Thank you, Cynthia. Welcome, and good morning to everyone who called in, and those who may listen later. This is Jeff Deuel, CEO of Heritage. Attending with me are Don Hinson, Chief Financial Officer; Bryan McDonald, Chief Operating Officer; and Tony Chalfant, Chief Credit Officer.
Our earnings release went out this morning premarket, and hopefully, you've had an opportunity to review it prior to the call. We have also posted an updated first quarter investor presentation on the Investor Relations portion of our website. We will reference that presentation during the call. Please refer to the forward-looking statements in the press release.
Overall, we are very pleased with our financial results for the first quarter, particularly given the pandemic environment that has been imposed on all of us. We are also very proud of our team and their strong performance during a very difficult period of time.
The first quarter results have been influenced by the declining rate environment, carefully managed expenses and full participation in PPP Round 2. Additionally, our long-standing focus on credit quality and managing loan concentrations has played out well for us so far and that discipline, together with the improving economic forecast, has enabled us to report more favorable credit trends and recapture of some of our reserve build from last year.
The combination of these factors has allowed us to report an EPS of $0.70 for the first quarter as well as an ROA of 1.51%. While overall loan volume continued to be muted in the first quarter, our team's focus was on portfolio management and Round 2 of PPP with notable success.
With most branch lobbies reopened together with PPP Round 1 and Round 2 moving into forgiveness phase as well as widespread vaccine deployment in our region, our teams are now focused on more traditional outreach to customers and prospects. We are already seeing results in a rapidly growing pipeline of deposits and loans, which positions us well for the balance of the year and into 2022.
I also want to add that we have continued to focus on completing important technology initiatives during the past year, which we have highlighted on Page 6 of the investor deck. I'm pleased to report that our CL 360 initiative, one that will automate the loan origination process, has launched internally, and we will continue to enhance that platform over the balance of this year. Additionally, our new CRM platform, Heritage 360, will launch in June and becomes the foundation for client service across the bank. Both of these undertakings will enable us to be more efficient, will enhance capacity on the team and allow us to provide a more seamless customer experience. It's very exciting for the team to be moving these 2 initiatives into production.
We'll now move to Don, who will take a few minutes to cover our financial results.