EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 708955
Filing Year: 2025
Filename: 708955_10-K_2025_0000708955-25-000012.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. Business.
First Financial Bancorp.
First Financial Bancorp., an Ohio corporation (First Financial or the Company), was formed in 1982. First Financial is a mid-sized, regional bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, which has elected to become a financial holding company. References in this Form 10-K to “we,” “us” or “our” refer, as the context requires, to First Financial and its subsidiaries, collectively or to First Financial as the holding company.
First Financial engages in the business of commercial banking and other banking and banking-related activities through its wholly-owned subsidiary, First Financial Bank (the Bank), which was founded in 1863. Effective December 30, 2016, the Bank converted its charter to an Ohio state chartered bank from a nationally chartered bank.
The range of banking services provided by First Financial to individuals and businesses includes commercial lending, real estate lending and consumer financing. Real estate loans are loans secured by a mortgage lien on the real property of the borrower, which may either be residential property (one to four family residential housing units) or commercial property (owner-occupied and/or investor income producing real estate, such as apartments, shopping centers, or office buildings). Risk of loss related to lending activities is managed by adherence to standard loan policies that establish certain levels of performance prior to the extension of a loan to the borrower. In addition, First Financial offers deposit products that include interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing accounts, time deposits and cash management services for commercial customers. A full range of trust and wealth management services is also provided through First Financial’s Wealth Management line of business.
Commercial and industrial loans are made to all types of businesses for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, inventory, receivables and equipment. First Financial works with businesses to meet their shorter-term working capital needs while also providing long-term financing for their business plans. First Financial also offers lease and equipment financing primarily through its wholly-owned subsidiary Summit Funding Group, Inc. (Summit) (discussed below). Credit risk for lending activities is managed through standardized loan policies, established and authorized credit limits, centralized portfolio management and the diversification of market area and industries. The overall strength of the borrower is evaluated through the credit underwriting process and includes a variety of analytical activities, including the review of historical and projected cash flows, financial performance, financial strength of the principals and guarantors and collateral values, where applicable.
Commercial and industrial lending activities also include equipment and leasehold improvement financing for franchisees throughout the U.S., principally in the quick service and casual dining sector. The underwriting of these loans incorporates basic credit proficiencies combined with knowledge of select franchise concepts to measure the creditworthiness of proposed multi-unit borrowers. The focus is on a limited number of concepts that we believe have sound economics, lower closure rates, and higher brand awareness within specified local, regional or national markets. Loan terms for equipment are generally up to 84 months fully amortizing and up to 180 months on real estate-related requests.
First Financial also offers secured commercial financing throughout the U.S. through two wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Bank, Oak Street Funding LLC (Oak Street) and First Franchise Capital Corporation (First Franchise). Oak Street lends to the insurance industry, registered investment advisors, certified public accountants and indirect auto finance companies, while First Franchise lends to restaurant franchisees. Together, these niche lending activities are driven by acquisitions, ownership transitions and financing general working capital needs. The underwriting of Oak Street's loans involves analyses of collateral (through use of Oak Street’s proprietary system) that consists of revenue, which is then continuously monitored by Oak Street throughout the life of the loans.
Commercial real estate loans are secured by a mortgage lien on the real property. The credit underwriting for both owner-occupied and investor income producing real estate loans includes detailed market analysis, historical and projected cash flow analysis, appropriate equity margins, assessment of lessees and lessors, type of real estate and other analyses. Market diversification within First Financial’s service area and industry diversification are other means by which First Financial manages the risk. First Financial does not have a significant exposure to residential builders and developers.
Certain residential real estate loans originated by the Bank conform to secondary market underwriting standards and are sold within a short timeframe to unaffiliated third parties. The Bank sells these loans with both servicing retained and servicing released, depending on pricing and other market conditions. The credit underwriting standards adhere to a required level of documentation, verifications, valuation and overall credit performance of the borrower. The underwriting of these loans
includes an evaluation of these and other pertinent factors prior to the extension of credit. These underwriting standards increase the marketability and address the credit risk associated with the loans.
Consumer loans are primarily loans made to individuals. These types of loans include new and used vehicle loans, second mortgages on residential real estate and unsecured loans. Risk elements in the consumer loan portfolio are primarily focused on the borrower’s cash flow and credit history, which are key indicators of the ability to repay. A level of security is provided through liens on automobile titles and second mortgage liens, where applicable. Consumer loans are generally smaller dollar amounts than other types of lending and are made to a large number of customers, increasing diversification within the portfolio. Economic conditions that affect consumers in First Financial’s markets have a direct impact on the credit quality of these loans. Higher levels of unemployment, lower levels of income growth and weaker economic growth are factors that may adversely impact consumer loan credit quality.
Home equity lines of credit consist mainly of revolving lines of credit secured by residential real estate. Home equity lines of credit are generally governed by the same lending policies and subject to the same credit risk mitigants as described previously for residential real estate loans.
Bannockburn Global Forex (Bannockburn), a division of the Bank, is an industry-leading capital markets firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio, that provides transactional currency payments, foreign exchange hedging, commodities hedging and other advisory products to closely held enterprises, financial sponsors and downstream financial institutions across the United States. Their primary focus is on small- and middle-market clients that have a need for tailored foreign exchange solutions. Bannockburn has a nationwide presence with offices in 10 locations throughout the U.S.
Agile Premium Finance, a division of the Bank, is among industry leaders in the premium finance lending space and is active in all 50 states. Headquartered in Lincolnshire, IL, Agile originates commercial loans for the payment of annual premiums for property and casualty insurance for businesses. Agile loans are secured by the unearned premium of the insurance policies and have an average original term of approximately ten months. .
Information regarding statistical disclosure required by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Industry Guide 3 is included in "Table 4 - Statistical Information" of First Financial's 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2024, and is incorporated herein by reference.
First Financial's executive office is located at 255 East Fifth Street, Suite 2900, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202, and the telephone number is (877) 322-9530. We maintain a website with the address www.bankatfirst.com. The information contained on our website is not included, a part of or incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K. First Financial makes available its Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), through its website, www.bankatfirst.com under the “Investor Relations” link, under “Financial Reporting.” Copies of such reports also can be found on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Human Capital
As of December 31, 2024, First Financial had approximately 2,090 employees located primarily in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois.
Employee Wellbeing. Investing in our people is a key part of our culture at First Financial and our programs provide tools for our employees to invest in their health and wellbeing. The Company firmly believes that wellbeing is directly linked to engagement and engagement is a key pillar in our overall success. First Financial invests in employees and their families through various programs. One such program is the “Wellbeing Program,” designed to support employees and their families in a holistic way, focusing on the five core areas of wellbeing: physical, financial, social, community and purpose. The program provides employees with incentives (such as health savings account contributions, paid time off and reimbursements) in exchange for voluntary participation in a range of activities, including an annual physical, health-risk assessment, webinar participation, community service, financial assistance programs and enrollment in Company sponsored fitness activities. In 2024, 59% of eligible employees qualified for benefits under the Wellbeing Program.
Compensation and Benefits. First Financial offers employees competitive short-term and long-term compensation, a comprehensive set of benefits including health, dental and vision insurance, free or low-cost access to an independent provider of primary care clinics and behavioral health services, life and disability programs, paid time off, parental leave, product discounts and various expense reimbursement programs. First Financial also provides all eligible employees with an annual allocation to the First Financial Pension Plan of 5% of eligible annual pay. The pension allocation is 100% company-paid,
fully-vested and portable. The Bank regularly reviews its total rewards practices to ensure compensation is equitable, taking into consideration such factors as experience, education, performance and market data.
Employee Engagement. First Financial believes that talented and engaged employees are critical for the success of the Company, its subsidiaries, its associates and the clients and communities it serves. First Financial launched its engagement strategy in 2020, partnering with a third party to create a culture of highly engaged employees by measuring employee engagement, providing manager training and coaching and developing action plans to deepen engagement. In July 2024 First Financial launched its fifth all-associate engagement survey. The Bank sets clear expectations of managers for high-levels of accountability and to foster engagement principles. This focus drives the Company's success in improved client relations and outcomes. The engagement strategy includes coaching and training, intentional action plans, sharing success stories, and highlighting engagement champions. The 2024 survey results showed a marked increase in engagement from the survey conducted in 2023, reinforcing the belief that employee engagement is strongly woven into the culture. As in prior years, teams throughout the Bank continue to engage in team huddles, manager and team training, town halls, mentoring, career and leadership development programs, and updated action plans to continue to drive engagement across the Company. In 2024, we hosted monthly virtual town hall meetings for all associates, sharing business updates, opening the lines of communications and answering associate questions. In conjunction with senior management and town hall meetings, additional pulse surveys were completed which provided insight into our associates’ needs, shaping future engagement strategies.
Respectful Workplace. First Financial strives to maintain a workplace that fosters our culture and aligns with our values. We expect that associates treat each other in a manner consistent with our culture and our policies, whether the individual is a fellow associate, member of management, customer, vendor or visitor to our premises. We seek out and celebrate differing opinions, expertise and experiences of our employees. First Financial supports eight associate-led Business Resource Groups (BRGs) designed to facilitate networking and leadership development. BRGs meet regularly throughout the year and host a variety of in person and virtual engagement opportunities.
Subsidiaries
A listing of each of First Financial’s subsidiaries can be found in Exhibit 21 to this Form 10-K.
Business Combinations
On February 29, 2024, First Financial acquired Agile Premium Finance for $96.9 million in an all cash transaction. Agile originates commercial loans for the payment of annual property and casualty insurance for businesses. The loans are secured by the unearned premium of the policies and have an average 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.
First Financial acquired $97.8 million of assets and $2.7 million of liabilities in the transaction, resulting in $1.8 million of goodwill. Acquisition accounting adjustments are considered preliminary at December 31, 2024. Operating results from the Agile acquisition have been included in the Consolidated Statements of Income since the acquisition date
Acquisition accounting adjustments are considered preliminary at December 31, 2024, and are subject to refinement for up to one year after the closing date of the acquisition as additional information relative to closing date fair values become available. The measurement period for the Agile acquisition ends in February 2025.
Market and Competitive Information
First Financial utilizes a community banking business model and serves a combination of metropolitan and non-metropolitan markets through its full-service banking centers primarily in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois. Market selection is based upon a number of factors, but markets are primarily chosen for their potential for growth, long-term profitability and customer reach. First Financial’s goal is to develop a competitive advantage through a local market focus, building long-term relationships with clients to help them reach greater levels of financial success.
We also compete on a nationwide basis through Oak Street, which lends to the insurance industry, registered investment advisors, certified public accountants and indirect auto finance companies, First Franchise, which lends to restaurant franchisees, Bannockburn, which provides foreign exchange services to customers throughout the United States, and Summit, which provides equipment financing to commercial businesses to the United States and Canada.
The Company’s markets support many different types of business activities, such as manufacturing, agriculture, education, healthcare and professional services. Within these markets, growth is projected to continue in key demographic groups and populations. First Financial’s market evaluation includes demographic measures such as income levels, median household income and population growth. The Midwestern markets that First Financial serves have historically not experienced the level of economic volatility experienced in other areas of the country, although material fluctuations may occur.
First Financial believes that it is well positioned to compete in its markets. Smaller than super-regional and multi-national bank holding companies, First Financial believes that it can meet the needs of its markets through a local decision-making process and that it is better positioned to compete than smaller community banks that may have size or geographic limitations. First Financial’s targeted customers include individuals and small to medium sized businesses within the Bank's geographic footprint. Through its diversified delivery systems of banking centers, ATMs, internet banking and telephone-based transactions, First Financial is able to meet the needs of its customers in an ever-changing marketplace.
First Financial faces strong competition from financial institutions and other non-financial organizations. Its competitors include local and regional financial institutions, savings and loans and bank holding companies, as well as some of the largest banking organizations in the United States. In addition, other types of financial institutions, such as credit unions, offer a wide range of loan and deposit services that are competitive with those offered by First Financial. The consumer is also served by brokerage firms and mutual funds that provide checking services, credit cards, margin loans and other services similar to those offered by First Financial. Online lenders also create additional competition, particularly in the mortgage and consumer lending areas. Major consumer retail stores compete for loans by offering credit cards and retail installment contracts. It is anticipated that competition from other financial and non-financial services entities will continue and, for certain products and services, intensify. First Financial also competes with Financial Technology Companies (“FinTechs”) which provide similar services to financial institutions while operating predominantly online and without the use of physical branch locations in a customer’s market area. Digital assets and cryptocurrencies also operate as competitors, as many of these digital assets and cryptocurrencies seek to provide payment functionality. Many customers either hold or may consider holding money that would typically be held in deposit accounts or investments in the form of digital assets or cryptocurrencies, which serves as competition for deposits.
Supervision and Regulation
First Financial and its subsidiaries are subject to an extensive system of laws and regulations that are intended primarily for the protection of consumers, depositors, borrowers, the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the banking system in general and not for the protection of shareholders. These laws and regulations govern areas such as capital, permissible activities, allowance for credit losses, loans and investments, interest rates that can be charged on loans and consumer protection communications and disclosures. Certain elements of selected laws and regulations are described in more detail in the sections that follow. These descriptions are not intended to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the full text of the statutes and regulations described.
Bank Holding Company Regulation
As a bank holding company that has elected to become a financial holding company, First Financial is subject to the provisions of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the BHCA), and is subject to supervision and examination by the Federal Reserve Board. The BHCA requires prior approval by the Federal Reserve Board in any case where a financial holding company proposes to: (i) acquire direct or indirect ownership or control of more than 5% of the voting shares of any bank that is not already majority-owned by the financial holding company; (ii) acquire all or substantially all of the assets of another bank or another financial or bank holding company; or (iii) merge or consolidate with any other financial or bank holding company. In addition, First Financial’s acquisition of a savings and loan association requires prior Federal Reserve Board approval.
A qualifying bank holding company that has elected to become a financial holding company may affiliate with securities firms and insurance companies and engage in other activities that are financial in nature and not otherwise permissible for a bank holding company, if: (i) the holding company is "well managed" and "well capitalized" and (ii) each of its subsidiary banks (a) is well capitalized under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Act of 1991 prompt corrective action provisions, (b) is well managed, and (c) has at least a "satisfactory" rating under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). No regulatory approval is required under the BHCA for a financial holding company to acquire a company, other than a bank or savings association, engaged in activities that are financial in nature or incidental to activities that are financial in nature, as determined by the Federal Reserve Board.
The Financial Services Modernization Act defines “financial in nature” to include:
•securities underwriting, dealing and market making;
•sponsoring mutual funds and investment companies;
•insurance underwriting and agency;
•merchant banking; and
•activities that the Federal Reserve Board has determined to be closely related to banking.
If a financial holding company or a subsidiary bank fails to maintain all requirements for the holding company to maintain financial holding company status, material restrictions may be placed on the activities of the holding company and its subsidiaries and on the ability of the holding company to enter into certain transactions and obtain regulatory approvals for new activities and transactions. The holding company could also be required to divest itself of subsidiaries that engage in activities that are not permitted for bank holding companies that are not financial holding companies. If restrictions are imposed on the activities of a financial holding company, the existence of such restrictions may not be made publicly available pursuant to confidentiality regulations of the bank regulatory agencies.
Each subsidiary bank of a financial holding company is subject to certain restrictions on the maintenance of reserves against deposits, extensions of credit to the financial holding company and its subsidiaries, investments in the stock and other securities of the financial holding company and its subsidiaries and the taking of such stock and securities as collateral for loans to borrowers. Further, a financial holding company and its subsidiaries are prohibited from engaging in certain tying arrangements in connection with any extension of credit, lease or sale of property or furnishing of any services. Various consumer laws and regulations also affect the operations of these subsidiaries.
In April 2020, the Federal Reserve Board adopted a final rule to revise its regulations related to determinations of whether a company has the ability to exercise control over another company for purposes of the Bank Holding Company Act. The final rule expands and codifies the presumptions for use in such determinations. By codifying the presumptions, the final rule provides greater transparency on the types of relationships that the Federal Reserve Board generally views as supporting a facts-and-circumstances determination that one company controls another company.
The Federal Reserve Board also has extensive enforcement authority over bank holding companies, including the ability to assess civil monetary penalties, issue cease and desist or removal orders, and require that a bank holding company divest subsidiaries (including a subsidiary bank). In general, the Federal Reserve Board may initiate enforcement actions for violations of laws and regulations and unsafe or unsound practices. A bank holding company is required by law and Federal Reserve Board policy to act as a source of financial strength to each subsidiary bank and to commit resources to support such subsidiary bank. The Federal Reserve Board may require a bank holding company to contribute additional capital to an undercapitalized subsidiary bank and may disapprove of the payment of dividends to its shareholders if the Federal Reserve Board believes the payment of such dividends would be an unsafe or unsound practice.
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve Board requires all depository institutions to maintain reserves at specified levels against their transaction accounts, primarily checking accounts. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve Board reduced reserve requirement ratios to 0% effective on March 26, 2020, to support lending to households and businesses. The reserve requirement ratio remained at 0% as of December 31, 2024.
Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, as amended (the Dodd-Frank Act), imposes significant regulatory and compliance requirements, including the imposition of increased capital, leverage, and liquidity requirements, and numerous other provisions designed to improve supervision and oversight of, and strengthen safety and soundness within, the financial services sector.
On May 25, 2018, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (the Regulatory Relief Act) was enacted to modify or remove certain financial reform rules and regulations, including some of those implemented under the Dodd-Frank Act. Bank holding companies with consolidated assets of less than $100 billion, including First Financial, are no longer subject to the enhanced prudential standards established under the Dodd-Frank Act. The Regulatory Relief Act also relieves bank holding companies and banks with consolidated assets of less than $100 billion, including First Financial, from certain record-keeping, reporting and disclosure requirements.
Depository Institution Regulation
The Bank, as a bank chartered under the laws of the State of Ohio and a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (Federal Reserve Bank), is subject to supervision and examination by the Federal Reserve Board and the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions (ODFI). The Bank's deposits are insured up to applicable legal limits by the DIF, which is administered by the FDIC and is subject to the provisions of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, as amended (FDIA). The Bank is also subject to regulations of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was established by the Dodd-Frank Act and has broad powers to adopt and enforce consumer protection regulations.
Regulatory Capital
Financial institutions and their holding companies are required to maintain capital as a way of absorbing losses. The Federal Reserve Board has adopted risk-based capital guidelines for bank holding companies as well as state banks that are members of a Federal Reserve Bank. The guidelines provide a systematic analytical framework that makes regulatory capital requirements sensitive to differences in risk profiles among banking organizations, takes off-balance sheet exposures expressly into account in evaluating capital adequacy and incentivizes to holding liquid, low-risk assets. Capital levels as measured by these standards are also used to categorize financial institutions for purposes of certain prompt corrective action regulatory provisions.
In July 2013, the United States banking regulators approved final rules (the Basel III Capital Rules) implementing the Basel III framework set forth by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, as well as certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. Community banking organizations, including First Financial and the Bank, began transitioning to the new rules when the new minimum capital requirements became effective on January 1, 2015. A capital conservation buffer (i.e. common equity) and additional deductions from common equity capital were phased in through January 1, 2019.
The Basel III capital rules include (i) a minimum common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 4.5%, (ii) a minimum tier 1 capital ratio of 6.0%, (iii) a minimum total capital ratio of 8.0% and (iv) a minimum leverage ratio of 4.0%.
Common equity for the common equity tier 1 capital ratio generally consists of common stock (plus related surplus), retained earnings, accumulated other comprehensive income (unless an institution elects to exclude such income from regulatory capital) and limited amounts of minority interests in the form of common stock, subject to applicable regulatory adjustments and deductions.
Tier 1 capital generally consists of common equity as defined for the common equity tier 1 capital ratio, plus certain non-cumulative preferred stock and related surplus, cumulative preferred stock and related surplus, trust preferred securities that have been grandfathered (but which are not otherwise permitted), and limited amounts of minority interests in the form of additional tier 1 capital instruments, less certain deductions.
Tier 2 capital, which can be included in the total capital ratio, generally consists of other preferred capital and subordinated debt meeting certain conditions plus limited amounts of the allowance for credit losses, subject to specified eligibility criteria, less applicable deductions.
The deductions from common equity tier 1 capital include goodwill and other intangibles, certain deferred tax assets, mortgage-servicing assets above certain levels, gains on sale in connection with a securitization, investments in a banking organization’s own capital instruments and investments in the capital of unconsolidated financial institutions (above certain levels).
Under the guidelines, capital is compared to the relative risk included in the balance sheet. To derive the risk included in the balance sheet, one of several risk weights is applied to different balance sheet and off-balance sheet assets, primarily based on the relative credit risk of the counterparty. The capital amounts and classification are also subject to qualitative judgments by the regulators about components, risk weightings and other factors.
The Basel III Capital Rules also place restrictions on the payment of capital distributions, including dividends and stock repurchases, and certain discretionary bonus payments to executive officers if the Company does not hold a capital conservation buffer of greater than 2.5% composed of common equity tier 1 capital compared to its minimum risk-based capital requirements, or if its eligible retained income is negative in that quarter and its capital conservation buffer ratio was less than 2.5% at the beginning of the quarter.
Federal banking regulators have established regulations governing prompt corrective action to resolve capital deficient banks. Under these regulations, institutions that become under-capitalized are subject to mandatory regulatory scrutiny and limitations, which increase as capital continues to decrease. Each such institution is also required to file a capital plan with its primary federal regulator, and its holding company must guarantee the capital shortfall up to 5% of the assets of the capital deficient institution at the time it becomes under-capitalized.
In accordance with the Basel III Capital Rules, in order to be “well-capitalized” under the prompt corrective action guidelines, a bank must have a common equity tier 1 capital ratio of at least 6.5%, a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 10.0%, a tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of at least 8.0% and a leverage ratio of at least 5.0%, and the bank must not be subject to any written agreement, order, capital directive or prompt corrective action directive to meet and maintain a specific capital level or any capital measure. At December 31, 2024, the Bank met the capital ratio requirements to be deemed “well-capitalized.”
A bank with a capital level that might qualify for well capitalized or adequately capitalized status may nevertheless be treated as though the bank is in the next lower capital category if the bank’s primary federal banking supervisory authority determines that an unsafe or unsound condition or practice warrants that treatment. A bank’s operations can be significantly affected by its capital classification under the prompt corrective action rules. For example, a bank that is not well capitalized generally is prohibited from accepting brokered deposits and offering interest rates on deposits higher than the prevailing rate in its market without advance regulatory approval. These deposit-funding limitations can have an effect on the bank’s liquidity. At each successively lower capital category, an insured depository institution is subject to additional restrictions. Under-capitalized banks are required to take specified actions to increase their capital or otherwise decrease the risks to the DIF. Bank regulatory agencies generally are required to appoint a receiver or conservator within 90 days after a bank becomes critically under-capitalized with a leverage ratio of less than 2.0%. The FDIA provides that a federal bank regulatory authority may require a bank holding company to divest itself of an under-capitalized bank subsidiary if the agency determines that divestiture will improve the bank’s financial condition and prospects.
In December 2018, the federal banking agencies issued a final rule to address regulatory treatment of credit loss allowances under the current expected credit loss (CECL) model (accounting standard). The rule revised the federal banking agencies’ regulatory capital rules to identify which credit loss allowances under the CECL model are eligible for inclusion in regulatory capital and to provide banking organizations the option to phase in over three years the day-one adverse effects on regulatory capital that may result from the adoption of the CECL model. Concurrent with the enactment of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Recovery Act (CARES Act) in March 2020, federal banking agencies issued an interim final rule that delayed the estimated impact on regulatory capital resulting from the adoption of CECL. The interim final rule provided banking organizations that implemented CECL prior to the end of 2020 the option to delay for two years the estimated impact of CECL on regulatory capital relative to regulatory capital determined under the prior incurred loss methodology, followed by a three-year transition period to phase out the aggregate amount of capital benefit provided during the initial two-year delay. First Financial adopted the capital transition relief over the five year permissible period.
Debit Card Interchange Fees
The “Durbin Amendment” to the Dodd-Frank Act, also known as Regulation II, was enacted into law in July 2010. The Durbin Amendment limits the amount of interchange fees that banks with assets of $10 billion or more may charge to process electronic debit transactions. Under the Durbin Amendment and the Federal Reserve Board’s implementing regulations, bank issuers which are not exempt may only receive an interchange fee from merchants that is reasonable and proportional to the cost of clearing the transaction. The maximum permissible interchange fee is equal to no more than $0.21 plus 5 basis points of the transaction value for many types of debit interchange transactions. A debit card issuer may also recover $0.01 per transaction for fraud prevention purposes if the issuer complies with certain fraud-related requirements established by the Federal Reserve Board. In addition, the Federal Reserve Board has rules governing routing and exclusivity that require issuers to offer two unaffiliated networks for routing transactions on each debit or prepaid product.
Limitations on Dividends and Other Payments
There are various legal limitations on the extent to which a subsidiary bank may finance or otherwise supply funds to its parent holding company. Under applicable federal and state laws, the Bank may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, make loans or extensions of credit to, or investments in the securities of, First Financial. A subsidiary bank is also subject to collateral security requirements for any loan or extension of credit permitted by such exceptions.
The Bank may not pay dividends out of its surplus if, after paying these dividends, it would fail to meet the required minimum capital levels established by the Federal Reserve Board. The amount of dividends payable by the Bank is also restricted if the Bank does not hold a capital conservation buffer as described above. In addition, the Bank must have the approval of the Federal Reserve Board and the ODFI if a dividend in any year would cause the total dividends for that year to exceed the sum of the Bank’s net income for the current year and the retained earnings for the preceding two years, less required transfers to surplus or to fund the retirement of preferred stock. Under Ohio law, the Bank may pay a dividend from surplus only with the approval of First Financial (as the sole shareholder of the Bank) and the approval of the ODFI. Payment of dividends by the
Bank may be restricted at any time at the discretion of its regulatory authorities, if such regulatory authorities deem such dividends to constitute unsafe and/or unsound banking practices or if necessary to maintain adequate capital.
The ability of First Financial to obtain funds for the payment of dividends, for the servicing of indebtedness and for other cash requirements is largely dependent on the amount of dividends that may be declared by the Bank. However, because the Federal Reserve Board expects First Financial to serve as a source of strength to the Bank, as discussed above, payment of dividends by the Bank may be restricted at any time at the discretion of the Federal Reserve Board if the Federal Reserve Board deems such dividends to constitute an unsafe and/or unsound banking practice.
The Federal Reserve Board has also issued a policy statement with regard to the payment of cash dividends by financial holding companies and other bank holding companies. The policy statement provides that, as a matter of prudent banking, a bank holding company should not maintain a rate of cash dividends unless its net income available to common shareholders over the past year has been sufficient to fully fund the dividends, and the prospective rate of earnings retention appears to be consistent with the bank holding company’s capital needs, asset quality, and overall financial condition. Accordingly, a bank holding company generally should not pay cash dividends that exceed its net income or that can only be funded in ways that weaken the bank holding company’s financial health, such as by borrowing. Under certain circumstances, a bank holding company must provide notice to the Federal Reserve Board of an intended dividend payment, to which the Federal Reserve Board might object if it determines the payment would be an unsafe or unsound practice.
Insurance of Accounts
The FDIC maintains the DIF, which insures the deposit accounts of the Bank to the maximum amount provided by law. The general insurance limit is $250,000 per separately insured depositor. This insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.
The FDIC assesses deposit insurance premiums on each insured institution quarterly based on risk characteristics of the institution. As a bank with assets of more than $10 billion, First Financial is subject to a deposit assessment based on a scorecard issued by the FDIC. This scorecard considers, among other things, the Bank’s CAMELS rating, results of asset-related stress testing and funding-related stress, as well as its use of core deposits, among other things. Depending on the results of the Bank’s performance under that scorecard, the total base assessment rate is between 1.5 and 40 basis points. The FDIC may also impose a special assessment in an emergency situation.
The FDIA requires the FDIC's Board of Directors to set a target or Designated Reserve Ratio (DRR) for the DIF annually. The DRR is the total of the DIF divided by the total estimated insured deposits of the industry. Under the long-range plan, the FDIC set the DRR at 2.0% and set a schedule of assessment rates that would progressively decrease when the DRR reached 2.0% and 2.5%. The FDIC views the 2.0% DRR as a long-term goal and the minimum level needed to withstand future crises of the magnitude of past crises. Extraordinary growth in insured deposits during the first and second quarters of 2020 caused the DRR to decline below the statutory minimum of 1.35% as of June 30, 2020. In September 2020, the FDIC Board of Directors adopted a restoration plan to restore the DRR to at least 1.35% by 2028, absent extraordinary circumstances, as required by the FDIC. The restoration plan maintained the assessment rate schedules in place at the time and required the FDIC to update its analysis and projections for the DIF balance and DRR at least semiannually.
In the semiannual update for the restoration plan in June 2022, the FDIC projected that the DRR was at risk of not reaching the statutory minimum of 1.35% by September 30, 2028, the statutory deadline to restore the DRR. Based on this update, the FDIC Board approved an amended restoration plan, and concurrently proposed an increase in initial base deposit insurance assessment rate schedules uniformly by two basis points, applicable to all insured depository institutions. In October 2022, the FDIC Board finalized the increase with an effective date of January 1, 2023, applicable to the first quarterly assessment period of 2023. The revised assessment rate schedules are intended to increase the likelihood that the DRR reaches the statutory minimum level of 1.35% by September 30, 2028. In the FDIC’s most recent semiannual update for the amended restoration plan in October 2024, the FDIC staff projected that the reserve ratio remains on track to reach the statutory minimum of 1.35% ahead of the deadline of September 30, 2028. As a result, the FDIC staff recommended no changes to the amended restoration Plan and all scheduled assessment rates were maintained.
On November 16, 2023, the FDIC adopted a final rule implementing a special assessment to recover the loss to the DIF arising from the protection of uninsured depositors following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The assessment base for the special assessment is equal to an insured depository institution’s estimated uninsured deposits reported for the quarter ended December 31, 2022, adjusted to exclude the first $5 billion in estimated uninsured deposits. The FDIC began collecting the special assessment at an annual rate of approximately 13.4 basis points, over eight quarterly assessment periods,
beginning with the first quarter of 2024. The Bank recorded $0.2 million and $0.9 million of expense related to the special assessment in 2024 and 2023, respectively.
As of December 31, 2024, the Bank reported $5.9 billion in uninsured deposits.
As insurer, the FDIC is authorized to conduct examinations of and to require reporting by DIF-insured institutions. Insurance of deposits may be terminated by the FDIC upon a finding that the institution has engaged or is engaging in unsafe and unsound practices, is in an unsafe or unsound condition to continue operations or has violated any applicable law, regulation, rule, order or condition imposed by the FDIC or written agreement entered into with the FDIC.
Consumer Protection Laws and Regulations
Banks are subject to regular examination to ensure compliance with federal statutes and regulations applicable to their business, including consumer protection statutes and implementing regulations. The Dodd-Frank Act established the CFPB, which has extensive regulatory and enforcement powers over consumer financial products and services. As a bank with total assets in excess of $10 billion, the Bank is primarily examined by the CFPB with respect to consumer protection laws and regulations. The CFPB has adopted numerous rules with respect to consumer protection laws and has commenced related enforcement actions. The following are just a few of the consumer protection laws applicable to the Bank:
•The CRA: imposes a continuing and affirmative obligation to fulfill the credit needs of its entire community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
•Equal Credit Opportunity Act: prohibits discrimination in any credit transaction on the basis of any of various criteria.
•Truth in Lending Act: requires that credit terms are disclosed in a manner that permits a consumer to understand and compare credit terms more readily and knowledgeably.
•Fair Housing Act: makes it unlawful for a lender to discriminate in its housing-related lending activities against any person on the basis of any of certain criteria.
•Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: requires financial institutions to collect data that enables regulatory agencies to determine whether the financial institutions are serving the housing credit needs of the communities in which they are located.
•Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act: requires that lenders provide borrowers with disclosures regarding the nature and cost of real estate settlements and prohibits abusive practices that increase borrowers’ costs.
•Privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act: requires financial institutions to establish policies and procedures to restrict the sharing of non-public customer data with non-affiliated parties and to protect customer information from unauthorized access.
The banking regulators also use their authority under the Federal Trade Commission Act to take supervisory or enforcement action with respect to unfair or deceptive acts or practices by banks that may not necessarily fall within the scope of specific banking or consumer finance law.
On July 22, 2020, the CFPB issued a final small dollar loan rule related to payday, vehicle title and certain high cost installment loans (the Small Dollar Rule) that modified a former rule that was issued in November 2013. Lenders were required to comply with the Small Dollar Rule by June 13, 2022. Specifically, the Small Dollar Rule revokes provisions contained in the 2013 rule that: (i) provide that it is an unfair and abusive practice for a lender to make a covered short-term or longer-term balloon-payment loan, including payday and vehicle title loans, without reasonably determining that consumers have the ability to repay those loans according to their terms; (ii) prescribe mandatory underwriting requirements for making the ability-to-repay determination; (iii) exempt certain loans from mandatory underwriting requirements; and (iv) establish related definitions, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements. The effective date for nationwide compliance with the Final Small Dollar Rule is March 30, 2025.
Separately, the federal bank regulatory agencies issued interagency guidance on May 20, 2020, to encourage banks, savings associations, and credit unions to offer responsible small-dollar loans to customers for consumer and small business purposes. The Small Dollar Rule did not have a material effect on First Financial’s financial condition or results of operations on a consolidated basis in 2023 or 2024.
Community Reinvestment Act
Under the CRA, every FDIC-insured institution is obligated, consistent with safe and sound banking practices, to help meet the credit needs of its entire community, including low and moderate income neighborhoods. The CRA requires the appropriate federal banking regulator, in connection with the examination of an insured institution, to assess the institution's record of meeting the credit needs of its community and to consider this record in its evaluation of certain applications to banking regulators, such as an application for approval of a merger or the establishment of a branch. An unsatisfactory rating may be used as the basis for the denial of an application and will prevent a bank holding company from making an election to become a financial holding company. As of its most recent examination, the Bank received a CRA rating of “outstanding.”
On October 24, 2023, the federal banking agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board, issued a final rule designed to strengthen and modernize the regulations implementing the CRA. The changes are designed to encourage banks to expand access to credit, investment and banking services in low- and moderate-income communities, adapt to changes in the banking industry, including mobile and internet banking, provide greater clarity and consistency in the application of the CRA regulations and tailor CRA evaluations and data collection to bank size and type. The applicability date for the majority of the changes to the CRA regulations is January 1, 2026, and additional requirements will be applicable on January 1, 2027; however, these dates are likely to change due to ongoing litigation regarding the CRA rule changes. First Financial cannot predict the impact the changes to the CRA will have on its operations at this time.
Privacy Rules
Federal banking regulators, as required under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, as amended (the GLBA), have adopted rules limiting the ability of banks and other financial institutions to disclose nonpublic information about consumers to non-affiliated third parties. The rules require disclosure of privacy policies to consumers and, in some circumstances, allow consumers to prevent disclosure of certain personal information to non-affiliated third parties. The privacy provisions of the GLBA affect how consumer information is transmitted through diversified financial services companies and conveyed to outside vendors.
Fiscal and Monetary Policies
The earnings of banks, and, therefore, the earnings of First Financial (and its subsidiaries), are affected by the fiscal and monetary policies of the United States government and its agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board. An important function of the Federal Reserve Board is to regulate the national supply of bank credit in an effort to prevent recession and to restrain inflation. Among the procedures used to implement these objectives are open market operations in United States government securities, changes in the discount rate on member bank borrowings, and changes in reserve requirements on member bank deposits. These policies are used in varying degrees and combinations to directly affect the availability of bank loans and deposits, as well as the interest rates charged on loans and paid on deposits.
Volcker Rule
In December 2013, five federal agencies adopted a final regulation implementing the so-called Volcker Rule provision of the Dodd-Frank Act (the Volcker Rule). The Volcker Rule placed limits on the trading activity of insured depository institutions and entities affiliated with depository institutions, subject to certain exceptions. Such trading activity included the purchase or sale as principal of a security derivative, commodity future, option, or similar instrument in order to benefit from short-term price movements or to realize short-term profits. The Volcker Rule exempted trading in specified United States government, agency, state and/or municipal obligations. The Volcker Rule also excluded: (i) trading conducted in certain capacities, including as a broker or other agent, through a deferred compensation or pension plan, as a fiduciary on behalf of customers; (ii) trading to satisfy a debt previously contracted; (iii) trading under certain repurchase and securities lending agreements; and (iv) trading in connection with risk-mitigating hedging activities. Further, the Volcker Rule prohibited a banking entity from having an ownership interest in, or certain relationships with, a hedge fund or private equity fund, also known as “covered funds,” subject to a number of exceptions.
On June 25, 2020, the federal bank regulatory agencies finalized a rule modifying the Volcker Rule’s prohibition on banking entities investing in or sponsoring covered funds. The new rule permits certain banking entities to offer financial services and engage in other activities that do not raise concerns that the Volcker Rule was originally intended to address. To the extent First Financial engages in any of the trading activities or has any ownership interests in or relationship with any of the types of funds regulated by the Volcker Rule, First Financial believes that its activities and relationships comply with such rule, as modified through rule-making.
Office of Foreign Assets Control Regulation
The United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign countries and regimes, under authority of various laws, including designated foreign countries, nationals and others. OFAC publishes lists of specially designated targets and countries. First Financial is responsible for, among other things, blocking accounts of, and transactions with, such targets and countries, prohibiting unlicensed trade and financial transactions with them and reporting blocked transactions after their occurrence. Failure to comply with these sanctions could have serious financial, legal and reputational consequences, including causing applicable bank regulatory authorities not to approve merger or acquisition transactions when regulatory approval is required or to prohibit such transactions even if approval is not required. Regulatory authorities have imposed cease and desist orders and civil money penalties against institutions found to be violating these obligations. The Bank has established policies and procedures that it considers to be in compliance with the requirements and obligations of OFAC and the laws it regulates.
Incentive Compensation
Following the adoption of additional listing requirements in 2023 to comply with the Dodd-Frank Act and rules adopted by the SEC in October 2022, public companies are now required to adopt, implement and disclose a "clawback" policy for incentive compensation payments that allows recovery of incentive compensation that was paid on the basis of erroneous financial information necessitating an accounting restatement due to material noncompliance with financial reporting requirements. This clawback policy is intended to apply to compensation paid within the three completed fiscal years immediately preceding the date the issuer is required to prepare a restatement and would cover all executives (including former executives) who received incentive awards. First Financial has adopted and implemented a clawback policy, which is included as Exhibit 97 to this Report.
Transactions with Affiliates; Insider Loans
Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act and Federal Reserve Board Regulation W generally:
•limit the extent to which a bank or its subsidiaries may engage in “covered transactions” with any one affiliate to an amount equal to 10.0% of the bank's capital stock and surplus;
•limit the extent to which a bank or its subsidiaries may engage in “covered transactions” with all affiliates to an amount equal to 20.0% of the bank's capital stock and surplus; and
•require that all such transactions be on terms substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the bank or subsidiary, as those provided to a non-affiliate.
An affiliate of a bank is any company or entity that controls, is controlled by or is under common control with the bank. The term “covered transaction” includes the making of loans to the affiliate, the purchase of assets from the affiliate, the issuance of a guarantee on behalf of the affiliate, the purchase of securities issued by the affiliate and other similar types of transactions.
A bank’s authority to extend credit to executive officers, directors and greater than 10.0% shareholders, as well as entities such persons control, is subject to Sections 22(g) and 22(h) of the Federal Reserve Act and Regulation O promulgated thereunder by the Federal Reserve Board. Among other things, these loans must be made on terms (including interest rates charged and collateral required) substantially similar to those offered to unaffiliated individuals or be made as part of a benefit or compensation program on terms widely available to employees and must not involve a greater than normal risk of repayment. In addition, the amount of loans a bank may make to these persons is based, in part, on the bank’s capital position, and specified approval procedures must be followed in making loans which exceed specified amounts.
Cybersecurity
In March 2015, federal regulators issued two related statements regarding cybersecurity. One statement indicates that financial institutions should design multiple layers of security controls to establish several lines of defense and to ensure that their risk management processes also address the risk posed by compromised customer credentials, including security measures to reliably authenticate customers accessing Internet-based services of the financial institution. The other statement indicates that a financial institution’s management is expected to maintain sufficient business continuity planning processes to ensure the rapid recovery, resumption and maintenance of the financial institution’s operations after a cyber-attack involving destructive malware. A financial institution is also expected to develop appropriate processes to enable recovery of data and business
operations and address rebuilding network capabilities and restoring data if the financial institution or its critical service providers fall victim to this type of cybersecurity-attack. If First Financial fails to observe the regulatory guidance, it could be subject to various regulatory sanctions, including financial penalties.
In November 2021, the FDIC, the OCC and the Federal Reserve Board issued a final rule that became effective in May 2022 requiring banking organizations that experience a computer-security incident to notify certain entities. A computer-security incident occurs when there is a violation or imminent threat of a violation to banking security policies and procedures, or when actual or potential harm to the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an information system or the information occurs. The affected bank must notify its respective federal regulator of the computer-security incident as soon as possible and no later than 36 hours after the bank determines a computer-security incident that rises to the level of a notification incident has occurred. These notifications are intended to promote early awareness of threats to banking organizations and will help banks react to those threats before they manifest into larger incidents. This rule also requires bank service providers to notify their customers of a computer-security incident that has caused, or is reasonably likely to cause, a material service disruption or degradation for four or more hours.
State regulators have also been increasingly active in implementing privacy and cybersecurity standards and regulations. Recently, several states have adopted regulations requiring certain financial institutions to implement cybersecurity programs and providing detailed requirements with respect to these programs, including data encryption requirements. Many states have also recently implemented or modified their data breach notification and data privacy requirements. First Financial expects this trend of new state-level activity to continue and is actively monitoring developments in the states in which we conduct business.
On July 26, 2023, the SEC adopted final rules that require public companies to promptly disclose material cybersecurity incidents in a Current Report on Form 8-K and detailed information regarding their cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance on an annual basis in an Annual Report on Form 10-K. Companies are required to report on Form 8-K any cybersecurity incident they determine to be material within four business days of making that determination. See “ITEM 1C CYBERSECURITY” of Part 1 of this Report. These SEC rules, and any other regulatory guidance, are in addition to notification and disclosure requirements under state and federal banking law and regulations.
In the ordinary course of business, First Financial relies on electronic communications and information systems to conduct its operations and to store sensitive data. First Financial employs an in-depth, layered, defensive approach that leverages people, processes, third-party service providers, encryption and multi-factor authentication technology to manage and maintain cybersecurity controls. First Financial utilizes a variety of preventative and detective tools to monitor, block, and provide alerts regarding suspicious activity, as well as report on any suspected advanced persistent threats. Notwithstanding the strength of First Financial’s defensive measures, the threat from cybersecurity-attacks is severe, attacks are sophisticated and increasing in volume, and attackers respond rapidly to changes in defensive measures. First Financial’s systems and those of its customers and third party service providers are under constant threat and it is possible that First Financial could experience a significant event in the future. Risks and exposures related to cybersecurity attacks are expected to remain high for the foreseeable future due to the rapidly evolving nature and sophistication of these threats, in addition to the expanding use of internet banking, mobile banking and other technology-based products and services by us and our customers.
Patriot Act
A major focus of governmental policy on financial institutions in recent years has been aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing. In response to the terrorist events of September 11, 2001, the Uniting and Strengthening of America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the Patriot Act) substantially broadened the scope of United States anti-money laundering laws and regulations by imposing significant new compliance and due diligence obligations, creating new crimes and penalties, and expanding the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the United States. The Patriot Act gives the United States government powers to address terrorist threats through enhanced domestic security measures, expanded surveillance powers, increased information sharing and broadened anti-money laundering requirements. Title III of the Patriot Act encourage information sharing among bank regulatory agencies and law enforcement bodies. Further, certain provisions of Title III impose affirmative obligations on a broad range of financial institutions. Among other requirements, Title III and related regulations require regulated financial institutions to establish a program specifying procedures for obtaining identifying information from customers seeking to open new accounts and establish enhanced due diligence policies, procedures and controls designed to detect and report suspicious activity. The Bank has established policies and procedures that it considers to be in compliance with the requirements of the Patriot Act.
State Law
As an Ohio-chartered bank, the Bank is subject to regular examination by the ODFI. State banking regulation affects the Bank’s internal organization and corporate governance, capital distributions, activities, acquisitions of other institutions and branching. State banking regulation may contain limitations on an institution’s activities that are in addition to limitations imposed under federal banking law. The ODFI may initiate supervisory measures or formal enforcement actions, and under certain circumstances, it may take control of an Ohio-chartered bank.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
The risks listed here are not the only risks we face. Additional risks that are not presently known, or that we presently deem to be immaterial, also could have a material effect on our financial condition, results of operations, business and prospects. Additionally, the aggregate impact of multiple risk factors, whether presently deemed material or immaterial, could similarly result in a material effect on our financial condition, results of operations, business and prospects. (See also “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for certain forward looking statements.)
Risks Related to Economic and Market Conditions
Weakness in the economy and governmental policies, whether or not adopted in response to economic conditions such as inflation, may adversely affect us.
Our success depends, in part, on economic and political conditions, local and national, as well as governmental fiscal and monetary policies. Conditions such as inflation, deflation, recession, unemployment, changes in interest rates, tariffs, fiscal and monetary policy and other factors beyond our control may affect our deposit levels and composition, demand for loans and other products and services, the ability of borrowers to repay their loans and the value of the collateral securing the loans it makes. Economic turmoil in different regions of the world, as well as military conflicts such as those currently ongoing in Ukraine and the Middle East, affect the economy and stock prices in the United States, which can affect our earnings and capital and the ability of our customers to repay loans.
The new Presidential administration has stated its intention to scrutinize the United States’ trade relationships with its economic partners, indicated an interest in renegotiating trade agreements, and stated a willingness to implement tariffs with some of the United States’ trade partners which could lead to trade wars. These statements by the administration have signaled a change in the United States’ economic policies, and it is not clear which policies, if any, will be implemented and what effect these policies may have on the local, national, and global economy. Trade wars and tariffs can affect the economy and stock prices in the United States and can impact the costs of goods paid by customers, which can affect our deposit levels and concentration, the demand for loans and other products and services and the ability of our customers to repay outstanding loans, which could adversely affect our financial condition and the results of operations.
If the strength of the United States economy declines, this could result in, among other things, a deterioration of credit quality, altered consumer spending habits or a reduced demand for credit, including a resultant effect on our loan portfolio and allowance for credit losses. While the Federal Reserve began cutting the target fed funds rate in 2024, there are no assurances that it will continue to cut the target fed funds rate in 2025 and it may remain open to increasing rates further should inflation dynamics remain unfavorable. This scenario of higher short-term interest rates for a longer period than currently anticipated by market participants (“higher for longer”), along with other factors, could also result in higher delinquencies and greater charge-offs in future periods, which could materially affect our financial condition and results of operations.
There is no assurance that our non-impaired loans will not become impaired or that our impaired loans will not suffer further deterioration in value. A slowing labor market, declining savings, higher interest rates and sticky inflation could cause financial stress to consumers and slacken consumption. The fluctuations in national, regional and local economic conditions, including those related to local residential, commercial real estate and construction markets, may result in increased charge-offs and, consequently, reduce our net income. These fluctuations are not predictable, cannot be controlled and may have a material impact on our operations and financial condition even if other favorable events occur.
Changes in market interest rates or financial markets could affect our revenues and expenses, the value of assets and obligations, and the availability and cost of capital or liquidity.
Given the nature of our business, and the fact that most of our assets and liabilities are financial in nature, we tend to be sensitive to market interest rate movements and the performance of the financial markets. Our primary source of income is net interest income, which is the difference between the interest income generated by our interest-earning assets (consisting primarily of loans and, to a lesser extent, securities) and the interest expense generated by our interest-bearing liabilities. Prevailing economic conditions, fiscal and monetary policies and the policies of various regulatory agencies all affect market rates of interest and the availability and cost of credit, which, in turn, significantly affect financial institutions’ net interest income. If the interest we pay on deposits and other borrowings increases at a faster rate than increases in the interest we receive on loans and investments, net interest income, and, therefore, our earnings, could be affected. Earnings and capital
levels could also be affected if the interest we receive on loans and other investments falls more quickly than the interest we pay on deposits and other borrowings.
In addition to the general impact of the economy, changes in interest rates or in valuations in the debt, equity, commodities or currency markets could directly impact us in one or more of the following ways:
•the yield on earning assets and rates paid on interest bearing liabilities may change in disproportionate ways;
•the value of certain balance sheet and off-balance sheet financial instruments or the value of equity investments that we hold could decline;
•the value of assets for which we provide processing services could decline;
•the bank's profitability may decline due to negative impacts of increased market volatility;
•insured and/or uninsured depositors may seek alternative investments, making the bank more reliant on alternative, more expensive funding sources;
•the demand for loans and refinancings may decline, which could negatively impact income related to loan originations;
•the reset on interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages could cause financial strain on borrowers, making them more likely to default; or
•to the extent we access capital markets to raise funds to support our business, such changes could affect the cost of such funds or the ability to raise such funds.
Although we have implemented procedures we believe will reduce the potential effects of changes in interest rates on our results of operations, these procedures may not always be successful. In addition, any substantial or prolonged change in market interest rates could affect our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. During 2024, the target fed funds rate decreased by 100 basis points. Because our balance sheet is asset sensitive, these interest rate decreases resulted in a decline in our net income in 2024.
The Presidential Administration’s regulatory agenda could result in substantial impact to our regulatory compliance procedures and operations.
We anticipate that the Presidential administration will seek to implement a regulatory reform agenda that is significantly different than that of the Biden administration, impacting the rulemaking, supervision, examination and enforcement priorities of the federal banking agencies. While we do not specifically know what these changes will be, we may be required to implement different compliance procedures and modify our policies and activities to comply with changes set forth by the administration. This may cause us to incur additional costs and expenses, and dedicate additional resources, to achieve compliance with any changes from the Presidential administration, which can impact our financial condition and the results of our operations.
Local economic factors may adversely affect our business and the results of our operations.
Our community banking business model and local market focus has led to a concentration in the markets in which we operate, namely Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois. As a result of this geographic concentration, our results of operations are largely dependent on economic conditions in these local markets. Changes to the economic conditions in these local markets, which may be different from the national economic conditions, may adversely affect our financial condition and the results of our operations.
Declines in the local economic conditions in our market areas could impact: our deposit levels and composition; the demand for our products and services; the strength of our credit quality; the demand for loans; the ability of borrowers to repay their loans; the value of collateral securing loans; the number of foreclosures and workouts; the amount of our allowance for credit losses; and the number of loans that we charge off. This can lead to a detrimental impact on our financial condition and the results of our operations.
Our loan portfolio and investments in mortgage-backed securities consist of a significant number of loans secured by real estate and other assets, the value of which can be affected by national and local market conditions.
We offer a variety of secured loans, including commercial lines of credit, commercial term loans, real estate, construction, home equity, consumer and other loans and hold as investments a number of mortgage-backed securities, including collateralized mortgage obligations. Many of our loans are secured by real estate (both residential and commercial) within our market area. A major change in the real estate market, such as deterioration in the value of collateral, or in the local or national economy, could affect our customers' ability to pay these loans, which in turn could impact our results of operations and
financial condition. Additionally, increases in unemployment also may affect the ability of certain clients to repay loans and the financial results of commercial clients in localities with higher unemployment, may result in loan defaults and foreclosures and may impair the value of our collateral. Increases in loan defaults may also lead to additional losses in our investments in mortgage-backed securities, including collateralized mortgage obligations.
In 2024, we experienced losses in mortgage-backed securities primarily due to a $9.7 million impairment loss on two commercial mortgage backed securities where the underlying collateral consisted of skilled nursing facilities with credit deterioration, which we expect to sell in the near term. This is especially relevant in light of the ongoing inflationary pressures and potential impact of trade wars and tariffs to increase those inflationary pressures.
Loan defaults and foreclosures are unavoidable in the banking industry, and we try to limit our exposure to this risk by monitoring carefully our extensions of credit. In 2024, our classified asset balances increased $83.1 million, driven by a $45.0 million asset that was recorded following the mutually agreed upon termination of a foreign exchange trade, as well as the downgrade of three commercial real estate loans, one commercial and industrial loan and one construction loan. Continued increases in our classified asset balances and/or an increase in loan defaults may also increase our costs associated with servicing these loans, foreclosing on properties and costs of property maintenance on foreclosed properties. We cannot fully eliminate credit risk, and as a result, credit losses may increase in the future and impact our financial condition and results of operations.
Weakness in the secondary market for residential mortgage loans could affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Declines in demand for residential mortgage loans, changed government laws or regulations or other disruptions in the secondary market for residential mortgage loans can limit the market for and liquidity of many mortgage loans that we seek to sell in the secondary market. The effects of these disruptions to the secondary market for residential morgage loans, as well as reductions in residential real estate market prices and declining home sales, could affect the value of collateral securing mortgage loans that we hold, income generated from mortgage loan originations and profits on sales of mortgage loans in the secondary market. Such conditions could result in higher losses or charge-offs in our mortgage loan portfolio and other lines of business. Declines in real estate values, home sale volumes, financial stress on borrowers as a result of job losses, interest rate resets on adjustable rate mortgage loans or other factors, either independently or in the aggregate could have further effects on borrowers that could result in higher delinquencies and greater charge-offs in future periods, which would affect our financial condition or results of operations. A decline in home values or overall economic weakness could also have an impact upon the value of real estate or other assets which we own upon foreclosing a loan and our ability to realize value on such assets.
Our financial instruments carried at fair value expose us to certain market risks.
We maintain an available-for-sale investment securities portfolio, which includes assets with various types of instruments and maturities. At times, we also maintain certain assets that are classified and accounted for as trading assets. The changes in fair value of available-for-sale securities are recognized in shareholders' equity as a component of other comprehensive income, and these securities typically decrease in value when market interest rates rise. The changes in fair value of financial instruments classified as trading assets are carried at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in earnings. The fair value of financial instruments carried at fair value is exposed to market risks related to changes in interest rates and market liquidity. We manage the market risks associated with these instruments through broad asset/liability management strategies. Changes in the market values of these financial instruments or conditions that would require us to dispose of these investment securities earlier than anticipated could have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations. We may classify additional financial assets or financial liabilities at fair value in the future.
Risks Related to Our Business
When we loan money, commit to loan money or enter into a letter of credit or other contract with a counterparty, we incur credit risk, or the risk of loss if our borrowers do not repay their loans or our counterparties fail to perform according to the terms of their contracts.
Since lending is one of our primary business activities, the credit quality of our portfolio can have a significant impact on our earnings. We estimate and establish reserves for credit risks we reasonably expect to occur over the expected life of our loan portfolio. This process, which is critical to our financial results and condition, requires difficult, subjective and complex judgments, including reviews of economic conditions and how these economic conditions might impair the ability of our borrowers to repay their loans. As is the case with any such assessments, there is always the chance that we will fail to identify the proper factors, that we will fail to accurately estimate the impacts of factors that we identify, or that we fail to accurately estimate the aggregate impacts of factors that we identify, all of which could impact the credit quality of our portfolio and have
an impact on the results of operations. In addition, large loans, letters of credit and contracts with individual counterparties in our portfolio magnify the credit risk that we face, as the impact of large borrowers and counterparties not repaying their loans or performing according to the terms of their contracts has a disproportionately significant impact on our credit losses, reserves and the results of operations.
The information that we use in managing our credit risk may be inaccurate or incomplete, which may result in an increased risk of default and otherwise have an effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
In deciding whether to extend credit or enter into other transactions with clients and counterparties, we may rely on information furnished by or on behalf of clients and counterparties, including financial statements and other financial information. We also may rely on representations of clients and counterparties as to the accuracy and completeness of that information and, with respect to financial statements, on reports of independent auditors. Nonetheless, in the near-term, higher interest rates along with elevated costs are expected to weigh on firms’ profit margins. Although we regularly review our credit exposure to specific clients and counterparties and to specific industries that we believe may present credit concerns, default risk may arise from events or circumstances that are difficult to detect, such as fraud. Moreover, such circumstances, including fraud, may become more likely to occur or be detected in periods of general economic uncertainty. We may also fail to receive full information with respect to the risks of a counterparty. In addition, in cases where we have extended credit against collateral and/or guarantees, we may find that we are under-secured, for example, as a result of sudden declines in market values that reduce the value of collateral or due to fraud with respect to such collateral or the ability of a guarantor to fulfill its financial obligations. If such events or circumstances were to occur, it could result in a potential loss of revenue, increase in costs and have an effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our allowance for credit losses may prove to be insufficient to absorb losses in our loan portfolio.
We maintain an allowance for credit losses that we believe is a reasonable estimate of the expected losses over the expected life of the loan portfolio based on a CECL model. We believe that our allowance for credit losses is maintained at a level adequate to absorb expected losses over the life of the loans in the loan portfolio as of the corresponding balance sheet date. However, our allowance for credit losses may not be sufficient to cover actual credit losses, and future provision for credit losses could materially affect our operating results. The accounting measurements related to the allowance for credit losses require significant estimates which are subject to uncertainty and change related to new information and changing circumstances. Management estimates the allowance 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. We adjust our quantitative model, as necessary, to reflect conditions not already considered by such model. Our estimates of the risk of loss and amount of loss on any loan are complicated by the significant uncertainties surrounding our borrowers’ abilities to successfully execute their business models through changing economic environments, competitive challenges and other factors. Because of the degree of uncertainty and susceptibility of these factors to change, our actual losses may vary from our current estimates.
In addition, bank regulators periodically review our allowance for credit losses and may require us to increase our provision for credit losses or recognize further loan charge-offs. The accounting guidance requires banks to record, at the time of origination, credit losses expected throughout the life of the asset on loans, leases and held-to-maturity debt securities. Under the CECL model, we are required to use historical information, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts to estimate the expected credit losses. If the methodologies and assumptions we use in the CECL model prove to be incorrect, or inadequate, the allowance for credit losses may not be sufficient, resulting in the need for additional allowance for credit losses to be established, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations. We adopted the CECL accounting guidance in 2020 and recognized a one-time cumulative effect adjustment to our allowance for credit losses and retained earnings as of January 1, 2020. Concurrent with the enactment of the CARES Act, federal bank regulatory agencies issued an interim final rule that delayed the estimated impact on regulatory capital resulting from the adoption of CECL. The interim final rule provided banking organizations that implemented CECL prior to the end of 2020 the option to delay for two years the estimated impact of CECL on regulatory capital relative to regulatory capital determined under the prior incurred loss methodology, followed by a three-year transition period to phase out the aggregate amount of capital benefit provided during the initial two-year delay.
We adopted CECL in the first quarter of 2020, including the regulatory phase-in. As a result of CECL, our financial results may be negatively affected as soon as weak or deteriorating economic conditions are forecasted and alter our expectations for credit losses. In 2022, we recorded $6.7 million of provision expense as our loan portfolio grew and the overall duration of the portfolio extended due to rising interest rates. In 2023, we recorded $43.1 million of provision expense as our loan portfolio grew, net charge-offs increased and the overall duration of the portfolio extended due to rising interest rates and slower loan prepayments. In 2024, we recorded $49.2 million of provision expense as our loan portfolio grew and the overall duration of
the portfolio extended due slower loan prepayments. Depending upon future circumstances, as well as broader macroeconomic shifts, we may incur significant provision expense for credit losses in future periods.
Our foreign exchange business plays a crucial role in facilitating various financial transactions, including foreign exchange, interest rate, and commodity hedging for our commercial clients and is largely dependent upon a small number of large clients and market volatility that could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, and reputation.
In August 2019, First Financial acquired Bannockburn, which engages in various capital markets activities as part of its matched book business encompassing foreign exchange, interest rate, and commodity hedging transactions.
•Concentration risk: Bannockburn’s business model relies, to some extent, upon a small number of large clients. The loss of one or more of these large clients would adversely affect the revenue derived from Bannockburn.
•Market risk: Foreign currency and commodities transactions expose us to market risk, including fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, interest rates, and commodity prices. These fluctuations could result in financial losses or decreased revenues if we fail to accurately predict or manage these risks. Foreign currency and commodities transactions historically increase as market volatility increases. Sustained periods of stability in global financial markets could also adversely affect Bannockburn’s revenue.
•Credit risk: We are exposed to credit risk through our dealings with counterparties in derivative transactions. While we have risk management policies and procedures in place to mitigate credit risk, the failure of counterparties to fulfill their obligations could lead to financial losses or damage to our reputation.
•Liquidity risk: The nature of our capital markets operations requires us to maintain sufficient liquidity to meet our obligations, including margin calls and settlement requirements. A sudden or unexpected increase in liquidity needs could strain our resources and negatively impact our financial position.
•Regulatory risk: Our capital markets activities are subject to extensive regulatory oversight and compliance requirements. Changes in regulations or regulatory enforcement actions could increase our compliance costs, restrict our ability to operate certain businesses, or result in fines or penalties.
•Operational Risk: We face operational risks, including systems failures, errors, or disruptions, that could disrupt our capital markets activities and result in financial losses or harm to our reputation.
•Legal risk: Our capital markets operations are subject to legal risks, including litigation, regulatory investigations, and disputes with clients or counterparties. Adverse legal outcomes could result in financial losses, reputational damage, or regulatory sanctions.
•Political risk: Our foreign exchange business is also susceptible to the risk that political events or changes in government policies, such as renegotiated trade agreements or tariffs, could negatively impact the bank's matched book business.
We rely on other companies to provide key components of our business infrastructure, creating risks of failures or disruptions by such companies and cybersecurity incidents which may involve our customers’ information.
Digitalization and technological innovation continue to advance the trend of banks outsourcing technology operations and entering partnerships or other arrangements with third parties. Third parties provide key components of our business infrastructure, such as processing and internet connections and network access. These vendors also provide services that support our operations, including the storage and processing of sensitive consumer and business customer data, as well as our sales efforts. Any disruption in such services provided by these third parties, any failure of these third parties to handle current or higher volumes or any failure of third parties to perform in accordance with their agreements with us could affect our ability to deliver products and services to clients and to efficiently and effectively conduct our business. Technological or financial difficulties of a third-party service provider could affect our business to the extent such difficulties result in the interruption or discontinuation of services provided by that party, and could lead to potential regulatory issues, reputational harm and impact the results of our operations.
A cybersecurity breach of a vendor's system may result in theft of our data or disruption of business processes. A material breach of customer data security at a service provider's site may negatively impact our business reputation and cause a loss of customers, result in increased expense to contain the event and/or require that we provide credit monitoring services for affected customers, result in regulatory fines and sanctions, and possibly litigation. We may experience liability to our customers for losses arising from a breach of a vendor's data security system. We rely on our outsourced service providers to implement and maintain prudent cybersecurity controls. Furthermore, we may not be insured against all types of losses as a result of third-party failures, and our insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover all losses resulting from system failures or other disruptions. Failures in our business infrastructure could interrupt our operations, cause reputational harm, increase the costs of doing business and impact the results of our operations.
Unauthorized use or disclosure of sensitive or confidential client or customer information, whether through a breach of our computer systems or otherwise, or other breaches in the security of our systems could harm our business.
As part of our business, we collect, process, and retain sensitive and confidential client and customer information on behalf of our subsidiaries and other third parties. Despite the security measures we have in place, our facilities and systems, and those of our third party service providers, may be vulnerable to security breaches, acts of fraud, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, malware, ransomware, theft of information, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors, or other similar events. Ransomware actors continue to affect the sector by targeting banks and their third parties. These attacks have the potential to affect banks and market operations by rendering critical data inaccessible as well as by threatening the confidentiality of customer data obtained by these bad actors or through data leaks. If information security is breached, information can be lost or misappropriated, resulting in financial loss or costs to us or damages to others. Our systems can be rendered inoperable, resulting in our inability to provide service to our customers. Any security breach involving the misappropriation, loss, destruction or unauthorized disclosure of confidential customer information, whether by us or by our vendors, could severely damage our reputation, lead to a loss of customers, expose us to the risk of litigation and liability, result in regulatory fines, penalties, or orders, disrupt our operations and have a material effect on our business, our financial condition and the results of our operations.
Cybersecurity risk management programs are expensive to maintain and mitigate cybersecurity risks, but will not protect us from all risks associated with maintaining the security of customer data and our proprietary data from external and internal intrusions, disaster recovery and failures in the controls used by our vendors. Employee error or misconduct may result in failure to implement policies and procedures designed to avoid risks. Moreover, as technology and cyberattacks change over time, we must continually monitor and change systems to guard against new threats, while also training our employees to remain diligent against cyberattacks. We may not know of and be able to guard against a new threat until after an attack has occurred. Congress and the legislatures of states in which we operate regularly consider legislation that would impose more stringent data privacy requirements which may result in increased costs of compliance and impact the results of our operations.
Any of these occurrences could result in our diminished ability to operate one or more of our businesses, potential civil liability, reputational damage and regulatory intervention in the form of requirements, restrictions and penalties, which could affect us our business and results of operations.
We rely on our systems, employees and certain counterparties, and certain failures or actions could affect our operations.
We are exposed to many types of operational risks, some of which are outside of our control, including, but not limited to, the risk of fraud or theft by employees and outsiders, clerical and record-keeping errors, computer/telecommunications systems malfunctions, and risks regarding the operations of our third party vendors. Our business is dependent on our ability to process a large number of increasingly complex transactions. If any of our financial, accounting or other data processing or technological systems fail or have other significant shortcomings, our business could be affected. We depend on internal systems and outsourced technology to support these data storage and processing operations, as well as harm our reputation amongst our customers. Our inability to use or access these information systems at critical points in time could unfavorably impact the timeliness and efficiency of our business operations. In recent years, some banks have experienced denial of service attacks in which individuals or organizations flood a bank's website with extraordinarily high volumes of traffic, with the goal and effect of disrupting the ability of the bank to process and/or communicate information about transactions. These, and similar types of attacks and/or breaches of data, could result in losses in the form of lost revenues, costs to remediate, reputational harm, litigation losses and other impacts to our financial condition and results of operations.
Additionally, we could be affected if one of our employees or a third-party service provider causes a significant operational breakdown or failure, either as a result of human error or where an individual purposefully sabotages or fraudulently manipulates our operations or systems. We are also at risk of an impact on our systems and operations from natural disasters, accidents outside of our control, terrorism, international hostilities, and other exceptional or outlier events outside of our control. Such events can impact operational systems operated by us or others on which we rely and can result in an impact to our business operations and subsequent impacts to our financial condition and results of operations.
Misconduct by employees could include negligent, fraudulent, improper, or unauthorized activities on behalf of clients or improper use of confidential information. While we have implemented precautions to mitigate the risk, we may not be able to prevent employee or third party errors or misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect this type of activity might not be effective in all cases. Employee errors or misconduct could subject us to civil claims and/or regulatory enforcement actions, including fines, penalties and restrictions on our business.
In addition, continuing cyberattacks and current geopolitical tensions highlight the importance of heightened threat monitoring and safeguarding against disruptive attacks targeting the financial sector. There have been instances where financial institutions have been victims of fraudulent activity in which criminals pose as customers to initiate wire and automated clearinghouse transactions out of customer accounts. There have also been increased instances of scammers who target clients to gain access to their accounts to conduct transactions or convince customers to initiate transactions for the scammers’ benefit. Although we have policies and procedures in place to verify the authenticity of our customers, we cannot assure that such policies and procedures will prevent all fraudulent transfers. Such activity can result in financial liability to us and/or our customers and harm to our reputation and impact the results of our operations.
Our liquidity is dependent upon our ability to receive dividends from our subsidiaries, which accounts for most of our revenue and could affect our ability to pay dividends, and we may be unable to provide liquidity from other sources.
We are a separate and distinct legal entity from our subsidiaries, notably the Bank. We receive substantially all of our revenue from dividends from our subsidiaries. These dividends are the principal source of funds to pay dividends on our common shares and interest and principal on outstanding debt. Various federal and/or state laws and regulations limit or restrict the amount of dividends that the Bank and certain of our non-bank subsidiaries may pay us. Additionally, if our subsidiaries’ earnings are not sufficient to make dividend payments to us while maintaining adequate capital levels, we may not be able to make dividend payments to our common shareholders. As of December 31, 2024, the Bank had $255.9 million available to pay dividends to First Financial without prior regulatory approval.
To enhance liquidity, we may borrow under credit facilities or from other sources. Turbulence in the capital and credit markets may cause many lenders and institutional investors to reduce or cease to provide funding to borrowers and, as a result, we may not be able to further increase liquidity through additional borrowings under these market conditions.
Limitations on our ability to receive dividends from our subsidiaries or an inability to increase liquidity through additional borrowings, or inability to maintain, renew or replace existing credit facilities, could have a material effect on our liquidity and on our ability to pay dividends on our common shares and interest and principal on our debt.
As of December 31, 2024, we had indebtedness of $1.1 billion which was a decrease from $1.3 billion in 2023 in large part due to an increase in deposits. If deposits were to decrease, we may need to incur additional indebtedness to ensure that we have adequate levels of liquidity.
Clients could pursue alternatives to bank deposits, causing us to lose a relatively inexpensive source of funding.
Checking and savings account balances and other forms of client deposits, including uninsured deposits, could decrease if clients perceive alternative investments as providing superior expected returns. We regularly perform liquidity stress testing and sensitivity analyses of deposit assumptions. Both remain critical given recent trends in deposit balance and interest rate movements, as well as uncertainty regarding depositor behavior moving forward.
Consumers may move money out of bank deposits in favor of other investments, including digital assets or cryptocurrency or money market funds, or into alternative financial services providers. When clients move money out of bank deposits in favor of alternative investments or to alternative financial services providers, we can lose a relatively inexpensive source of funds, increasing our funding costs, and impacting the results of our operations. Sound liquidity risk management, including processes that ensure sufficient committed capacity to meet contingent liquidity needs, remains critical.
Our financial condition, results of operations, and stock price may be negatively impacted by unrelated bank failures and negative depositor and/or investor confidence in depository institutions.
The 2023 bank failures of Silicon Valley Bank in California, Signature Bank in New York, and First Republic Bank in California, and the decision of Silvergate Bank in California to voluntarily liquidate its assets and wind down operations have caused uncertainty in the investor community and negative confidence among bank customers generally.
While we do not believe that the circumstances of these banks' failures and liquidations are indicators of broader issues with the banking system, the failures may reduce customer confidence, affect sources of funding and liquidity, increase regulatory requirements and costs, adversely affect financial markets and/or have a lasting negative reputational ramification for the financial services industry, including us. These bank failures led to volatility and declines in the market for bank stocks and questions about depositor confidence in depository institutions, which in turn led to a greater focus by institutions, investors, and regulators on the on-balance sheet liquidity of and funding sources for financial institutions and the composition of its deposits. Notwithstanding, our efforts to promote deposit insurance coverage with our customers and otherwise effectively
manage our liquidity, deposit portfolio retention, and other related matters, our financial condition, results of operation, and stock price may be adversely affected by future negative events within the banking sector and adverse customer or investor responses to such events.
Disruptions in our ability to access capital markets on desirable terms may affect our capital resources, liquidity and business.
We depend on wholesale capital markets to provide us with sufficient capital resources and liquidity to meet our commitments and business needs, and to accommodate the transaction and cash management needs of our clients. Other sources of funding available to us, and upon which we rely as regular components of our liquidity risk management strategy, include inter-bank borrowings, repurchase agreements, and borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank system. Any occurrence that may limit our access to these sources on acceptable or desirable terms, such as a decline in the confidence of debt purchasers, a downgrade in our credit rating or a downgrade in the credit rating of our depositors or counterparties participating in the capital markets, may affect our capital costs and our ability to raise capital and, in turn, our liquidity.
In addition, prior debt offerings could potentially have important consequences to us and our debt and equity investors, including:
•requiring a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to make interest payments;
•making it more difficult to satisfy debt service and other obligations;
•increasing the risk of a future credit ratings downgrade of our debt, which could increase future debt costs and limit the future availability of debt financing;
•increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
•reducing the cash flow available to fund capital expenditures and other corporate purposes and to grow our business;
•limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry;
•placing us at a competitive disadvantage relative to our competitors that may not be as highly leveraged with debt; and
•limiting our ability to borrow additional funds as needed or take advantage of business opportunities as they arise, pay cash dividends or repurchase securities.
We continue to evaluate these risks on an ongoing basis.
Projections for new business initiatives and strategies may prove inaccurate.
The introduction, implementation, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives and strategies, including, but not limited to, the opening of new banking centers or entering into new product lines, may be less successful or may be different than anticipated, which could affect our business, financial condition and the results of our operations. The Bank makes certain projections and develops plans and strategies for its banking and financial products. If we do not accurately forecast demand for our banking and financial products, it could result in us incurring significant expenses without the anticipated increases in revenue, which could result in a material effect on the Bank’s business, capital, and/or results of our operations.
We may be required to repurchase mortgage loans or indemnify mortgage loan purchasers as a result of breaches of representations and warranties, borrower fraud, or certain borrower defaults, which could harm our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
When we sell mortgage loans, whether as whole loans or pursuant to a securitization, we are required to make customary representations and warranties to the purchaser about the mortgage loans and the manner in which they were originated. Our whole loan sale agreements require us to repurchase or substitute mortgage loans in the event we breach any of these representations or warranties including those that are breached as a result of misrepresentations or fraud by the borrowers. While we have taken steps to enhance our underwriting policies and procedures to protect against breaches of these representations and warranties in subsequent sales of mortgage loans, there can be no assurance that these steps will be effective or reduce risk associated with loans sold in the past. If the level of repurchase and indemnity activity becomes material, our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition may be affected.
Competition in the financial services industry is intense and could result in our losing business and/or experiencing reduced margins.
We operate in a highly competitive industry that could become even more competitive as a result of legislative, regulatory and technological changes, and continued consolidation. We face aggressive competition from other domestic and foreign lending institutions as well as from numerous other providers of financial services. The ability of non-banking financial institutions to provide services previously limited to commercial banks has intensified competition. Because non-banking financial institutions are not subject to the same regulatory restrictions as banks and bank holding companies, they can often operate with
greater flexibility and lower cost structures. Securities firms and insurance companies that elect to become financial holding companies may acquire banks and other financial institutions. These developments may significantly change the competitive environment in which we conduct business. Some of our competitors have greater financial resources and/or face fewer regulatory constraints, such as FinTechs, digital assets or cryptocurrencies. FinTechs and other new technologies seek to complete financial transactions without banks or by utilizing banks that are not dependent on having physical branches in a customer’s market area. Consumers can also shop for higher deposit interest rates at banks across the country, which may offer higher rates because they have few or no physical branches and open deposit accounts electronically. Credit unions that compete with us have tas, regulatory and other advantages that allow them to price products and services more competitively. As a result of these various sources of competition, we could lose loan, deposit, or other types of business to competitors or be forced to price products and services on less advantageous terms to retain or attract clients, either of which could affect our profitability.
The principal bases for competition are pricing (including the interest rates charged on loans or paid on interest bearing deposits), product structure, the range of products and services offered and the quality of customer service (including convenience and responsiveness to customer needs and concerns). The ability to access and use technology is an increasingly important competitive factor in the financial services industry, and it is a critically important component to customer satisfaction as it affects our ability to deliver the right products and services. For example, digital or cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and other FinTech technologies that are designed to enhance transactional security have the potential to disrupt the financial industry, change the way banks do business, and reduce the need for banks as financial deposit-keepers and intermediaries.
Failure to adequately address the competitive pressures we face could make it harder for us to attract and retain customers across our businesses. Similarly, meeting these competitive pressures could require us to incur significant additional expense, to reevaluate the number of branches through which we serve our customers, or to accept risk beyond what we would otherwise view as desirable under the circumstances. In addition, in our interest rate sensitive business, pressure to increase rates on deposits or decrease rates on loans could reduce our net interest margin with a resulting negative impact on our net interest income. These competitive pressures could result in the loss of fee income and client deposits, increase our funding costs and impact our financial condition and results of our operations.
Maintaining or increasing market share depends on market acceptance and regulatory approval of new products and services.
Our success depends, in part, on our ability to develop, adapt, implement and release products and services to evolving industry standards. There is increasing pressure to provide products and services at lower prices with increased efficiency, which can reduce net interest income and noninterest income from fee-based products and services. In addition, the widespread adoption of new technologies, including digital or cryptocurrencies, blockchain and other “fintech” technologies, could require us to make substantial capital expenditures to modify or adapt existing products and services or develop new products and services. We may also make substantial capital expenditures through strategic partnerships or other corporate transactions to modify, adopt, develop or implement new technologies, products or services. We may not be successful in introducing new or modified products and services in response to industry trends or developments in technology or those new or modified products or services may not achieve market acceptance. As a result, we could lose business, be forced to price products and services on less advantageous terms to retain or attract clients, be subject to increased costs or have a detrimental effect on the results of our operations.
Failure to keep pace or successfully adopt new technologies could adversely affect the results of our operations.
In addition to the new products and services that new technologies,including digital or cryptocurrencies, blockchain and other “fintech” technologies, bring to customers, successful adoption and implementation of new technologies can allow us to increase efficiencies and enable us to better serve customers in a more efficient manner at reduced costs. Our success depends in part on recognizing the potential of new technology that can be implemented to achieve these benefits.
We may undertake additional costs to implement new technologies. If we are not successful in implementing the new technologies, or otherwise do not realize the intended efficiency and cost benefits of the implementation of new technologies, we may be unable to recover the costs incurred during the implementation.
Additionally, implementation of certain new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and other large language models and similar technologies, can expose us to new or increased operational risks, including risks related to our system of internal controls. The implementation of these new technologies may have unintended consequences due to their limitations or failure to use and implement them effectively. Further, many of our competitors have greater resources to
develop these and other new technologies without reliance on third party vendors or developers, which can reduce their costs and exposure to third party risks, which could put us at a competitive disadvantage.
Failure to attract and/or retain key employees could impact our business operations.
Another increasingly competitive factor in the financial services industry is the competition to attract and retain talented employees across many of our business and support areas, many of whom are key to executing our strategic plan and to maintaining relationships with the customers and communities they serve.
We face competition for talented employees not only by others in the financial services industry, but across sectors and geographic locations, as technological advancements have made it easier for employees to pursue opportunities that previously were inaccessible because of geographical restrictions. Failure to attract and/or retain key employees, or otherwise experiencing persistent or extreme levels of employee turnover, could lead to adverse effects on our business, financial condition or operating results and could also cause us to not pursue certain business opportunities.
Our wealth management business subjects us to a variety of investment and market risks.
At December 31, 2024, we had $3.7 billion in assets under management. A sharp decline or heightened volatility in the stock market could negatively impact the value of investments held by the bank's wealth management clients, which in turn impacts the amount of assets under management and subjects our earnings to additional risks and uncertainties. As our wealth management business grows, we may also face operational risk resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, systems or errors, and regulatory risk, which could result in penalties or restrictions due to non-compliance with laws and regulations.
Additionally, many of the same technological advances that compete with our banking services may compete with our wealth management business. Some of our competitors have greater financial resources and/or face fewer regulatory constraints, such as FinTechs, that allow customers trade investments without the use of wealth management services. Further, customers are seeking to invest in the cryptocurrency markets which may also reduce our assets under management. These competitive factors could further impact the amount of assets under management, decrease our earnings, increase costs to address competitive pressures and impact our financial condition and the results of our operations.
Negative public opinion could damage our reputation and impact business operations and revenues.
As a financial institution, our earnings and capital are subject to risks associated with negative public opinion. Negative public opinion could result from our actual or alleged conduct in any number of activities, including lending practices, the failure of any of our products or services to meet our clients’ expectations or applicable regulatory requirements, corporate governance and acquisitions, social media and other marketing activities, the acts, comments, or statements made by employees or third parties we have engaged, whether individually or on behalf of us, and the implementation of environmental, social and governance practices or actions taken by government regulators and community organizations in response to any of the foregoing. Negative public opinion could affect our ability to attract and/or retain clients, attract and/or retain employees, could expose us to litigation and/or regulatory action, and could have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations, our stock price or result in heightened volatility. Negative public opinion could also affect our ability to borrow funds in the unsecured wholesale debt markets.
We may not pay dividends on our common shares.
Holders of our common shares are only entitled to receive such dividends as our Board of Directors may declare out of funds legally available for such payments. Although we have historically declared cash dividends on our common shares, we are not required to do so and may reduce or eliminate our common share dividend in the future. Additionally, our funds to pay dividends on common shares are dependent upon the results of operations and dividends paid to us by the Bank, which are subject to regulatory restrictions. A reduction in our dividend rate could affect the market price of our common shares.
Significant or sustained declines in our current market capitalization could impact the carrying value of our goodwill.
Numerous facts and circumstances are considered when evaluating the carrying value of our goodwill. One of those considerations is our market capitalization, which is evaluated over a reasonable period of time and compared to the aggregate estimated fair value of the reporting unit. While this comparison provides some relative market information regarding the estimated fair value of our reporting unit, it is not determinative and needs to be evaluated in the context of the current economic and political environment. However, significant and/or sustained declines in First Financial’s market capitalization, especially in relation to First Financial’s book value, could be an indication of potential impairment of goodwill.
Other considerations that factor into the aggregate estimated fair value of the reporting unit include forecasts of revenues and expenses derived from internal management projections for a period of five years, changes in working capital estimates, company specific discount rate derived from a rate build up approach, externally sourced bank peer group market multiples and externally sourced bank peer group change in control premium, all of which are highly subjective and require significant management judgment. Changes in these key assumptions could materially affect our estimate of the reporting unit fair value and could affect our conclusion regarding the existence of potential impairment of goodwill.
A reduction in our credit rating could affect us or the holders of our securities.
The credit rating agencies assessing our creditworthiness regularly evaluate us, and provide a credit rating. Credit ratings are based on a number of factors, including our financial strength and ability to generate earnings, as well as factors not entirely within our control, including changes in rating methodologies and conditions affecting the financial services industry and the economy as a whole. There can be no assurance that we will maintain our current credit rating. A downgrade of the credit rating of the Company could affect our access to liquidity and capital, and could significantly increase our cost of funds, trigger additional collateral or funding requirements and decrease the number of investors and counterparties willing to lend to us or purchase our securities. This could affect our growth, profitability, financial condition, including liquidity, and the results of our operations.
Potential acquisitions may disrupt our business and dilute shareholder value, we may not be able to successfully consummate or integrate such acquisitions, and we may not realize the anticipated benefits contemplated when pursuing a potential acquisition.
We may acquire other financial institutions, or branches or assets of other financial institutions, in the future. We may also open new branches and enter into new lines of business or offer new products or services either through organic expansion, mergers, acquisitions or similar corporate transactions. Any such expansion of our business will involve a number of expenses and risks, which may include:
•the time and expense associated with identifying and evaluating potential expansions;
•the potential inaccuracy of estimates and judgments used to evaluate credit, operations, management and market risk with respect to the target company;
•potential exposure to unknown or contingent liabilities of the target company;
•exposure to potential asset quality issues of the target company;
•difficulty and expense of integrating the operations and personnel of the target company;
•difficulty or added costs in the wind-down of non-strategic operations;
•potential disruption to our business;
•potential diversion of our management’s time and attention;
•the possible loss of key employees and customers of the target company;
•difficulty in estimating the value (including goodwill) of the target company;
•difficulty in receiving appropriate regulatory approval for any proposed transaction; and
•potential changes in banking, tax or other laws or regulations or accounting rules that may affect the target company or our realization of any anticipated benefits or accretive shareholder value from undertaking such expansion.
We regularly evaluate merger and acquisition opportunities and conduct due diligence activities related to possible transactions with other financial institutions and financial services companies. Acquisitions could involve the payment of a premium over book and market values, and, therefore, dilution of our tangible book value and net income per common share may occur in connection with any such transaction. Furthermore, any difficulty integrating businesses acquired as a result of a merger or acquisition and the failure to realize the expected revenue increases, cost savings, increases in geographic or product presence and/or other projected benefits from an acquisition could have an impact on our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition and any such integration could divert management’s time and attention from managing our company in an effective manner.
Any merger or acquisition opportunity that we decide to pursue will ultimately be subject to regulatory approval or other closing conditions. We may expend substantial time and resources pursuing potential acquisitions which may not be consummated because regulatory approval or other closing requirements are not satisfied. Additionally, the banking regulators and applicable laws and regulations may restrict our ability to engage in acquisitions under certain circumstances.
Our accounting policies and processes are critical to how we report our financial condition and results of operations. They require management to make estimates about matters that are uncertain.
Accounting policies and processes are fundamental to how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. Management must exercise judgment in selecting and applying many of these accounting policies and processes so they comply with U.S. GAAP.
Management has identified certain accounting policies as being critical because they require management’s judgment to ascertain the valuations of assets, liabilities, commitments and contingencies. A variety of factors could affect the ultimate valuation that is made when recording income, recognizing an expense, recovering an asset, valuing an asset or liability or reducing a liability. We have established detailed policies and control procedures that are intended to ensure these critical accounting estimates and judgments are well controlled and applied consistently. In addition, our policies and procedures are intended to ensure that the process for changing methodologies occurs in an appropriate manner. Because of the uncertainty surrounding our judgments and the estimates pertaining to these matters, we cannot guarantee that we will not be required to adjust accounting policies or re-state prior period financial statements.
See the “Critical Accounting Estimates” in the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Note 1- Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, in our 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders (included within Exhibit 13 to this Form 10-K) for more information.
Changes in our accounting policies or in accounting standards could materially affect how we report our financial results and condition.
From time to time, the FASB, SEC and other regulatory agencies may change the financial accounting and reporting guidance that governs the preparation of our financial statements. These changes can be hard to predict and can materially impact how we manage, record and report our financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, we could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, resulting in a requirement to restate prior period financial statements.
Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.
Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to reasonably assure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") is accurately accumulated and communicated to management, and recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures or internal controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of management's system of controls are met.
These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision making can be faulty, that alternative reasoned judgments can be drawn, that some information may be reported inaccurately because we must specifically rely upon the person providing such information or that breakdowns can occur because of a simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorized override of the controls. Accordingly, because of the inherent limitations in management's system of controls, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.
Our revenues derived from investment securities may be volatile and subject to a variety of risks.
We generally maintain investment securities and trading positions in the fixed income markets. Unrealized gains and losses associated with our investment portfolio and mark-to-market risks associated with our investment portfolio are affected by many factors, including our credit position, interest rate volatility and volatility in capital markets, among other economic factors. Our return on such investments could experience volatility, and such volatility may affect our financial condition and results of operations. If we were required to liquidate our holdings in these investment securities and/or exit positions prior to maturity or prior than we had anticipated, it could result in losses and may affect our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, accounting regulations may require us to record a charge prior to the actual realization of a loss when market valuations of such securities are impaired and such impairment is considered to be other than temporary.
We also have investments in mortgage backed securities, including collateralized mortgage obligations. These securities are participations in pools of loans secured by mortgages under which payments of principal and interest are passed through to security holders. These securities are subject to prepayment risk, particularly during periods of declining interest rates, and extension risk during periods of rising interest rates. Prepayments of the underlying real estate loans may shorten the lives of the securities, thereby affecting yields to maturity and market values.
Losses on investment securities were higher in 2024 due to a $9.7 million impairment loss on two commercial mortgage backed securities where the underlying collateral consisted of skilled nursing facilities with credit deterioration, which we expect to sell in the near term and $13.2 million of losses resulting from the repositioning of a portion of the investment portfolio during 2024. While we do not expect these losses to continue in 2025, these losses are an example of losses experienced as a result of volatility in revenues derived from investment securities.
Risks Related to the Legal and Regulatory Environment
We operate in a highly regulated industry and compliance with regulations and/or regulatory actions could impact the results of our operations.
We, as well as our subsidiaries, are subject to the supervision and regulation of various state and federal regulators, including the Federal Reserve Board, the FDIC, the SEC, the CFPB, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and ODFI. As such, we are subject to a wide variety of state and federal laws and regulations that require compliance of a complex and evolving regulatory framework. This includes, among others, capital adequacy requirements, Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act compliance, consumer protection laws and data privacy laws. As part of their supervisory process, which includes periodic examinations and continuous monitoring, the regulators have the authority to impose restrictions or conditions on our activities and the manner in which we operate our business. These actions could impact the Company and the Bank in a variety of ways, including subjecting us to fines, restricting our ability to pay dividends, precluding mergers or acquisitions, limiting our ability to offer certain products or services, requiring us to undertake significant remedial measures, removing key employees from their positions, imposing additional capital, operating, or oversight requirements or ultimately, in the event that any regulatory violations or actions cannot be corrected and are substantial in nature to cause an imminent risk of loss to depositors, we could be placed into receivership or conservatorship. Additionally, investigations and/or actions by regulatory agencies against us could cause us to devote significant time and resources to defending our business and/or modifying our practices and operations and may lead to penalties or fines that materially affect us and our shareholders. These regulatory inquiries, investigations, examinations and actions ultimately could have an adverse effect on our reputation, lead to increased costs and impact our financial condition and the results of our operations.
Regulations related to information security, data protection and data privacy could expose us to regulatory risks, civil liabilities and increase our costs.
We are subject to a variety of data protection, information security and data privacy laws, which includes the implementation of security procedures, processes and procedures to safeguard against the unauthorized use of consumer information and data breach notification obligations. Compliance with these laws has required us to undertake costs, devote personnel and implement processes and procedures to ensure compliance. While we have implemented processes and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, there is still the possibility of non-compliance. Our failure to comply with data protection, information security and data privacy laws could result in potentially material regulatory and/or governmental investigations, actions, litigation, fines, sanctions and reputation harm, as well as costs incurred in responding to inquiries related to these laws, which could have an impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
State and federal regulators continue to revise and/or adopt legislation regarding information security, data protection and data privacy. Revised and/or new legislation related to information security, data protection and data privacy can result in increased costs of compliance for us and impact our financial condition and results of operations.
The regulations under which we operate are subject to change, which could result in restrictions and requirements that could detrimentally impact the results of our operations.
Because we operate in a highly regulated industry, we may be required to adapt our processes and operations may be required and modify the way we conduct business to comply with regulatory requirements. Regulations and laws are subject to change, and changes may impact us in a variety of ways, including increasing costs to operate our business, limiting our ability to offer certain products or services, requiring us to undertake significant measures to comply with the changing regulations or otherwise impact the results of our operations.
The 2023 bank failures of Silicon Valley Bank in California, Signature Bank in New York, and First Republic Bank in California, and the decision of Silvergate Bank in California to voluntarily liquidate its assets and wind down operations may result in modifications or additional laws which we would be subject to, including potentially increasing capital requirements, modifying regulations related to liquidity risk management, deposit concentrations, capital adequacy and other additional
oversight requirements. These changes may result in increased compliance costs which could detrimentally affect the results of our operations.
The CFPB has recently undertaken an effort to eliminate “junk fees” which could subject us and our fee practices to additional scrutiny. “Junk fees” has not been specifically defined, but has been focused on deposit products such as overdraft fees and non-sufficient funds fees. The CFPB is soliciting comments on fee practices to determine the next steps, if any, to take in combatting “junk fees”. As the regulatory focus shifts towards clarifying permissible and impermissible “junk fees”, we may be required to modify our fee practices and undergo costs to comply with new or modified regulations, which may cause a reduction in our non-interest income and impact the results of our operations. On February 1, 2025, the director of the CFPB, Rohit Chopra, was relieved of his duties by President Trump, and the new director of the CFPB ordered the CFPB to cease all activities. It is currently unknown what, if any, of the CFPB’s policies or directives will continue.
Additionally, if the regulatory restrictions in our industry were lessened or eliminated, it could have an adverse effect on us and our shareholders if such lessening or elimination of regulatory restrictions increases competition within our industry or our market area.
Increasing scrutiny and evolving expectations from customers, regulators, investors, and other stakeholders with respect to our environmental, social and governance practices may impose additional costs on us or expose us to new or additional risks.
Financial institutions are facing increasing scrutiny from customers, regulators, investors, and other stakeholders related to their environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and disclosure. Investor advocacy groups, investment funds and influential investors are also increasingly focused on these practices, especially as they relate to the environment, health and safety, diversity, labor conditions and human rights. Increased ESG-related compliance costs for us as well as among our third party suppliers, vendors and various other parties within our supply chain could result in increases to our overall operational costs. Failure to adapt to or comply with regulatory requirements or investor or stakeholder expectations and standards could negatively impact our reputation, ability to do business with certain partners, access to capital, the results of our operations and the price of our common shares.
General Risk Factors
Weaknesses of other financial institutions could affect us.
Our ability to engage in routine funding transactions could be affected by the actions and lack of commercial soundness of other financial institutions. Financial services institutions are interrelated as a result of trading, clearing, and counterparty relationships, among others. As a result, defaults by, or even rumors or questions about, one or more financial services institutions, or the financial services industry in general, have led to market-wide liquidity problems and could lead to losses or defaults by us or by other institutions in the future. A default, or threatened default, of a large institution could negatively impact the entire financial system and could expose us to credit risk in the event of default of our counterparty or client. In addition, our credit risk may be exacerbated when the collateral held by us cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices not sufficient to recover the full amount of the financial instrument exposure due us. There is no assurance that any such losses would not affect our financial condition or results of operations.
Further, weaknesses of other financial institutions can affect the demand for securities in the financial institutions industry, which could have a detrimental effect on the price of our common shares. For more details regarding the potential impacts of weakness in other financial institutions, see the Risk Factor titled “Our financial condition, results of operations, and stock price may be negatively impacted by unrelated bank failures and negative depositor confidence in depository institutions.” on page 22.
The fiscal and monetary policies of the United States government and its agencies could have an effect on our earnings.
The Federal Reserve Board regulates the supply of money and credit in the United States. Its policies determine in large part the cost of funds for lending and investing and the returns earned on those loans and investments, both of which affect the net interest margin. The resultant changes in interest rates can also materially affect the value of certain financial assets we hold, such as debt securities. For example, in 2024, the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee decreased the target fed funds rate by 100 basis points resulting in the Bank's net interest margin on a fully tax equivalent basis decreasing from 4.40% at December 31, 2023 to 4.05% at December 31, 2024 as the increase in funding costs and interest bearing liabilities outpaced the impact from increased asset yields and higher earning asset balances. At the same time, accumulated other comprehensive loss increased from $309.8 million in 2023 to $289.8 million in 2024, driven by an increase in the valuation of available-for-sale
securities. The policies of the Federal Reserve Board can adversely affect borrowers, and increase default risk on their loans. Changes in Federal Reserve Board policies are beyond our control and difficult to predict; consequently, the impact of these changes on our activities and results of operations is difficult to predict.
Changes in tax laws could affect our performance.
We are subject to extensive federal, state and local taxes, including income, excise, sales/use, payroll, property, franchise, withholding and ad valorem taxes. The new Presidential administration has stated that it will look at possibly changing tax laws during the President's term in office. Changes to these tax laws can impact our tax liability and the tax liabilities of our customers. Changes to our tax liability could have a material effect on our results of operations. In addition, our customers are subject to a wide variety of federal, state and local taxes. Changes in taxes paid by our customers may affect our deposit levels and composition and customers' demand for loans and other products and services. In addition, such negative effects on our customers could result in defaults on the loans we have made and decrease the value of mortgage-backed securities in which we have invested.
Adverse external events outside of our control, such as natural disasters, acts of war or terrorism, new public health issues, could impact our business operations.
While we have implemented processes and procedures as part of our business continuity and disaster recovery plans, there is still the potential that adverse external events outside of our control, such as natural disasters, acts of war or terrorism, new public health issues, could impact our business operations. These events could impact our computer systems, communication systems, damage or destroy certain facilities or cause other impacts to our operations such as loss of power, as well as impact those systems, facilities and/or operations of our third party service providers. There is no assurance that our business continuity and disaster recovery plans can adequately account for all contingencies or adequately mitigate these risks, and the occurrence of these adverse external events could adversely impact our properties, operations, employees, customers, reputation, collateral securing loans and/or interfere with our borrowers’ abilities to repay their loans.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. Properties.
At December 31, 2024, the Company operated 127 full service banking centers, 22 of which are leased facilities. Our core banking operating markets are located within the four state region of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. First Financial's executive office is a leased facility located in Cincinnati, Ohio and we operate 54 banking centers in Ohio, three banking centers in Illinois, 59 banking centers in Indiana and 11 banking centers in Kentucky. In addition, we operate our Commercial Finance division, responsible for our insurance lending business and franchise lending business, from a non-banking center location in Indiana.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
We are from time to time engaged in various litigation matters including the defense of claims of improper or fraudulent loan practices or lending violations, and other matters, and we have a number of unresolved claims pending. In addition, as part of the ordinary course of business, we are parties to litigation involving claims to the ownership of funds in particular accounts, the collection of delinquent accounts, challenges to security interests in collateral, and foreclosure interests, that are incidental to our regular business activities. While the ultimate liability with respect to these other litigation matters and claims cannot be
determined at this time, we believe that damages, if any, and other amounts relating to pending matters, such as costs, are not likely to be material to our consolidated financial position or results of operations. Reserves are established for these various matters of litigation, when appropriate under FASB ASC Topic 450, Contingencies, based in part upon the advice of legal counsel.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not applicable.
Supplemental Item. Information About Our Executive Officers.
The following table sets forth information concerning the executive officers of First Financial as of February 19, 2025. The executive officers perform policy-making functions for First Financial. The officers are elected annually at the organizational meeting of the board of directors and serve until the next organizational meeting, or until their successors are elected and duly qualified.
Position with
First Financial Bancorp Age
Archie M. Brown President and Chief Executive Officer 64
James M. Anderson EVP, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer 53
Richard S. Dennen EVP, Chief Corporate Banking Officer 58
Karen B. Woods EVP, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer 56
William R. Harrod EVP, Chief Credit Officer 57
Amanda N. Neeley EVP, Chief Consumer Banking and Strategy Officer 44
Gregory A. Harris President, Yellow Cardinal Advisory Group 56
The following is a brief description of the business experience over the past five years of the individuals named above.
Archie M. Brown - Archie Brown is the President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of First Financial and the Bank, having been appointed to these positions on April 1, 2018 following First Financial’s acquisition of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. Previously, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of MainSource from August 2008 until April 2018 and chairman of the board of MainSource from April 2011 until April 2018.
James M. Anderson - Jamie Anderson became the Chief Financial Officer of First Financial and the Bank on April 1, 2018 following the merger of First Financial and MainSource and the Chief Operating Officer in April 2023. Previously Mr. Anderson served as the Chief Financial Officer of MainSource from January 2006 to April 2018. Prior to that role, he served in the following roles at MainSource: Administrative Vice President and Principal Accounting Officer from March 2005 to January 2006, Controller and Principal Accounting Officer from March 2002 to March 2005, and Controller from September 2000 to March 2002. Mr. Anderson is a certified public accountant (inactive).
Richard S. Dennen - Rick Dennen became the Chief Corporate Banking Officer of First Financial in 2021, and is currently responsible for all national commercial businesses of the Bank including business capital and the foreign exchange business. Mr. Dennen remains the CEO of First Commercial Finance, a division of First Financial Bank, which operates under two subsidiaries of the Bank, Oak Street Funding and First Franchise Capital Corporation, a role he has held since 2015. Oak Street Funding is a specialty finance company engaged in lending to insurance agencies, registered investment advisors, certified public accountants, energy and indirect auto financing companies. First Franchise Capital Corporation lends to restaurant franchises. Mr. Dennen is a certified public accountant.
Karen B. Woods - Karen Woods serves as General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer of First Financial. She joined First Financial in April 2018 following the merger of First Financial and MainSource and served as General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer from 2018-2022. She previously served as Corporate Counsel and Chief Risk Officer of MainSource from January 2016 to April 2018. Prior to joining MainSource, Ms. Woods was a partner at Krieg DeVault LLP in Indianapolis, Indiana where her practice focused on representing financial institutions and corporate clients. Ms. Woods previously served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable John G. Baker, Indiana Court of Appeals.
William R. Harrod - Bill Harrod is the Chief Credit Officer of First Financial, a role he has held since October 2017. He is responsible for managing and monitoring the loan portfolio and other related credit functions in a risk appropriate manner
including underwriting, approval, and collections. Mr. Harrod first joined First Financial in 2015 and has held various credit and management positions since then in specialty banking, corporate banking, commercial and industrial lending and commercial finance.
Amanda N. Neeley - Mandy Neeley is the Chief Consumer Banking and Strategy Officer of First Financial. Ms. Neeley is responsible for the launch and evolution of the First Financial brand, the introduction of the Premier Business Bank acquisition strategy, the advancement of sales and enterprise customer relationship management processes, and development of a formalized strategic planning program. Ms. Neeley has spent her entire career in banking with First Financial, beginning as a part-time teller during college and, after graduating in 2003, Marketing Coordinator. She has held the role of Chief Strategy Officer since 2016 and added the role of Chief Consumer Banking Officer in 2021.
Gregory A. Harris - Greg Harris serves as the president of Affluent Banking and Yellow Cardinal Advisory Group, a division of First Financial Bank. He is responsible for all aspects of the business line including sales, client experience, investment management, administration, compliance, and operations. Greg joined First Financial in 2009 and has over 32 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining First Financial, Greg served in various leadership capacities at Touchstone Investments, an institutional mutual fund management company and Fund Project Services, Inc., a financial services M&A integration firm he co-founded in 1998. He began his career at Fifth Third Bank as a product manager within the bank's Trust and Investment business.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
(a) Market information, holders, dividends
First Financial's common shares are listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Stock Market® under the symbol "FFBC." As of February 19, 2025, our common shares were held by approximately 3,453 shareholders of record, a number that does not include beneficial owners who hold shares in “street name,” or shareholders from previously acquired companies that have not exchanged their stock. At December 31, 2024, no stock options and 1,002,461 shares of restricted stock were outstanding. Additional information about stock options, restricted stock and restricted stock units is included in Note 21 - Stock Options and Awards in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders and in Item 12 below.
The payment of future cash dividends is at the discretion of our Board of Directors and subject to a number of factors, including results of operations, general business conditions, growth, financial condition, regulatory limitation and other factors deemed relevant by the Board. Further, our ability to pay future cash dividends is subject to certain regulatory requirements and restrictions discussed in the Supervision and Regulation section in Item 1 above. For further information see Note 3 - Restrictions on Cash and Dividends in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of First Financial's 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders (included as Exhibit 13 of this report), which is incorporated by reference in response to this item.
Stock Performance Graph
The stock performance graph contained in “Total Return to Shareholders” of First Financial's 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders (included as Exhibit 13 of this report), is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item.
(b)Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
None.
(c)Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
In December 2018 the Board approved a stock repurchase plan pursuant to which the Company was authorized to repurchase up to 5,000,000 shares of common stock through December 31, 2020 (the 2018 Stock Repurchase Plan). On December 22, 2020, the Board announced that it had authorized a new, two-year stock repurchase plan (the 2020 Stock Repurchase Plan) that provided for the purchase of up to 5,000,000 additional shares of common stock of the Company. The 2020 Stock Repurchase Plan became effective January 1, 2021, upon the expiration of the 2018 Stock Repurchase Plan. The Board announced on January 27, 2022, that the 2020 Stock Repurchase Plan was terminated effective December 31, 2021, and replaced with a new plan effective January 1, 2022 (the 2022 Stock Repurchase Plan). The 2022 Stock Repurchase Plan authorized the purchase of up to 5,000,000 shares of common stock and expired on December 31, 2023. In December 2023 the Board authorized a new two-year plan effective January 1, 2024, that provides for the purchase of up to 5,000,000 shares of the common stock of the Company (the “2024 Stock Repurchase Plan”). The Company did not purchase any shares under the 2024 Stock Repurchase Plan in the fourth quarter of 2024.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6. [Reserved]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results Of Operations.
The information contained in the Management’s Discussion and Analysis section (including certain forward looking statements) of First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders (included as Exhibit 13 of this report) is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure About Market Risk.
The information contained in the Market Risk section and in Table 20 - Market Risk Disclosure of the Management’s Discussion and Analysis section, both of which are in First Financial's 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders (included as Exhibit 13 of this report), is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
The consolidated financial statements and the reports of our independent registered public accounting firm included in the Consolidated Financial Statements and the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders (included as Exhibit 13 of this report), are incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining effective disclosure controls and procedures, as defined under
Rule 13a-15 of the Exchange Act, that are designed to cause the material information required to be disclosed by First Financial in the reports it files or submits under the Exchange Act to be recorded, processed, summarized, and reported to the extent applicable within the time periods required by the SEC’s rules and forms. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that a control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within a company have been detected.
As of the end of the period covered by this report, First Financial performed an evaluation under the supervision and with the participation of management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of its disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15 of the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that the disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in First Financial's internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act) that occurred during the period covered by this report that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, First Financial's internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B. Other Information.
During the three months ended December 31, 2024, none of the Company's officers or directors adopted or terminated any contract, instruction or written plan for the purchase or sale of our securities that was intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c) or any “non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement.”
Item 9. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections.
Not applicable.
PART III

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
Certain information concerning executive officers of First Financial has been supplied in the “Supplemental Item. Executive Officers of the Registrant” of this Form 10-K. The information appearing under the headings “Election of Directors,” “Corporate Governance - Board Committees,” “Shareholder Nominations for Election to the Board” and "Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports" in First Financial's Definitive Proxy Statement with respect to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 27, 2025, and which is expected to be filed with the SEC, pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act (First Financial’s Proxy Statement) within 120 days of the close of our fiscal year, is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item.
The Company has adopted an insider trading policy (included as Exhibit 19 of this report) that governs the purchase, sale, and/or other dispositions of the Company’s securities by our officers, directors, and employees that is designed to comply with insider trading laws, rules, and regulations, as well as any applicable listing standards.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11. Executive Compensation.
The information appearing under the headings “Meetings of the Board of Directors and Committees of the Board,” “Compensation Discussion and Analysis,” “Executive Compensation,” “Compensation Tables," "Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation,” “Compensation Committee Report” and "2024 Board Compensation" in First Financial’s Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.
The information appearing under the headings “Shareholdings of Directors, Executive Officers, and Nominees for Director” and "Principal Shareholders" of First Financial’s Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item.
Equity Compensation Plan Information
The following table sets forth information as of December 31, 2024 with respect to compensation plans under which our common shares may be issued:
Securities authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans
Number of securities to be issued
upon exercise of
outstanding options,
warrants and rights Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights Number of securities
remaining available for
future issuance under
equity compensation plans
(excluding securities
reflected in column (a))
Plan category (a) (b) (c) (1)
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders 0 $ 0.00 1,835,737
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders N/A N/A N/A
(1)The securities included in this column are available for issuance under the First Financial Bancorp. 2020 Stock Plan, which was approved by the shareholders at the 2020 Annual Meeting.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions.
The information appearing in Note 15 - Related Parties Transactions in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders (included as Exhibit 13 of this report) is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item. The information appearing under the headings "Director Independence" and “Corporate Governance-Transactions with Related Parties” in First Financial’s Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services.
Information appearing under the heading “Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm Fees” in First Financial’s Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference in response to this item.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.
(a) (1) The consolidated financial statements (and report thereon) listed below are incorporated herein by reference from First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report to Shareholders (included as Exhibit 13 of this report) as noted:
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID 173) - Incorporated by reference from First Financial's 2024 Annual Report
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 - Incorporated by reference from First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report
Consolidated Statements of Income for years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 - Incorporated by reference from First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) for years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 - Incorporated by reference from First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders' Equity for years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 - Incorporated by reference from First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 - Incorporated by reference from First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Incorporated by reference from First Financial’s 2024 Annual Report
(2) Financial Statement Schedules: Schedules to the consolidated financial statements required by Regulation S-X are not required under the related instructions, or are inapplicable, and therefore have been omitted
(3) Exhibits:
The documents listed below are filed/furnished with this Annual Report on Form 10-K as exhibits or incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K by reference as noted:
Exhibit
Number
2.1 Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated July 25, 2017 between First Financial Bancorp. and MainSource Financial Group, Inc. (Incorporated by reference from Exhibit 2.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on July 27, 2017) (certain schedules and exhibits have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K) (File No. 001-34762).
2.2 Agreement and Plan of Merger dated as of June 18, 2019, by and among First Financial Bancorp., First Financial Bank, Wallace Merger Sub, LLC, Bannockburn Global Forex, LLC and Fortis Advisors, LLC, solely in its capacity as Member Representative (filed as Exhibit 1.1 to First Financial's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 19, 2019) (File No. 001-34762).
2.3 Amendment No. 1 to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of August 6, 2019, by and among First Financial Bancorp., First Financial Bank, Wallace Merger Sub, Bannockburn Global Forex, LLC, and Fortis Advisors, LLC, solely in its capacity as the Member Representative (Incorporated by reference from Exhibit 2.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on August 6, 2019)(/File No. 001-34762).
2.4 Amendment No. 2 to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of August 29, 2019, by and among First Financial Bancorp., First Financial Bank, Wallace Merger Sub LLC, Bannockburn Global Forex, LLC, and Fortis Advisors, LLC, solely in its capacity as the Member Representative (filed as Exhibit 2.1 to First Financial’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on September 3, 2019, and incorporated herein by reference).
2.5 Stock Purchase Agreement, dated as of December 6, 2021, by and among First Financial Bancorp., First Financial Bank, Summit Funding Group, Inc., the Sellers (as defined therein), and Richard L. Ross, as Sellers’ Representative (Incorporated by reference from Exhibit 2.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 7, 2021) (certain schedules and exhibits have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K) (File No. 001-34762).
3.1 Amended Articles of Incorporation of First Financial Bancorp (reflecting all amendments filed with the Ohio Secretary of State) [for purposes of SEC reporting compliance only - not filed with the Ohio Secretary of State] (filed as exhibit 3.2 to the Form S-3 on July 31, 2014 and incorporated hereby by reference)(File No. 333-197771).
3.2 Amended and Restated Regulations of First Financial Bancorp, amended as of July 28, 2015 (filed as Exhibit 3.1 to the Form 8-K filed on July 29, 2015 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 000-34762).
4.1 Indenture, dated as of August 25, 2015, by and between First Financial Bancorp. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as Trustee. (filed as Exhibit 4.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on August 26, 2015, and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 000-34762).
4.2 Supplemental Indenture, dated as of August 25, 2015, by and between First Financial Bancorp. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as Trustee. (filed as Exhibit 4.2 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on August 26, 2015, and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 000-34762).
4.3 Form of 5.125% Subordinated Note due 2025 (included as part of Exhibit 4.4 to this Annual Report).
4.4 Indenture dated as of December 19, 2002 between MainSource Financial Group, Inc., as issuer, and State Street Bank and Trust Company of Connecticut, N.A., as trustee, re: floating rate junior subordinated deferrable interest debentures due 2032 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.6 to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002 filed March 28, 2003 with the Commission).
4.5 Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust dated as of December 19, 2002 among State Street Bank and Trust Company of Connecticut, N.A., as institutional trustee, MainSource Financial Group, Inc., as sponsor, and James L. Saner Sr., Donald A. Benziger and James M. Anderson, as administrators (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.7 to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002 filed March 28, 2003 with the Commission).
4.6 Guarantee Agreement dated as of December 19, 2002 between MainSource Financial Group, Inc., and State Street Bank and Trust Company of Connecticut, N.A (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.8 to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002 filed March 28, 2003 with the Commission).
4.7 Indenture dated as of April 1, 2003 between MainSource Financial Group, Inc., as issuer, and U.S. Bank, N.A., as trustee, re: floating rate junior subordinated deferrable interest debentures due 2033 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 filed August 14, 2003 with the Commission).
4.8 Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust dated as of April 1, 2003 among U.S. Bank, N.A., as institutional trustee, MainSource Financial Group, Inc., as sponsor, and James L. Saner Sr., Donald A. Benziger and James M. Anderson, as administrators (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 filed August 14, 2003 with the Commission).
4.9 Guarantee Agreement dated as of April 1, 2003 between MainSource Financial Group, Inc., and U.S. Bank, N.A (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 filed August 14, 2003 with the Commission).
4.10 Indenture dated as of June 12, 2003 between MainSource Financial Group, Inc., as issuer, and The Bank of New York, as trustee, re: rate junior subordinated deferrable interest debentures due (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.4 to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 filed August 14, 2003 with the Commission).
4.11 Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust dated as of June 12, 2003 among The Bank of New York, as institutional trustee, MainSource Financial Group, Inc., as sponsor, and James L. Saner Sr., Donald A. Benziger and James M. Anderson, as administrators (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.5 to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 filed August 14, 2003 with the Commission).
4.12 Guarantee Agreement dated as of June 12, 2003 between MainSource Financial Group, Inc., and The Bank of New York (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.6 to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 filed August 14, 2003 with the Commission).
4.13 Form of Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust dated as of October 13, 2006, of MainSource Statutory Trust IV, among MainSource Financial Group, Inc. as sponsor, Wells Fargo Delaware Trust Company as Delaware trustee and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as institutional trustee (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the periodic report on Form 8-K of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. filed October 17, 2006 with the Commission).
4.14 Form of Indenture dated as of October 13, 2006, between MainSource Financial Group, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as trustee (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the periodic report on Form 8-K of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. filed October 17, 2006 with the Commission).
4.15 Form of Guarantee Agreement dated as of October 13, 2006, between MainSource Financial Group, Inc., as guarantor, and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as guarantee trustee (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to the periodic report on Form 8-K of MainSource Financial Group, Inc. filed October 17, 2006 with the Commission).
4.16 Second Supplemental Indenture, dated April 30, 2020, between First Financial Bancorp. and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (Incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.2 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on April 30, 2020)(File No. 001-34762).
4.17 Form of 5.25% Fixed-to-Floating Rate Subordinated Notes due 2030 (Included in Exhibit 4.19 of this Form 10-K)(Incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.3 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on April 30, 2020) (File No. 001-34762).)
4.18 Description of Registrant's Securities (filed as Exhibit 4.19 to the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 221, 2020).
10.1 Form of Executive Supplemental Retirement Agreement (filed as Exhibit 10.7 to the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 000-12379).*
10.2 Form of Endorsement Method Split Dollar Agreement (filed as Exhibit 10.8 to the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 000-12379).*
10.3 First Financial Bancorp. Key Executive Short Term Incentive Plan Amended and Restated March 10, 2015 (originally established in 2011)(filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the Form 8-K on May 25, 2016 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).*
10.4 Employment and Non-Competition Agreement between Archie M. Brown, Jr. and First Financial Bancorp. and First Financial bank, dated as of July 25, 2017 (filed as Exhibit 10.1 of the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on July 27, 2017 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).*
10.5 Severance and Change in Control Agreement between James M. Anderson and First Financial Bank dated September 18, 2017 (filed as exhibit 10.4 of the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on September 22, 2017 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).*
10.6 First Financial Bancorp. 2020 Stock Plan (Incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on May 27, 2020)(File No. 001-34762) .*
10.7 Form of Agreement for Restricted Stock Awards under the First Financial Bancorp. 2020 Stock Plan (filed as Exhibit 10.34 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).
10.8 Form of Agreement for Performance Stock Awards under the First Financial Bancorp. 2020 Stock Plan (filed as Exhibit 10.35 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,2020 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).*
10.9 Severance and Change in Control Agreement between Richard Dennen and First Financial Bank dated September 21, 2021 (filed as Exhibit 10.33 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,2021 and incorporated herein by reference( (File No. 001-34762).*
10.10 Credit Agreement by and between First Financial Bancorp. and Stifel Bank & Trust dated as of December 29, 2021 (filed as Exhibit 10.34 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).*.
10.11 Pledge and Security Agreement by and between First Financial Bancorp. and Stifel Bank & Trust dated as of December 29, 2021 (filed as Exhibit 10.35 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).*
13 Registrant's annual report to shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2024.
14.1 First Financial Bancorp. Code of Conduct, as approved January 28, 2020 (filed as Exhibit 14.1 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).
14.2 Code of Ethics for the CEO and Senior Financial Officers (filed as Exhibit 10.2 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on October 29, 2012 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).
19 Insider Trading Policy, Revised as of January 28, 2025
21 First Financial Bancorp. Subsidiaries.
23 Consent of Crowe LLP, Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm.
31.1 Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 filed herewith.
31.2 Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 filed herewith.
32.1 Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 furnished herewith.
32.2 Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 furnished herewith.
97 Recoupment of Compensation (Clawback) Policy (filed as Exhibit 97 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and incorporated herein by reference) (File No. 001-34762).
101 Financial statements from the Annual Report on Form 10-K of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2024, formatted in inline XBRL: (i) Consolidated Balance Sheets, (ii) Consolidated Statements of Income, (iii) Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss), (iv) Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, (v) Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders’ Equity, and (vi) Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, as blocks of text and in detail.**
104 The cover page from the Annual Report on Form 10-K Report for the Company for the year ended December 31, 2024, formatted in inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101.
First Financial will furnish, without charge, to a security holder upon request a copy of the documents, portions of which are incorporated by reference (Annual Report to Shareholders and Proxy Statement), and will furnish any other Exhibit upon the payment of reproduction costs.
* Compensation plan(s) or arrangement(s).
** As provided in Rule 406T of Regulation S-T, this information shall not be deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 11 and 12 of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or otherwise subject to liability under those sections.