First Financial Bancorp

11/04/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/04/2025 08:46

Quarterly Report for Quarter Ending September 30, 2025 (Form 10-Q)

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL
CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
FIRST FINANCIAL BANCORP. AND SUBSIDIARIES
(Unaudited)
The following discussion and analysis is presented by management to facilitate the understanding of the financial condition, cash flows, changes in financial condition and results of operations of First Financial Bancorp. Management's discussion and analysis identifies trends and material changes that occurred during the reporting periods presented and should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying Notes.
All significant reclassifications of prior period amounts, if applicable, have been made to conform to the current period's presentation and had no effect on the Company's previously reported net income or financial condition.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
First Financial Bancorp. is an $18.6 billion financial holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company primarily operates through First Financial Bank, an Ohio-chartered commercial bank with 127 full service banking centers at September 30, 2025. First Financial provides banking and financial services products to business and retail clients through its six lines of business: Commercial, Retail Banking, Mortgage Banking, Wealth Management, Investment Commercial Real Estate and Commercial Finance. The Commercial Finance business lends to targeted industry verticals and has a national geographic footprint. Wealth Management, operating under the brand of Yellow Cardinal Advisory Group, had $4.0 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2025, and provides the following services: financial planning, investment management, trust administration, estate settlement, business succession planning services, brokerage services and retirement planning.
Additional information about First Financial, including its products, services and banking locations, is available on the
Company's website at www.bankatfirst.com.
The primary components of First Financial's operating results for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2025 are discussed in greater detail in the sections that follow.
MARKET STRATEGY
First Financial develops a competitive advantage by utilizing a local market focus to provide superior service and build long-term relationships with clients while helping them achieve greater financial success. First Financial serves a combination of metropolitan and community markets in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois through its full-service banking centers. First Financial's investment in community markets is an important part of the Bank's core funding base and has historically provided stable, low-cost funding sources.
First Financial also has certain specialty lending platforms that extend beyond the geographic footprint of its banking centers. These specialty finance businesses provide insurance premium financing, equipment lease financing, franchise financing and funding to clients within the financial services industry.
First Financial's market selection process includes multiple factors, but markets are primarily chosen for their potential for long-term profitability and growth. First Financial intends to concentrate plans for future growth and capital investment within its current markets, and will continue to evaluate additional growth opportunities in metropolitan markets located within, or in close proximity to, the Company's current geographic footprint. Additionally, First Financial may assess strategic acquisitions that provide product line extensions or industry verticals that complement its existing business and diversify its product suite and revenue streams.
BUSINESS COMBINATIONS
BankFinancial Corporation
In August 2025, First Financial entered into a merger agreement with BankFinancial Corporation to acquire all of its equity shares in an all-stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, each outstanding share of BankFinancial common stock will be converted into the right to receive 0.48 shares of First Financial common stock, valuing the transaction at approximately $151.0 million, based on First Financial's closing stock price on September 30, 2025. Headquartered in Burr Ridge, Illinois, BankFinancial is the sole owner of BankFinancial, National Association, which will merge into First Financial Bank. As of
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September 30, 2025, BankFinancial operated 18 banking centers in the Chicago metropolitan area and had, on an unaudited basis, approximately $1.5 billion of total assets, $759.8 million of total loans and $1.2 billion of total deposits.
The closing of the BankFinancial acquisition is subject to customary conditions, including, among others, receipt of required regulatory approvals; the absence of any governmental order that restrains, prevents or materially alters the transactions contemplated by the merger agreement; the accuracy of the parties' representations and warranties contained in the agreement (subject to certain qualifications); and the parties' material compliance with the covenants and agreements in the agreement.
No First Financial shareholder approval is required, but the transaction is subject to approval by BankFinancial shareholders, for which a vote is expected to occur at a special meeting to be held on December 18, 2025. The Company expects the acquisition to close in the first quarter of 2026.
Westfield Bancorp
Subsequent to the end of the third quarter, First Financial Bancorp acquired Westfield Bancorp, Inc., an Ohio corporation, effective November 1, 2025. Upon completion of the transaction, Westfield Bank, FSB, a federal savings bank, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Westfield Bancorp, merged into First Financial Bank. As of September 30, 2025, Westfield Bancorp operated seven full-service banking offices and had, on an unaudited basis, approximately $2.1 billion of total assets, $1.7 billion of total loans and $1.8 billion of total deposits.
Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, First Financial acquired all of the issued and outstanding equity securities of Westfield Bancorp in exchange for a cash payment of $260.0 million and 2,753,094 shares of First Financial common stock, equal to $64.4 million based on the Company's stock price on the date the transaction, for a total purchase price of $324.4 million
This acquisition supplements First Financial's existing commercial banking and wealth management presence in Northeast Ohio by adding all of Westfield's retail banking locations and its commercial, insurance agency and private banking services.
The acquisition of Westfield had no impact on the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheet or Statements of Income at and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025.
Agile Premium Finance
In February 2024, First Financial completed its acquisition of Agile Premium Finance for $96.9 million in an all cash transaction. Headquartered in Lincolnshire, IL, Agile originates commercial loans for the payment of annual property and casualty insurance for businesses. Agile is among industry leaders in the premium finance lending space and is active in all 50 states. Agile loans are secured by the unearned premium of the insurance policies and have an average original term of approximately ten months. Upon completion of the transaction, Agile became a division of the Bank and continues to operate as Agile Premium Finance, taking advantage of its existing brand recognition within the insurance premium financing industry.
The Agile transaction was accounted for using the acquisition method of accounting and accordingly, assets acquired, liabilities assumed and consideration exchanged were recorded at estimated fair value on the acquisition date in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 805, Business Combinations. The fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed were $97.8 million and $2.7 million, respectively. Fair value measurements for the Agile transaction were considered final as of February 2025. Goodwill resulting from the Agile acquisition was $1.8 million while other intangible assets created in the transaction include a customer list, non-compete agreements, trade name and a servicing asset.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
The Company utilizes certain non-GAAP financial measures, which First Financial believes provides useful insight to the readers of the Consolidated Financial Statements. These non-GAAP measures should be supplemental to primary GAAP measures and should not be read in isolation or relied upon as a substitute for the primary GAAP measures.
For analytical purposes, net interest income is presented in the following table adjusted to a tax equivalent basis assuming a 21% marginal tax rate. Net interest income is disclosed on a tax equivalent basis to consistently reflect income from tax-exempt assets, such as municipal loans and investments, in order to facilitate a comparison between taxable and tax-exempt amounts. Management believes it is a standard practice in the banking industry to present net interest margin and net interest income on a fully tax equivalent basis as these measures provide useful information to make peer comparisons.
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Three months ended Nine months ended
(Dollars in thousands) September 30, 2025 June 30, 2025 September 30, 2025 September 30, 2024
Net interest income $ 160,486 $ 158,269 $ 468,051 $ 457,611
Tax equivalent adjustment 1,248 1,246 3,707 4,315
Net interest income - tax equivalent $ 161,734 $ 159,515 $ 471,758 $ 461,926
Average earning assets $ 15,968,153 $ 15,814,576 $ 15,845,745 $ 15,074,697
Net interest margin (1)
3.99 % 4.01 % 3.95 % 4.05 %
Net interest margin (FTE) (1)
4.02 % 4.05 % 3.98 % 4.09 %
(1)Calculated using annualized net interest income divided by average earning assets.
In addition to capital ratios defined by the U.S. banking agencies, First Financial considers various measures when evaluating capital utilization and adequacy, including the return on average tangible shareholder's equity and the tangible common equity ratio. These calculations are intended to complement the capital ratios defined by the U.S. banking agencies for both absolute and comparative purposes and may be useful for evaluating the performance of a business as the ratios calculate the capital and return available to common shareholders without the impact of intangible assets and their related amortization. As GAAP does not include capital ratio measures, the Company believes there are no comparable GAAP financial measures to these ratios. These ratios are not formally defined by GAAP or codified in the federal banking regulations and, therefore, are considered to be non-GAAP financial measures. First Financial encourages readers to consider its Consolidated Financial Statements in their entirety and not to rely upon any single financial measure.
The following table reconciles non-GAAP capital ratios to GAAP:
Three months ended Nine months ended
(Dollars in thousands) September 30, 2025 June 30, 2025 September 30, 2025 September 30, 2024
Net income (a)
$ 71,923 $ 69,996 $ 193,212 $ 163,945
Average total shareholders' equity 2,575,203 2,515,747 2,516,675 2,306,147
Less:
Average goodwill (1,007,656) (1,007,656) (1,007,656) (1,007,264)
Average other intangibles (74,448) (76,076) (76,234) (83,764)
Average tangible equity(b)
1,493,099 1,432,015 1,432,785 1,215,119
Total shareholders' equity 2,631,855 2,558,155 2,631,855 2,450,438
Less:
Goodwill (1,007,656) (1,007,656) (1,007,656) (1,007,656)
Other intangibles (73,797) (75,458) (73,797) (81,547)
Ending tangible equity(c)
1,550,402 1,475,041 1,550,402 1,361,235
Total assets 18,554,506 18,634,255 18,554,506 18,146,332
Less:
Goodwill (1,007,656) (1,007,656) (1,007,656) (1,007,656)
Other intangibles (73,797) (75,458) (73,797) (81,547)
Ending tangible assets (d)
17,473,053 17,551,141 17,473,053 17,057,129
Risk-weighted assets (e)
14,164,934 14,129,683 14,164,934 13,800,728
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Three months ended Nine months ended
(Dollars in thousands) September 30, 2025 June 30, 2025 September 30, 2025 September 30, 2024
Total average assets 18,566,188 18,419,437 18,452,133 17,630,374
Less:
Average goodwill (1,007,656) (1,007,656) (1,007,656) (1,007,264)
Average other intangibles (74,448) (76,076) (76,234) (83,764)
Average tangible assets (f)
17,484,084 17,335,705 17,368,243 16,539,346
Ending common shares outstanding (g)
95,757,250 95,760,617 95,757,250 95,486,317
Ratios
Return on average tangible shareholders' equity (a)/(b)
19.11 % 19.61 % 18.03 % 18.02 %
Ending tangible shareholders' equity as a percent of:
Ending tangible assets (c)/(d)
8.87 % 8.40 % 8.87 % 7.98 %
Risk-weighted assets (c)/(e)
10.95 % 10.44 % 10.95 % 9.86 %
Average tangible shareholders' equity to average tangible assets (b)/(f)
8.54 % 8.26 % 8.25 % 7.35 %
Tangible book value per share (c)/(g)
$ 16.19 $ 15.40 $ 16.19 $ 14.26
OVERVIEW OF OPERATIONS
Linked quarter comparison: Third quarter 2025 net income was $71.9 million and earnings per diluted common share were $0.75. This compares with second quarter 2025 net income of $70.0 million and earnings per diluted common share of $0.73. Return on average assets was 1.54% for the third quarter of 2025 compared to 1.52% for the second quarter of 2025. Return on average shareholders' equity was 11.08% for the third quarter of 2025 compared to 11.16% for the second quarter of 2025.
Year-to-date comparison: For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, net income was $193.2 million and earnings per diluted common share were $2.02. This compares with net income of $163.9 million and earnings per diluted common share of $1.72 for the first nine months of 2024. Return on average assets for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 was 1.40% compared to 1.24% for the same period in 2024, and return on average shareholders' equity was 10.26% and 9.50% for the first nine months of 2025 and 2024, respectively.
(Dollars in thousands) September 30, 2025 December 31, 2024
Balance Sheet - End of Period
Total assets $ 18,554,506 $ 18,570,261
Loans and leases 11,714,551 11,761,778
Investment securities 3,611,310 3,375,334
Deposits 14,433,448 14,329,138
Shareholders' equity 2,631,855 2,438,041
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Three months ended Nine months ended
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data) September 30, 2025 June 30, 2025 September 30, 2025 September 30, 2024
Earnings
Net interest income $ 160,486 $ 158,269 $ 468,051 $ 457,611
Net income 71,923 69,996 193,212 163,945
Per Share
Net income per common share-basic $ 0.76 $ 0.74 $ 2.04 $ 1.74
Net income per common share-diluted 0.75 0.73 2.02 1.72
Cash dividends declared per common share 0.25 0.24 0.73 0.70
Book value per common share (end of period) 27.48 26.71 27.48 25.66
Tangible book value per common share (end of period)(1)
16.19 15.40 16.19 14.26
Market price (end of period) 25.25 24.26 25.25 25.23
Ratios
Return on average assets 1.54 % 1.52 % 1.40 % 1.24 %
Return on average shareholders' equity 11.08 % 11.16 % 10.26 % 9.50 %
Return on average tangible shareholders' equity(1)
19.11 % 19.61 % 18.03 % 18.02 %
Net interest margin 3.99 % 4.01 % 3.95 % 4.05 %
Net interest margin (FTE)(1)
4.02 % 4.05 % 3.98 % 4.09 %
(1) Non-GAAP financial measure. For details on the calculation of this non-GAAP financial measure, see "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" section.
NET INTEREST INCOME
First Financial's primary source of income is net interest income, which is the excess of interest received from earning assets, including loan-related fees and purchase accounting accretion, minus interest paid on interest-bearing liabilities. The amount of net interest income is determined by the volume and mix of earning assets, the rates earned on such assets and the volume, mix and rates paid for the deposits and borrowings that fund the earning assets. Earning assets consist of interest-bearing loans and leases to customers as well as marketable investment securities.
Three months ended Nine months ended
(Dollars in thousands) September 30, 2025 June 30, 2025 September 30, 2025 September 30, 2024
Interest income
Loans and leases, including fees $ 204,865 $ 201,460 $ 603,488 $ 629,033
Investment securities
Taxable 36,421 36,243 107,065 90,958
Tax-exempt 2,195 2,233 6,632 8,412
Total interest on investment securities 38,616 38,476 113,697 99,370
Other earning assets 6,773 5,964 19,388 22,121
Total interest income 250,254 245,900 736,573 750,524
Interest expense
Deposits 77,766 75,484 231,891 245,651
Short-term borrowings 5,979 6,393 19,917 32,270
Long-term borrowings 6,023 5,754 16,714 14,992
Total interest expense 89,768 87,631 268,522 292,913
Net interest income $ 160,486 $ 158,269 $ 468,051 $ 457,611
Linked quarter comparison: Net interest income for the third quarter of 2025 was $160.5 million, which is an increase of $2.2 million, or 1.4%, from the second quarter of 2025. Net interest margin on a fully tax equivalent basis was 4.02% in the
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third quarter of 2025 compared to 4.05% for the second quarter of 2025. The net interest margin during the third quarter decreased 3 basis points from the linked quarter as earning asset yields decreased 2 bps and the cost of interest bearing liabilities increased 2 bps.
Interest income of $250.3 million increased $4.4 million, or 1.8%, in the third quarter of 2025 when compared to the second quarter of 2025. This increase was primarily driven by an increase in earning assets, partially offset by a 2 bp decline in the yield on those earning assets to 6.22%. Earning assets were $16.0 billion for the third quarter of 2025, which was an increase of $153.6 million, or 1.0%, compared to the second quarter of 2025. The change in earning assets included a modest increase in both average loan and average securities balances during the period.
Interest expense of $89.8 million increased $2.1 million, or 2.4%, in the third quarter of 2025 when compared to the second quarter of 2025. The increase in interest expense was primarily driven by higher interest-bearing deposit balances. The Company's average deposit balances increased $157.2 million, or 1.1%, to $14.5 billion. The increase in average deposits was primarily driven by an increase in brokered CDs and money markets, which offset a seasonal decline in public funds. Average borrowed funds decreased $87.2 million, or 9.6%, from the linked quarter, driven by the maturity and redemption of $120.0 million of subordinated debt during the period, however this decline was somewhat offset by an increase in interest paid on the remaining borrowings, which was primarily driven by $150.0 million of subordinated debt which converted to a floating rate in May of 2025.
To mitigate interest rate risk on certain variable-rate commercial loan pools, First Financial entered into interest rate collars and floors, which are designated as cash flow hedges. The structure of the interest rate collars is such that First Financial pays the counterparty an incremental amount if the collar index exceeds the cap rate. Conversely, First Financial receives an incremental amount if the index falls below the floor rate. No payments are required if the collar index falls between the cap and floor rates. The structure of First Financial's interest rate floors is such that First Financial receives an incremental amount if the index falls below the floor strike rate. No payments are required if the index remains above the floor strike rate.
The notional value of the Company's cash flow hedges was $1.0 billion as of both September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, with the $1.4 million and $4.9 million changes in the fair value recorded in AOCI in the Consolidated Balance Sheets, respectively. As of September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the maximum length of time over which the Company was hedging its exposure to the variability in future cash flows was 39 months and 48 months, respectively.
Year-to-date comparison: Net interest income of $468.1 million for the first nine months of 2025 increased $10.4 million, or 2.3%, compared to the same period of 2024. Net interest margin on a fully tax equivalent basis was 3.98% for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, which is a decrease of 11 bps when compared to the same period in 2024. Driven by declining interest rates, earning asset yields declined 45 bps, which outpaced the 44 bp decline in the cost of interest bearing liabilities.
Interest income of $736.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 declined $14.0 million, or 1.9%, compared to $750.5 million for the same period of the prior year as lower interest rates more than offset the increase in earning asset balances. Average loan yields for the nine months of 2025 declined by 56 bps compared to the same period in the prior year, while the average yield on investments increased by 19 bps as a result of rebalancing a portion of the investment portfolio. Average earning assets of $15.8 billion for the first nine months of 2025 increased $771.0 million, or 5.1%, when compared to the same period of 2024, driven primarily by a $427.1 million, or 3.8%, increase in average loan balances and a $299.8 million, or 9.4%, increase in average investment securities.
Interest expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 was $268.5 million compared to $292.9 million for the same period in the prior year. This decrease was driven by a 39 bp decline in the cost of interest-bearing deposits, which was partially offset by an $821.0 million, or 7.9%, increase in average interest-bearing deposits. Additionally, the cost of borrowed funds declined 26 bps from the same period in the prior year and average borrowings decreased $210.0 million, or 18.7%.
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CONSOLIDATED AVERAGE BALANCE SHEETS AND NET INTEREST INCOME ANALYSIS
Quarterly Averages Year-to-Date Averages
September 30, 2025 June 30, 2025 September 30, 2025 September 30, 2024
(Dollars in thousands) Balance Interest Yield Balance Interest Yield Balance Interest Yield Balance Interest Yield
Earning assets
Investments
Investment securities $ 3,552,014 $ 38,616 4.31 % $ 3,478,921 $ 38,476 4.44 % $ 3,481,357 $ 113,697 4.37 % $ 3,181,575 $ 99,370 4.18 %
Interest-bearing deposits with other banks 610,074 6,773 4.40 % 542,815 5,964 4.41 % 589,546 19,388 4.40 % 545,402 22,121 5.42 %
Gross loans and leases (1)
11,806,065 204,865 6.88 % 11,792,840 201,460 6.85 % 11,774,842 603,488 6.85 % 11,347,720 629,033 7.41 %
Total earning assets 15,968,153 250,254 6.22 % 15,814,576 245,900 6.24 % 15,845,745 736,573 6.21 % 15,074,697 750,524 6.66 %
Nonearning assets
Allowance for credit losses (162,417) (158,170) (159,613) (150,322)
Cash and due from banks 165,210 174,375 168,108 185,934
Accrued interest and other assets 2,595,242 2,588,656 2,597,893 2,520,065
Total assets $ 18,566,188 $ 18,419,437 $ 18,452,133 $ 17,630,374
Interest-bearing liabilities
Deposits
Interest-bearing demand $ 3,036,296 $ 14,592 1.91 % $ 3,066,986 $ 14,139 1.85 % $ 3,064,404 $ 43,919 1.92 % $ 2,899,707 $ 45,734 2.11 %
Savings 5,054,563 30,854 2.42 % 5,005,526 29,942 2.40 % 4,993,198 91,151 2.44 % 4,571,236 96,848 2.83 %
Time 3,296,789 32,320 3.89 % 3,139,182 31,403 4.01 % 3,192,928 96,821 4.05 % 2,958,595 103,069 4.66 %
Total interest-bearing deposits 11,387,648 77,766 2.71 % 11,211,694 75,484 2.70 % 11,250,530 231,891 2.76 % 10,429,538 245,651 3.15 %
Borrowed funds
Short-term borrowings 531,045 5,979 4.47 % 563,204 6,393 4.55 % 582,662 19,917 4.57 % 780,573 32,270 5.53 %
Long-term debt 292,301 6,023 8.17 % 347,369 5,754 6.64 % 328,438 16,714 6.80 % 340,513 14,992 5.89 %
Total borrowed funds 823,346 12,002 5.78 % 910,573 12,147 5.35 % 911,100 36,631 5.38 % 1,121,086 47,262 5.64 %
Total interest-bearing liabilities 12,210,994 89,768 2.92 % 12,122,267 87,631 2.90 % 12,161,630 268,522 2.95 % 11,550,624 292,913 3.39 %
Noninterest-bearing liabilities
Noninterest-bearing demand deposits 3,124,277 3,143,081 3,119,587 3,139,939
Other liabilities 655,714 638,342 654,241 633,664
Shareholders' equity 2,575,203 2,515,747 2,516,675 2,306,147
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 18,566,188 $ 18,419,437 $ 18,452,133 $ 17,630,374
Net interest income $ 160,486 $ 158,269 $ 468,051 $ 457,611
Net interest spread 3.30 % 3.34 % 3.26 % 3.27 %
Contribution of noninterest-bearing sources of funds 0.69 % 0.67 % 0.69 % 0.78 %
Net interest margin (2)
3.99 % 4.01 % 3.95 % 4.05 %
Tax equivalent adjustment 0.03 % 0.04 % 0.03 % 0.04 %
Net interest margin (fully tax equivalent) (2)
4.02 % 4.05 % 3.98 % 4.09 %
(1)Loans held for sale and nonaccrual loans are included in gross loans.
(2)The net interest margin exceeds the interest spread as noninterest-bearing funding sources, demand deposits, other liabilities and shareholders' equity also support earning assets.
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RATE/VOLUME ANALYSIS
The impact on net interest income from changes in interest rates and volume of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities is illustrated in the table below:
Changes for the three months ended September 30, 2025 Changes for the nine months ended September 30, 2025
Linked quarter income variance Year-to-Date income variance
(Dollars in thousands) Rate Volume Total Rate Volume Total
Earning assets
Investment securities $ (1,066) $ 1,206 $ 140 $ 4,536 $ 9,791 $ 14,327
Interest-bearing deposits with other banks (3) 812 809 (4,185) 1,452 (2,733)
Gross loans and leases (1)
951 2,454 3,405 (47,436) 21,891 (25,545)
Total earning assets (118) 4,472 4,354 (47,085) 33,134 (13,951)
Interest-bearing liabilities
Total interest-bearing deposits $ 248 $ 2,034 2,282 (30,682) 16,922 (13,760)
Borrowed funds
Short-term borrowings (121) (293) (414) (5,588) (6,765) (12,353)
Long-term debt 1,326 (1,057) 269 2,336 (614) 1,722
Total borrowed funds 1,205 (1,350) (145) (3,252) (7,379) (10,631)
Total interest-bearing liabilities 1,453 684 2,137 (33,934) 9,543 (24,391)
Net interest income
$ (1,571) $ 3,788 $ 2,217 $ (13,151) $ 23,591 $ 10,440
(1) Loans held for sale and nonaccrual loans are included in gross loans.
NONINTEREST INCOME
Three months ended Nine months ended
(Dollars in thousands) September 30, 2025 June 30, 2025 September 30, 2025 September 30, 2024
Noninterest income
Service charges on deposit accounts $ 7,829 $ 7,766 $ 23,058 $ 21,647
Wealth management fees 7,351 7,787 23,275 20,758
Bankcard income 3,589 3,737 10,636 10,740
Client derivative fees 1,876 1,674 5,121 3,173
Foreign exchange income 16,666 13,760 42,970 39,270
Leasing business income 20,997 20,797 60,497 48,228
Net gain from sales of loans 6,835 6,687 17,844 13,284
Net gain (loss) on investment securities (42) 243 (9,748) (22,719)
Other 8,424 5,612 19,018 19,333
Total noninterest income $ 73,525 $ 68,063 $ 192,671 $ 153,714
Linked quarter comparison: Third quarter 2025 noninterest income was $73.5 million, increasing $5.5 million, or 8.0%, compared to $68.1 million for the second quarter of 2025. The increase from the linked quarter was primarily driven by foreign exchange income and other noninterest income. Foreign exchange income increased $2.9 million, or 21.1%, as client demand increased during the period, while other noninterest income increased $2.8 million, or 50.1%, due to higher syndication fees and higher income earned on other investments.
Year-to-date comparison:Noninterest income of $192.7 million for the first nine months of 2025 increased $39.0 million, or 25.3%, from $153.7 million in the comparable period of 2024. The increase was primarily attributed to higher leasing business income, higher net gains from sales of loans, fewer losses on the sales of investment securities, higher foreign exchange income, higher service charges on deposit accounts, higher client derivative fees, and higher wealth management fees. Leasing business income increased $12.3 million, or 25.4%, due to continued growth in operating lease balances and an increase in income from lease sales. Foreign exchange income increased $3.7 million, or 9.4%, as client demand increased during the period. Net gains from sales of loans increased $4.6 million, or 34.3%, primarily due to higher mortgage demand, while wealth management fee income increased $2.5 million, or 12.1%, due to higher business succession and consulting fee income. Client derivative fees increased $1.9 million, or 61.4%, due to higher demand for the product, while service charges on deposit accounts increased $1.4 million, or 6.5%, due to an increase in overdraft and account analysis fees. Losses on investment securities decreased $13.0 million in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period in the prior year due to higher
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losses recognized from the repositioning of a portion of the investment portfolio and impairment losses on two skilled nursing investments in the prior year.
NONINTEREST EXPENSE
Three months ended Nine months ended
(Dollars in thousands) September 30, 2025 June 30, 2025 September 30, 2025 September 30, 2024
Noninterest expenses
Salaries and employee benefits $ 80,607 $ 74,917 $ 230,762 $ 224,075
Net occupancy 6,003 5,845 17,867 17,635
Furniture and equipment 3,582 3,441 10,836 10,951
Data processing 9,591 9,020 27,370 26,039
Marketing 2,359 2,737 7,114 6,822
Communication 695 681 2,188 2,462
Professional services 2,314 3,549 8,602 7,456
Amortization of tax credit investments 112 111 335 94
State intangible tax 1,531 1,517 3,925 2,628
FDIC assessments 2,611 2,611 8,281 8,473
Intangible amortization 2,359 2,358 7,076 7,092
Leasing business expense 13,911 13,155 39,868 31,781
Other 8,594 8,729 26,792 26,180
Total noninterest expenses $ 134,269 $ 128,671 $ 391,016 $ 371,688
Linked quarter comparison: Third quarter 2025 noninterest expense was $134.3 million, which was an increase of $5.6 million, or 4.4%, from $128.7 million in the second quarter of 2025. This increase was primarily driven by higher salaries and benefits expense, leasing business expense, and data processing expense, which were partially offset by lower professional services expenses. Salaries and employee benefits expenses increased $5.7 million, or 7.6%, due to higher incentive compensation, which is tied to fee income. Leasing business expenses increased $0.8 million, or 5.7%, as a result of growth in the operating lease portfolio while data processing expenses increased $0.6 million, or 6.3%, due to acquisition-related expenses in the current period. Professional services expenses decreased $1.2 million, or 34.8%, due to fewer expenses related to the Company's efficiency efforts and fewer acquisition-related expenses during the third quarter.
Year-to-date comparison:Noninterest expenses were $391.0 million for the first nine months of 2025, which was an increase of $19.3 million, or 5.2%, compared to the same period in 2024. This increase was primarily due to higher leasing business expenses, salaries and employee benefits, data processing, professional services, and state intangible taxes. Leasing business expenses increased $8.1 million, or 25.4%, as a result of the growth in the operating lease portfolio, while professional services increased $1.1 million, or 15.4%, due to expenses related to the Company's efficiency efforts and acquisition-related costs in 2025. Salaries and benefits expense increased $6.7 million, or 3.0%, which was driven by higher incentive compensation tied to fee income. Data processing increased $1.3 million, or 5.1%, due to higher software licensing costs while state intangible taxes increased $1.3 million, or 49.4%, primarily due to an increase in Ohio franchise tax.
INCOME TAXES
Linked quarter comparison: In the third quarter of 2025, First Financial recorded income tax expense of $18.8 million on pre-tax income of $90.7 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of 20.7%. This compared to income tax expense of $17.9 million on pre-tax income of $87.9 million and an effective tax rate of 20.3% for the second quarter 2025. The higher effective tax rate in the third quarter was primarily driven by higher taxable income and fewer tax credit investments recognized.
Year-to-date comparison: For the first nine months of 2025, income tax expense was $48.9 million on pre-tax income of $242.1 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of 20.2%. This compared to income tax expense of $37.5 million on pre-tax income of $201.4 million and an effective tax rate of 18.6% for the comparable period in 2024. The higher effective tax rate in 2025 compared to 2024 is primarily driven by higher taxable income and fewer tax credit investments recognized.
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The Company's effective tax rate may fluctuate from period to period due to changes in tax jurisdictions, forecasted income, tax-enhanced assets and tax credit investments.
INVESTMENTS
First Financial's investment portfolio totaled $3.6 billion at September 30, 2025 and $3.4 billion at December 31, 2024, or 19.5% and 18.2% of total assets, respectively. AFS securities totaled $3.4 billion at September 30, 2025 and $3.2 billionat December 31, 2024, while HTM securities totaled $71.6 million at September 30, 2025 and $77.0 million at December 31, 2024. The effective duration of the investment portfolio was 4.3 years at September 30, 2025 and 4.4years at December 31, 2024.
The Company invests in certain securities whose return is dependent on future principal and interest repayments. As such, these securities carry a certain amount of credit risk. Prior to purchase, First Financial performs a detailed collateral and structural analysis on these securities and strategically invests in asset classes in which First Financial has expertise and experience, as well as a senior position in the capital structure. First Financial continuously monitors credit risk and geographic concentration risk in its evaluation of market opportunities that enhance the overall performance of the portfolio.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2025 and 2024, the Company realized $9.7 million and $22.7 million, respectively, of losses on investment securities. The losses included $6.5 million in 2025 and $13.2 million in 2024, as a result of strategically repositioning portions of the investment portfolio in an effort to increase future yields. The losses also included $3.4 million, and $9.7 million, in 2025 and 2024, respectively, of impairment losses on two commercial mortgage backed securities where the underlying collateral consisted of skilled nursing facilities with credit deterioration.
The Company's Consolidated Financial Statements reflected $193.0 million and $256.5 million of unrealized, after-tax, losses on debt securities as of September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively. These unrealized losses were included as a component of equity in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) on the Consolidated Balance Sheets and were primarily driven by multiple interest rate increases from November 2022 through July 2023. The decline in the unrealized losses during the current period was primarily attributed to the recent easing of interest rates.
The Company had net unrealized losses of $5.7 million and $8.0 million on its HTM securities at September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively. Similar to the unrealized losses on AFS securities, this decline in unrealized losses was driven by lower interest rates. The unrealized losses on HTM securities have no impact on the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Company.
The Company had $0.2 million of unrealized gains on equity securities recorded in noninterest income for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 compared to $0.3 million of unrealized gains for the same period of 2024.
First Financial will continue to monitor loan demand and deposit activity, as well as balance sheet composition, capital sensitivity and the interest rate environment, when considering future investment strategies.
LOANS AND LEASES
Excluding loans held for sale, loan balances decreased $47.2 million, or 0.4%, to $11.7 billion as of September 30, 2025 when compared to December 31, 2024. Construction loans decreased $151.5 million, or 19.4%, to $628.0 million; installment loans decreased $23.3 million, or 17.5%, to $109.8 million; commercial real estate loans decreased $13.4 million, or 0.3%, to $4.0 billion; and finance leases decreased by $1.3 million, or 0.2%, to $596.7 million. Partially offsetting these decreases, home equity increased $86.9 million, or 10.2%, to $936.0 million; residential real estate loans increased $32.2 million, or 2.2%, to $1.5 billion; C&I loans increased $22.8 million, or 0.6%, to $3.8 billion; and credit cards increased $0.3 million, or 0.6%, to $62.7 million.
Third quarter 2025 average loans of $11.8 billion, excluding loans held for sale, increased $11.9 million, or 0.1%, from the second quarter 2025. The modest growth over the linked quarter included an increase of $34.8 million, or 0.9%, in CRE; an increase of $27.6 million, or 3.1%, in home equity; an increase of $11.4 million, or 2.0%, in finance leases; an increase of $9.9 million, or 0.3%, in C&I; and an increase of $4.5 million, or 0.3%, in residential real estate. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $73.0 million, or 9.3%, in construction real estate; and a decrease of $3.7 million, or 3.1%, in installment loans.
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Through the first nine months of 2025, average loans of $11.8 billion, excluding loans held for sale, increased $420.7 million, or 3.7%, from the comparable period of 2024. The increase from prior year reflected broad-based growth across many loan categories, which included an increase of $192.1 million, or 5.2%, in C&I loans; an increase of $117.7 million, or 8.6%, in residential real estate; an increase of $100.9 million, or 12.8%, in home equity; an increase of $79.6 million, or 11.6%, in real estate construction; and an increase of $72.5 million, or 14.1%, in lease financing. Partially offsetting these increases was a decrease of $112.4 million, or 2.7%, in CRE; and a decrease of $31.2 million, or 20.7%, in installment loans.
In an effort to mitigate credit risk, First Financial routinely reviews its loan portfolio for various concentrations. These reviews consider the Bank's collateral position as well as exposure to a given industry sector. First Financial believes its loan portfolio is sufficiently diversified to provide protection from deterioration in any particular industry or devaluation of a specific collateral type. The following tables, C&I and Owner Occupied Loans by Sector and Investor CRE Loans by property type, provide additional detail behind the Company's C&I and CRE loan portfolios as of September 30, 2025.
C&I and Owner Occupied CRE Loans by Sector (1)
(Dollars in thousands) September 30, 2025 % of Total Loans
NAICS Sector
Finance and Insurance $ 1,134,316 9.7 %
Manufacturing 540,118 4.6 %
Construction 384,726 3.3 %
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 351,854 3.0 %
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 289,550 2.5 %
Health Care and Social Assistance 281,919 2.4 %
Retail Trade 256,065 2.2 %
Accommodation and Food Services 254,313 2.2 %
Wholesale Trade 212,694 1.8 %
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting 164,144 1.4 %
Transportation and Warehousing 142,114 1.2 %
Administrative and Support and Waste Management 141,106 1.2 %
Other Services (except Public Administration) 118,377 1.0 %
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation 77,042 0.7 %
Information 64,168 0.5 %
Public Administration 59,319 0.5 %
Other 354,950 3.0 %
Total $ 4,826,775 41.2 %
(1)Excludes loan marks and loans in process
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Investor CRE Loans by Property Type (1)
(Dollars in thousands) September 30, 2025 % of Total Loans
Property Type
Residential Multi Family 5+ $ 1,021,606 8.7 %
Retail Property 782,886 6.7 %
Industrial 366,477 3.1 %
Office 347,513 3.0 %
Hospital/Nursing Home 200,045 1.7 %
Hotel 135,634 1.2 %
Land 93,829 0.8 %
Residential 1-4 Family 72,128 0.6 %
Other 45,287 0.4 %
Total $ 3,065,405 26.2 %
(1)Excludes loan marks and loans in process
Additionally, given the potential for stress related to commercial office space, First Financial regularly monitors its exposure to this sector. As of September 30, 2025, First Financial had $347.5 million of loans collateralized by non-owner occupied office space, which represents 3.0% of the total loan portfolio. The overall LTV of the office portfolio at origination was strong, and a majority is located in suburban locations and secured by Class A and Class B assets. As of September 30, 2025, the office portfolio included one nonaccrual relationship totaling $12.5 million, or 3.6% of the portfolio.
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Off-balance sheet arrangements include commitments to extend credit and financial guarantees. Loan commitments are agreements to extend credit to a client absent any violation of any condition established in the commitment agreement. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require payment of a fee. First Financial had outstanding commitments to extend credit, including overdraft lending lines, totaling $4.1 billion at September 30, 2025 and $3.8 billion at December 31, 2024. As of September 30, 2025, commitments with a fixed interest rate totaled $71.1 million while commitments with variable interest rates totaled $4.0 billion. At December 31, 2024, commitments with a fixed interest rate totaled $69.3 million while commitments with variable interest rates totaled $3.7 billion. The fixed rate commitments have interest rates ranging from 0% to 21% at both September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024. The fixed rate commitments have maturities ranging from less than one year to 31.0 years at September 30, 2025 and maturities ranging from less than one year to 31.6 years at December 31, 2024.
Letters of credit are conditional commitments issued by First Financial to guarantee the performance of a client to a third party. First Financial's letters of credit consist primarily of performance assurances made on behalf of clients who have a contractual commitment to produce or deliver goods or services for the third party. First Financial issued letters of credit aggregating $26.5 million and $25.1 million at September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively. Management conducts regular reviews of these instruments on an individual client basis.
First Financial is a party in risk participation transactions of interest rate swaps, which had total notional amount of $298.2 million and $310.7 million at September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively. Under a risk participation agreement, the Company either assumes or sells a portion of the credit exposure associated with an interest rate swap with a counterparty. The Company's exposure is limited to instances where the loan customer defaults on its obligation to perform under the interest rate swap agreement.
First Financial is a limited partner in several tax-advantaged limited partnerships whose purpose is to invest in approved qualified affordable housing, renewable energy, or other renovation or community revitalization projects. These investments are included in accrued interest and other assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets, with any unfunded commitments included in accrued interest and other liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. As of September 30, 2025, First Financial expects to recover its remaining investments through the use of the tax credits generated by the investments. First Financial had unfunded commitments related to tax credit investments of $97.0 million and $79.8 million at September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively.
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As part of the ordinary course of business, First Financial and its subsidiaries are parties to litigation, including claims to the ownership of funds in particular accounts, the collection of delinquent accounts, challenges to security interests in collateral, foreclosure interests that are incidental to our regular business activities and other matters. While the ultimate liability with respect to these litigation matters and claims cannot be determined at this time, it is appropriate under FASB ASC Topic 450, Contingencies, for First Financial to accrue a contingency reserve if a loss is deemed based upon the advice of legal counsel to be both probable and reasonably estimated. First Financial had no reserves related to litigation matters as of September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024.
ASSET QUALITY AND ALLOWANCE FOR CREDIT LOSSES
Loans are classified as nonaccrual when, in the opinion of management, collection of principal and interest is doubtful or when payments are 90 days or more past due. Generally, loans are classified as nonaccrual due to a borrower's continued failure to adhere to contractual payment terms, coupled with other pertinent factors. When a loan is placed on nonaccrual status, any unpaid accrued interest is reversed and the recognition of interest income is suspended.
Nonaccrual loans were $76.0 million, or 0.65% of total loans, as of September 30, 2025, reflecting a $10.0 million, or 15.1%, increase from $66.0 million as of December 31, 2024. The increase was primarily attributed to the downgrade of two large C&I credits during the current period, partially offset by the sale of a large construction credit. Nonperforming assets, which consist of nonaccrual loans and OREO, were $76.1 million, or 0.41% of total assets, at September 30, 2025 compared to $66.0 million, or 0.36% of total assets, at December 31, 2024.
Classified assets, which are defined by the Company as nonperforming assets plus performing loans internally rated substandard or worse, totaled $218.8 million as of September 30, 2025 compared to $224.1 million at December 31, 2024. Classified assets were 1.18% of total assets at September 30, 2025, compared to 1.21% as of December 31, 2024. At September 30, 2025, total classified assets included a $37.0 million receivable from a customer, which was recorded following the mutually agreed upon termination of a foreign exchange trade and is expected to be collected in full. This receivable was $45.0 million at December 31, 2024.
Allowance for credit losses. The ACL is a reserve accumulated on the Consolidated Balance Sheets through the recognition of the provision for credit losses. First Financial records provision expense in the Consolidated Statements of Income to maintain the ACL at a level considered sufficient to absorb expected credit losses for financial assets over their expected remaining lives with consideration given to current and forward-looking information.
The recorded adjustments to remove or reduce values of the loans and leases from the Consolidated Balance Sheets due to credit deterioration are referred to as charge-offs. First Financial's policy is to charge-off all or a portion of a loan when, in management's opinion, it is unlikely to collect the principal amount owed in full either through payments from the borrower or from the liquidation of collateral. All loans charged-off are subject to continuous review and concerted efforts are made to maximize any recovery. In most cases, the borrower's debt obligation is not canceled even though the loan balance may have been charged-off. Actual losses on loans and leases are posted against the ACL as a charge-off. Any subsequent collection of a previously charged-off loan is credited back to the ACL as a recovery.
Management estimates the ACL using relevant available information from both internal and external sources, relating to past events, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Historical credit loss experience paired with economic forecasts provide the basis for the quantitatively modeled estimation of expected credit losses. First Financial adjusts its quantitative model, as necessary, to reflect conditions not already considered therein. These adjustments are commonly known as the qualitative framework. The evaluation of these factors is the responsibility of the ACL Committee, which is comprised of senior officers from the risk management, credit administration, finance and lending areas.
The Company utilized the Moody's September baseline forecast as its R&S forecast in the quantitative model at September 30, 2025. For reasonableness, the Company also considered the impact to the model from alternative prepayment speeds and more adverse economic forecasts. These alternative analyses were utilized to inform the Company's qualitative adjustments. Additionally, First Financial considered its credit exposure to certain industries believed to be at risk for future credit stress, such as franchise, hotel and investor commercial real estate lending, when making qualitative adjustments to the ACL model.
The total ACL, which includes both funded and unfunded reserves, was $179.5 million at September 30, 2025 and $173.7 million as of December 31, 2024.
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ACL - loans and leases.The ACL on loans and leases was $161.9 million as of September 30, 2025 and $156.8 million as of December 31, 2024. As a percentage of total loans, the ACL was 1.38% as of September 30, 2025 and 1.33% at December 31, 2024.
In the third quarter of 2025, the Company recorded net charge-offs of $5.2 million, or 18 bps of average loans and leases on an annualized basis, compared to net charge-offs of $6.0 million, or 21 bps, for the second quarter of 2025. Through the first nine months of 2025, the Company recorded net charge-offs of $21.7 million, or 25 bps of average loans and leases on an annualized basis, compared to net charge-offs of $22.1 million, or 26 bps, for the same period of 2024.
The ACL as a percentage of nonaccrual loans was 213.2% at September 30, 2025 and 237.7% at December 31, 2024. The decrease in this ratio was driven primarily by the increase in nonaccrual loan balances during the current period.
Provision expense is a product of the Company's ACL model coupled with net charge-off activity during the period. During third quarter of 2025, the Company recorded $8.6 million of provision expense for loans and leases compared to $9.1 million for the prior quarter. Through the first nine months of 2025, the Company recorded provision expense of $26.8 million compared to $39.5 million for the same period of 2024.
ACL - unfunded commitments. The ACL on unfunded commitments was $17.6 million as of September 30, 2025 and $16.9 million as of December 31, 2024. First Financial recorded $0.5 million of provision expense for credit losses on unfunded commitments for the third quarter of 2025, compared to $0.7 million of provision expense in the second quarter 2025. Through the first nine months of 2025, the Company recorded a provision expense of $0.7 million compared to $1.3 million of provision recapture for the same period of 2024.
See Note 5 - Allowance for Credit Losses in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion of First Financial's ACL.
The following table details ACL activity by portfolio segment for the periods presented:
Three months ended Nine months ended
2025 2024 September 30,
(Dollars in thousands) Sep. 30, June 30, Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Sep. 30, 2025 2024
Allowance for credit loss activity
Balance at beginning of period $ 158,522 $ 155,482 $ 156,791 $ 158,831 $ 156,185 $ 156,791 $ 141,433
Provision for loan losses 8,612 9,084 9,141 9,705 9,930 26,837 39,506
Gross charge-offs
Commercial and industrial 2,165 4,996 8,178 4,333 5,471 15,339 10,315
Lease financing 298 606 1,454 2,831 368 2,358 561
Construction real estate 245 0 0 0 0 245 0
Commercial real estate 3,105 0 0 5,051 261 3,105 5,582
Residential real estate 0 16 0 12 60 16 131
Home equity 92 100 86 210 90 278 237
Installment 1,194 1,120 1,321 1,680 1,510 3,635 5,780
Credit card 577 489 474 492 768 1,540 2,094
Total gross charge-offs 7,676 7,327 11,513 14,609 8,528 26,516 24,700
Recoveries
Commercial and industrial 202 290 195 1,779 434 687 832
Lease financing 291 11 29 17 11 331 71
Construction real estate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Commercial real estate 1,138 70 24 19 25 1,232 200
Residential real estate 58 42 24 23 22 124 83
Home equity 94 74 144 222 240 312 438
Installment 609 716 563 499 421 1,888 785
Credit card 66 80 84 305 91 230 183
Total recoveries 2,458 1,283 1,063 2,864 1,244 4,804 2,592
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Three months ended Nine months ended
2025 2024 September 30,
(Dollars in thousands) Sep. 30, June 30, Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Sep. 30, 2025 2024
Total net charge-offs 5,218 6,044 10,450 11,745 7,284 21,712 22,108
Ending allowance for credit losses $ 161,916 $ 158,522 $ 155,482 $ 156,791 $ 158,831 $ 161,916 $ 158,831
Net charge-offs to average loans and leases (annualized)
Commercial and industrial 0.20 % 0.49 % 0.85 % 0.27 % 0.54 % 0.51 % 0.35 %
Lease financing 0.00 % 0.41 % 0.99 % 1.91 % 0.26 % 0.46 % 0.13 %
Construction real estate 0.14 % 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.00 % 0.04 % 0.00 %
Commercial real estate 0.20 % (0.01) % 0.00 % 0.49 % 0.02 % 0.06 % 0.18 %
Residential real estate (0.02) % (0.01) % (0.01) % 0.00 % 0.01 % (0.01) % 0.00 %
Home equity 0.00 % 0.01 % (0.03) % (0.01) % (0.07) % (0.01) % (0.03) %
Installment 2.03 % 1.38 % 2.42 % 3.43 % 3.03 % 1.95 % 4.42 %
Credit card 2.97 % 2.41 % 2.40 % 1.13 % 4.13 % 2.60 % 3.88 %
Total net charge-offs 0.18 % 0.21 % 0.36 % 0.40 % 0.25 % 0.25 % 0.26 %
Nonperforming assets
Nonaccrual loans $ 75,951 $ 76,924 $ 59,555 $ 65,973 $ 65,439 $ 75,951 $ 65,439
Other real estate owned 111 204 213 64 30 111 30
Total nonperforming assets 76,062 77,128 59,768 66,037 65,469 76,062 65,469
Accruing loans past due 90 days or more 592 714 228 361 463 592 463
Total underperforming assets $ 76,654 $ 77,842 $ 59,996 $ 66,398 $ 65,932 $ 76,654 $ 65,932
Total classified assets $ 218,794 $ 214,346 $ 213,351 $ 224,084 $ 206,194 $ 218,794 $ 206,194
Credit quality ratios
As a percent of period-end loans, net of unearned income:
Allowance for credit losses 1.38 % 1.34 % 1.33 % 1.33 % 1.37 % 1.38 % 1.37 %
Nonaccrual loans 0.65 % 0.65 % 0.51 % 0.56 % 0.57 % 0.65 % 0.57 %
Nonperforming loans 0.65 % 0.65 % 0.51 % 0.56 % 0.57 % 0.65 % 0.57 %
Allowance for credit losses to nonaccrual loans 213.18 % 206.08 % 261.07 % 237.66 % 242.72 % 213.18 % 242.72 %
DEPOSITS AND FUNDING
Total deposits were $14.4 billion as of September 30, 2025, an increase of $104.3 million, or 0.7%, from December 31, 2024. This increase was primarily driven by an increase of $80.3 million, or 1.6%, in savings deposits, and an increase of $141.4 million, or 4.5%, in time deposits. Partially offsetting these increases, interest-bearing deposits declined $112.6 million, or 3.6%, from the prior period.
Average deposits for the third quarter of 2025 were $14.5 billion, which was an increase of $157.2 million, or 1.1%, from $14.4 billion for the second quarter of 2025. Average time deposits increased $157.6 million, or 5.0%, and savings deposits increased $49.0 million, or 1.0%, from the prior quarter. Partially offsetting these increases, average interest bearing demand deposits decreased $30.7 million, or 1.0%, and average noninterest-bearing deposits decreased $18.8 million, or 0.6%, from the prior period.
Average deposits for the first nine months of 2025 increased $800.6 million, or 5.9%, when compared to the same period of 2024. This change was driven by a $422.0 million, or 9.2%, increase in average savings deposits; a $234.3 million, or 7.9%, increase in average time deposits; and a $164.7 million, or 5.7%, increase in average interest-bearing demand deposits. These increases were partially offset by a $20.4 million, or 0.6%, decrease in average noninterest-bearing demand deposits.
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Uninsured deposit balances were $6.1 billion, or 42.1% of total deposits, as of September 30, 2025. The Company reviews uninsured deposits for concentration risk, and typically evaluates this risk by excluding public funds and intercompany deposits to arrive at an adjusted uninsured deposit amount. As such, excluding public funds and intercompany accounts, adjusted uninsured deposits were $3.8 billion, or 26.0% of total deposits, at the end of the third quarter.
First Financial maintains diverse funding sources, including Fed Funds, the Fed discount window, brokered CDs, FHLB borrowings and deposit placement services. The Company believes this diversity and related capacity provide sufficient flexibility to respond to any event that would stress its deposit balances.
Borrowed funds were $817.0 million as of September 30, 2025 and $1.1 billion as of December 31, 2024. The decrease in borrowings was primarily attributed to the maturity and subsequent redemption of $120.0 million of subordinated debt during the third quarter of 2025, along with an increase in deposits.
First Financial had total short-term borrowings of $595.2 million as of September 30, 2025 and $755.5 million as of December 31, 2024. Short-term borrowings with the FHLB were $550.0 million at September 30, 2025 and $625.0 million at December 31, 2024. There were no federal funds purchased included in short-term borrowings at September 30, 2025 or December 31, 2024.
Long-term debt, which may include subordinated notes, FRB/FHLB long-term advances or other borrowings, was $221.8 million at September 30, 2025 and $347.5 million as of December 31, 2024. Outstanding subordinated debt totaled $194.0 million as of September 30, 2025 and $313.4 million as of December 31, 2024. The outstanding subordinated debt includes $150.0 million at an initial fixed interest rate of 5.25%, which converted to a floating rate in May 2025. The floating rate is based upon the three month term SOFR plus 509 basis points. As of September 30, 2025, the interest rate on this subordinated debt was 9.30%. Additionally, the Company had $120.0 million of subordinated debt with a fixed interest rate of 5.13% that matured in August 2025, and was redeemed upon maturity.
First Financial had no FHLB long-term advances at September 30, 2025 or December 31, 2024. First Financial's total remaining borrowing capacity from the FHLB was $1.1 billion as of September 30, 2025.
See Note 9 - Borrowings in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion of First Financial's borrowed funds.
LIQUIDITY
Liquidity management is the process by which First Financial manages the continuing flow of funds necessary to meet its financial commitments on a timely basis and at a reasonable cost. These funding commitments include withdrawals by depositors, credit commitments to borrowers, shareholder dividends, share repurchases, operating expenses and capital expenditures. Liquidity is derived primarily from deposit growth, principal and interest payments on loans and investment securities, maturing loans and investment securities, and access to wholesale funding sources.
First Financial's most stable source of liability-funded liquidity for both long and short-term needs is deposit growth and retention of the core deposit base. In addition to core deposit funding, First Financial also utilizes a variety of other short and long-term funding sources, which include subordinated notes, longer-term advances from the FRB and FHLB and its short-term line of credit.
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Both First Financial and the Bank received investment grade credit ratings from Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Inc, an independent rating agency. These credit ratings impact the cost and availability of financing to First Financial, and a downgrade to these credit ratings could affect First Financial's or the Bank's ability to access the credit markets and potentially increase borrowing costs, negatively impacting financial condition and liquidity. Key factors in maintaining high credit ratings include consistent and diverse earnings, strong credit quality and capital ratios, diverse funding sources and disciplined liquidity monitoring procedures. The ratings of First Financial and the Bank at September 30, 2025 were as follows:
First Financial Bancorp First Financial Bank
Senior Unsecured Debt BBB+ A-
Subordinated Debt BBB BBB+
Short-Term Debt K2 K2
Deposit N/A A-
Short-Term Deposit N/A K2
For ease of borrowing execution, First Financial utilizes a blanket collateral agreement with the FHLB. First Financial pledged $6.2 billion of certain eligible residential, commercial and farm real estate loans, home equity lines of credit and government, agency, and commercial mortgage-backed securities as collateral for borrowings from the FHLB as of September 30, 2025.
First Financial's principal source of asset-funded liquidity is marketable investment securities, particularly those of shorter maturities. AFS securities were 98.0% and 97.6% of the total investment portfolio as of September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively. The market value of investment securities classified as AFS totaled $3.4 billion at September 30, 2025 and $3.2 billion at December 31, 2024. As of September 30, 2025, $1.1 billion of AFS securities were unpledged and there were $2.0 billion of securities available to be sold at breakeven. Additionally, $343.1 million of AFS securities have floating rates and could be sold with minimal losses at September 30, 2025.
HTM securities that are maturing within a short period of time can be an additional source of liquidity. As September 30, 2025, the Company had $0.7 million of HTM securities maturing within one year. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had no HTM securities maturing within one year.
In total, First Financial expects $727.6 million of cash flows from its investment portfolio in the next 12 months.
Other sources of liquidity include interest-bearing deposits with other banks. At September 30, 2025, these balances totaled $565.1 million, with the majority being held at the Federal Reserve. Additionally, First Financial had unused and available overnight wholesale funding sources of $5.3 billion, or 28.8% of total assets, to satisfy the liquidity needs of the Company. These funding sources include brokered CDs, deposit placement services, FHLB borrowing capacity, fed funds and the Federal Reserve discount window.
First Financial also has a $40.0 million short-term credit facility with an unaffiliated bank that matures in December 2025. This facility has a variable interest rate and provides First Financial additional liquidity, if needed, for various corporate activities including the repurchase of First Financial common stock and the payment of dividends to shareholders. First Financial had no outstanding balance on this short-term credit facility as of September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024. The credit agreement requires First Financial to comply with certain covenants including those related to asset quality and capital levels, and First Financial was in compliance with all covenants associated with this facility as of September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024. This credit facility also required First Financial to pledge as collateral the Bank's common stock where the lender is granted a security interest in this collateral.
Certain restrictions exist regarding the Bank's ability to transfer funds to First Financial in the form of cash dividends, loans, other assets or advances and the approval of the Bank's primary federal regulator is required to pay dividends in excess of regulatory limitations. Dividends paid to First Financial from the Bank totaled $170.0 million for the first nine months of 2025. As of September 30, 2025, the Bank had retained earnings of $1.0 billion, of which $230.5 million was available for distribution to the Bancorp without prior regulatory approval. As an additional source of liquidity, First Financial had $166.6 million in cash at the parent company as of September 30, 2025.
Share repurchases also impact First Financial's liquidity. For further information regarding share repurchases, see the Capital section that follows.
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Capital expenditures were $12.7 million and $14.1 million for the first nine months of 2025 and 2024, respectively. Management believes sufficient liquidity exists to fund its future capital expenditure commitments.
Management is not aware of any other events or regulatory requirements that, if implemented, are likely to have a material effect on First Financial's liquidity.
CAPITAL
Risk-based capital. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System approved Basel III in order to strengthen the regulatory capital framework for all banking organizations. Basel III established and defined quantitative measures to ensure capital adequacy. These measures require First Financial to maintain minimum amounts and ratios of Common equity Tier 1 capital, Total and Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets and Tier 1 capital to average assets (Leverage ratio).
The Basel III Final Capital Rule includes a minimum ratio of Common equity Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets of 7.0%, a minimum ratio of Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets of 8.5%, a minimum required Total risk-based capital ratio of 10.5% and a minimum leverage ratio of 4.0%. Failure to maintain the required Common equity Tier 1 capital will result in potential restrictions on a bank's ability to pay dividends, repurchase stock and pay discretionary compensation to its employees. The capital requirements also provide strict eligibility criteria for regulatory capital instruments and change the method for calculating risk-weighted assets in an effort to better identify riskier assets, such as highly volatile commercial real estate and nonaccrual loans.
First Financial's tier 1 capital increased 75 bps to 13.23% at September 30, 2025 compared to 12.48% at December 31, 2024, while the total capital ratio increased to 15.32% at September 30, 2025 compared to 14.64% at December 31, 2024. The leverage ratio increased to 10.50% at September 30, 2025 from 9.98% at December 31, 2024. The Company's tangible common equity ratio increased to 8.87% at September 30, 2025 from 7.73% at December 31, 2024, while the Company's tangible book value per share increased to $16.19 at September 30, 2025 from $14.15 at December 31, 2024. These increases are primarily a result of the Company's strong earnings. Additionally, the increase in capital metrics was impacted by the improvement in AOCI, which was due to fewer unrealized losses on the investment securities portfolio resulting from lower interest rates and a partial repositioning of the portfolio.
As of September 30, 2025, management believes that First Financial met all capital adequacy requirements to which it was subject. The Company's most recent regulatory notifications categorized First Financial as "well-capitalized" under the regulatory framework for prompt corrective action. There have been no conditions or events since those notifications that management believes have changed the Company's categorization. Total regulatory capital exceeded the minimum requirement by $683.0 million on a consolidated basis at September 30, 2025.
The following tables present the actual and required capital amounts and ratios as of September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024 under the Basel III Final Capital Rules. Capital levels required to be considered "well capitalized" are based upon prompt corrective action regulations, as amended by the Basel III Final Capital Rules.
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Actual Minimum capital
required 		PCA requirement to be
considered well
capitalized
(Dollars in thousands) Capital
amount 		Ratio Capital
amount 		Ratio Capital
amount 		Ratio
September 30, 2025
Common equity Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated $ 1,828,843 12.91 % $ 991,685 7.00 % N/A N/A
First Financial Bank 1,790,785 12.67 % 989,538 7.00 % $ 918,857 6.50 %
Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated 1,874,191 13.23 % 1,204,189 8.50 % N/A N/A
First Financial Bank 1,791,171 12.67 % 1,201,582 8.50 % 1,130,901 8.00 %
Total capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated 2,170,546 15.32 % 1,487,528 10.50 % N/A N/A
First Financial Bank 1,973,909 13.96 % 1,484,308 10.50 % 1,413,626 10.00 %
Leverage ratio
Consolidated 1,874,191 10.50 % 713,940 4.00 % N/A N/A
First Financial Bank 1,791,171 10.05 % 712,842 4.00 % 891,052 5.00 %
Actual Minimum capital
required - Basel III 		PCA requirement to be
considered well
capitalized
(Dollars in thousands) Capital
amount 		Ratio Capital
amount 		Ratio Capital
amount 		Ratio
December 31, 2024
Common equity tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated $ 1,709,422 12.16 % $ 984,145 7.00 % N/A N/A
First Financial Bank 1,751,512 12.48 % 982,565 7.00 % $ 912,382 6.50 %
Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated 1,754,584 12.48 % 1,195,033 8.50 % N/A N/A
First Financial Bank 1,752,054 12.48 % 1,193,114 8.50 % 1,122,931 8.00 %
Total capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated 2,057,877 14.64 % 1,476,218 10.50 % N/A N/A
First Financial Bank 1,912,456 13.62 % 1,473,847 10.50 % 1,403,664 10.00 %
Leverage ratio
Consolidated 1,754,584 9.98 % 702,969 4.00 % N/A N/A
First Financial Bank 1,752,054 9.97 % 702,666 4.00 % 878,333 5.00 %
Shareholder dividends. First Financial paid a dividend of $0.25 per common share on September 15, 2025 to shareholders of record as of September 2, 2025. Additionally, First Financial's Board of Directors authorized a dividend of $0.25 per common share, payable on December 15, 2025 to shareholders of record as of December 1, 2025.
Share repurchases. First Financial's Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase plan (the 2024 Stock Repurchase Plan) effective January 1, 2024, replacing the 2022 Stock Repurchase Plan. The 2024 Stock Repurchase Plan continues for two years, authorizes the purchase of up to 5,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock, and will expire on December 31, 2025. First Financial did not repurchase any shares under this plan during 2025 or the year ended December 31, 2024.
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Therefore, at September 30, 2025, all 5,000,000 common shares remained available for repurchase under the 2024 Stock Repurchase Plan.
Shareholders' equity. Total shareholders' equity was $2.6 billion at September 30, 2025 and $2.4 billion at December 31, 2024. The increase from year-end was due the the Company's earnings as well as improvement in AOCI due to lower interest rates.
For further detail, see the Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders' Equity.
ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT
First Financial manages risk through a structured ERM approach that routinely assesses the overall level of risk, identifies specific risks and evaluates specific actions to mitigate those risks. First Financial continues to enhance its risk management capabilities and has embedded risk awareness into the culture of the Company. First Financial has identified eleven types of risk that it monitors in its ERM framework. These risks include financial, credit, liquidity, capital, market (including interest rate and capital markets), regulatory compliance and legal, strategic, reputation, operational, information technology, and cybersecurity.
For a full discussion of these risks, see the Enterprise Risk Management section in Management's Discussion and Analysis in First Financial's 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K. The sections that follow provide additional discussion related to credit risk and market risk.
CREDIT RISK
Credit risk represents the risk of loss due to failure of a customer or counterparty to meet its financial obligations in accordance with contractual terms. First Financial manages credit risk through its underwriting process, periodically reviewing and approving its credit exposures using credit policies and guidelines approved by the Board of Directors.
MARKET RISK
Market risk is the risk of loss arising from adverse changes in the fair value of financial instruments due to changes in interest rates, foreign exchange rates and equity prices. The primary sources of market risk for First Financial are interest rate risk and liquidity risk.
Interest rate risk.Interest rate risk is the risk to earnings and the value of the Company's equity arising from changes in market interest rates. Interest rate risk arises in the normal course of business to the extent that there is a divergence between the amount of interest-earning assets and the amount of interest-bearing liabilities that are prepaid, withdrawn, re-priced or mature in specified periods. First Financial seeks to achieve consistent growth in net interest income and equity while managing volatility from shifts in market interest rates, while operating within acceptable limits established for interest rate risk and maintaining adequate levels of funding and liquidity.
Potential cash flows, sales, or replacement value of many of our assets and liabilities, especially those that earn or pay interest, are sensitive to changes in the general level of interest rates. This interest rate risk arises primarily from our normal business activities of gathering deposits and extending loans. Many factors affect our exposure to changes in interest rates, such as general economic and financial conditions, client preferences, historical pricing relationships, and re-pricing characteristics of financial instruments. The Company's earnings can also be affected by the monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. Government and its agencies, particularly the Federal Reserve.
In managing interest rate risk, the Company establishes guidelines and strategies for asset and liability management, including measurement of short and long-term sensitivities to changes in interest rates, through its Balance Sheet Strategies and Asset Liability Committee, which is comprised of senior officers from the treasury, risk management, credit administration, finance and lending areas. These guidelines and strategies are also reviewed with the Capital Markets Committee of the Board of Directors.
First Financial monitors its interest rate risk position using income simulation models and EVE sensitivity analyses that capture both short-term and long-term interest rate risk exposure. Income simulation involves forecasting NII under a variety of interest rate scenarios. EVE is calculated by discounting the cash flows for all balance sheet instruments under different interest rate scenarios. First Financial uses EVE sensitivity analysis to understand the impact of changes in interest rates on long-term cash flows, income and capital. For both NII and EVE modeling, First Financial leverages instantaneous parallel shocks to
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evaluate interest rate risk exposure across rising and falling rate scenarios. Additional scenarios evaluated include various non-parallel yield curve twists.
First Financial's interest rate risk models are based on the contractual and assumed cash flows and repricing characteristics for the Company's assets, liabilities and off-balance sheet exposure. A number of assumptions are also incorporated into the interest rate risk models, including prepayment behaviors and repricing spreads for assets in addition to attrition and repricing rates for liabilities. Assumptions are primarily derived from behavior studies of the Company's historical client base and are continually refined. Modeling the sensitivity of NII and EVE to changes in market interest rates is highly dependent on the assumptions incorporated into the modeling process.
Non-maturity deposit modeling is particularly dependent on the assumption for repricing sensitivity known as a beta. Beta is the amount by which First Financial's interest bearing non-maturity deposit rates will increase when short-term interest rates rise. The Company utilized a weighted average deposit beta of 46% in its interest rate risk modeling as of September 30, 2025. First Financial also includes an assumption for the migration of non-maturity deposit balances into CDs and money markets for all upward rate scenarios beginning with the +100 bps scenario, thereby increasing deposit costs and reducing asset sensitivity.
Presented below is the estimated impact on First Financial's NII and EVE position as of September 30, 2025, assuming immediate, parallel shifts in interest rates:
% Change from base case for
immediate parallel changes in rates
-100 bps +100 bps +200 bps
NII-Year 1 (4.43) % 3.23 % 5.61 %
NII-Year 2 (5.33) % 3.59 % 6.10 %
EVE (2.80) % 1.33 % 2.14 %
"Risk-neutral"refers to the absence of a strong bias toward either asset or liability sensitivity. "Asset sensitivity"is when a company's interest-earning assets reprice more quickly or in greater quantities than interest-bearing liabilities. Conversely, "liability sensitivity"is when a company's interest-bearing liabilities reprice more quickly or in greater quantities than interest-earning assets. In a rising interest rate environment, asset sensitivity results in higher net interest income while liability sensitivity results in lower net interest income. In a declining interest rate environment, asset sensitivity results in lower net interest income while liability sensitivity results in higher net interest income.
The projected results for NII and EVE reflect an asset sensitive position. Deposit growth remains concentrated in rate sensitive product types and is modestly decreasing asset sensitivity. Variances in the sensitivity between up and down scenarios are driven by an assumed compositional shift in the funding makeup of the rate scenarios. First Financial continues to manage its balance sheet with a bias toward asset sensitivity while simultaneously balancing the potential earnings impact of this strategy.
First Financial continually evaluates the sensitivity of its interest rate risk position to modeling assumptions. The following table reflects First Financial's estimated NII sensitivity profile as of September 30, 2025 assuming a 25% increase and a 25% reduction to the beta assumption on managed rate deposits:
Beta sensitivity (% change from base)
+100 BP +200 BP
Beta 25% lower Beta 25% higher Beta 25% lower Beta 25% higher
NII-Year 1 4.57 % 1.90 % 6.97 % 4.25 %
NII-Year 2 4.89 % 2.29 % 7.42 % 4.78 %
See the Net Interest Income section of Management's Discussion and Analysis for further discussion.
Liquidity risk.Liquidity risk is the potential that an entity will be unable to meet its obligations as they come due because of an inability to liquidate assets, or obtain funding or that it cannot easily unwind or offset exposures without significantly lowering market prices because of inadequate market depth or market disruptions. Management focuses on maintaining and enhancing liquidity by maximizing collateral-based liquidity availability. First Financial manages liquidity in relation to the trend and stability of deposits; degree and reliance on short-term, volatile sources of funds, including any undue reliance on
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borrowings or brokered deposits to fund longer-term assets. Management identifies, measures, monitors and manages liquidity while seeking to maintain diversification of funding sources, both on- and off-balance-sheet.
Management, including the Balance Sheet Strategies and ALCO, monitors liquidity through a regular review of asset and liability maturities, funding sources, and loan and deposit forecasts. The Company continually refines and updates its liquidity risk management processes, such as refining the contingency funding plan, meeting frequently, and securing additional contingent borrowing capacity. The Company maintains strategic and contingency liquidity plans to ensure sufficient available funding to satisfy requirements for balance sheet growth, properly manage capital market funding sources and to address unexpected liquidity requirements.
Management closely monitors the usage of excess business deposits, the balance of personal deposits and the broader macroeconomic environment. This monitoring includes consideration of various metrics and establishment of internal thresholds related to the composition of the balance sheet, borrowings and liquidity. Balance sheet composition metrics reviewed include the loan to deposit, loans to total assets and core deposits to total assets ratios among others. Borrowing composition monitoring includes, but is not limited to, consideration of borrowing capacity as a percentage of total assets, brokered CDs as a percentage of total assets and Fed funds lines to total assets. Liquidity composition ratios include remaining liquidity to total assets, and tier 1 liquidity sources as a percentage of both 30 and 90 day maturing liabilities, among others. As of September 30, 2025, all metrics reviewed were within the Company's policy limits.
The Company utilizes its contingency funding plan to assess the ability of the Company to successfully navigate significant liquidity events. The contingency funding plan considers various sources of liquidity, including loan and deposit growth rates, decreasing access to secured and unsecured wholesale funding sources and declining financial performance, to determine First Financial's ability to meet liquidity requirements over certain time horizons and in certain stress scenarios. The contingency funding plan also includes the process for creating a Contingency Funding Task Force. During a liquidity crisis, the CFTF, via the Balance Sheet Strategies and ALCO, would assess and identify key mitigation strategies needed for addressing a liquidity crisis. These mitigation strategies would be assigned to appropriate personnel for implementation with established targets and reporting requirements. Typical mitigation strategies would include, but not be limited to, curtailing loan originations, pricing options for stabilizing/growing deposits, options for expanding wholesale funding sources and asset liquidation options.
For further discussion of the Company's liquidity, please see the Liquidity section within Management's Discussion and Analysis.
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES
First Financial's Consolidated Financial Statements are prepared based on the application of the Company's accounting policies. These policies require the reliance on estimates and assumptions which are inherently subjective and may be susceptible to significant change. Changes in underlying factors, assumptions or estimates could have a material impact on First Financial's future financial condition and results of operations. In management's opinion, some of these estimates and assumptions have a more significant impact than others on First Financial's financial reporting. For First Financial, these estimates and assumptions include accounting for the ACL - loans and leases, goodwill, pension and income taxes. The estimates and assumptions are discussed in detail in the Critical Accounting Estimates section of Management's Discussion and Analysis in First Financial's 2024 Annual Report. There were no changes to the accounting estimates and assumptions for the ACL, goodwill, pension or income taxes during the nine months ended September 30, 2025.
ACCOUNTING AND REGULATORY MATTERS
Note 2 - Recently Adopted and Issued Accounting Standards in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements discusses new accounting standards adopted by First Financial in 2025 and 2024, as well as the expected impact of accounting standards issued but not yet adopted. To the extent the adoption of new accounting standards materially affects financial condition, results of operations or liquidity, the impacts are discussed in the applicable Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements and sections of Management's Discussion and Analysis.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements contained in this report which are not statements of historical fact constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as ''believes,'' ''anticipates,'' "likely," "expected," "estimated," ''intends'' and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements we make about (i) our future operating or financial performance, including revenues, income or loss and
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earnings or loss per share, (ii) future common stock dividends, (iii) our capital structure, including future capital levels, (iv) our plans, objectives and strategies, and (v) the assumptions that underlie our forward-looking statements.
As with any forecast or projection, forward-looking statements are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts but instead express only management's beliefs regarding future results or events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of management's control. It is possible that actual results and outcomes may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results or outcomes indicated in these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements include the following, without limitation:
•economic, market, liquidity, credit, interest rate, operational and technological risks associated with the Company's business;
•future credit quality and performance, including our expectations regarding future loan losses and our allowance for credit losses
•the effect of and changes in policies and laws or regulatory agencies, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and other legislation and regulation relating to the banking industry;
•Management's ability to effectively execute its business plans;
•mergers and acquisitions, including costs or difficulties related to the integration of acquired companies;
•the possibility that any of the anticipated benefits of the Company's acquisitions will not be realized or will not be realized within the expected time period;
•the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices;
•changes in consumer spending, borrowing and saving and changes in unemployment;
•changes in customers' performance and creditworthiness;
•the costs and effects of litigation and of unexpected or adverse outcomes in such litigation;
•current and future economic and market conditions, including the effects of changes in housing prices, fluctuations in unemployment rates, U.S. fiscal debt, budget and tax matters, geopolitical matters, trade and tariff policies, and any slowdown in global economic growth;
•our capital and liquidity requirements (including under regulatory capital standards, such as the Basel III capital standards) and our ability to generate capital internally or raise capital on favorable terms;
•financial services reform and other current, pending or future legislation or regulation that could have a negative effect on our revenue and businesses, including the Dodd-Frank Act and other legislation and regulation relating to bank products and services;
•the effect of the current interest rate environment or changes in interest rates or in the level or composition of our assets or liabilities on our net interest income, net interest margin and our mortgage originations, mortgage servicing rights and mortgage loans held for sale;
•the effect of a fall in stock market prices on our brokerage, asset and wealth management businesses;
•a failure in or breach of our operational or security systems or infrastructure, or those of our third-party vendors or other service providers, including as a result of cyber attacks;
•the effect of changes in the level of checking or savings account deposits on our funding costs and net interest margin; and
•our ability to develop and execute effective business plans and strategies.
Additional factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements can be found in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, as well as our other filings with the SEC, which are available on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
All forward-looking statements included in this filing are made as of the date hereof and are based on information available at the time of the filing. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
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First Financial Bancorp published this content on November 04, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Edgar on November 04, 2025 at 14:46 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]