Please note that this call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]. I'd now like to hand the call over to Jim Lally, President and CEO. Please go ahead.

James Lally
President, CEO & Director

Thank you all very much for joining us this morning, and welcome to our 2026 first quarter earnings call. Joining me this morning is Keene Turner, EFSC's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, and Doug Bauche, Chief Banking Officer of Enterprise Bank & Trust.

Before we begin, I would like to remind everybody on the call that a copy of the release and accompanying presentation can be found on our website. The presentation and earnings release were furnished on SEC Form 8-K yesterday. Please refer to Slide 2 of the presentation titled Forward-Looking Statements and our most recent 10-K for reasons why actual results may vary from any forward-looking statements that we make today.

Our financial scorecard begins on Slide 3. The solid financial performance that we've generated over the past several years continued into the first quarter of 2026. For the quarter, we earned $1.30 per diluted share compared to a seasonally strong $1.45 in the linked quarter and $1.31 in the first quarter of 2025. This level of performance produced a return on assets of 1.16% and a pre-provision ROAA of 1.65% I would