After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Scott Crawley, Corporate Controller. Please go ahead. Yeah, thanks, Jason. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss First Financial Bancorp's first quarter 2021 financial results. Participating on today's call will be Archie Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jamie Anderson, Chief Financial Officer, and Bill Harrod, Chief Credit Officer. Both the press release we issued yesterday and the accompanying slide presentation are available on our website at www.bankatfirst.com under the investor relations section. We'll make reference to the slides contained in the accompanying presentation during today's call. Please refer to the forward-looking statement disclosure contained in the first quarter 2021 earnings release, as well as our SEC filings, for a full discussion of the company's risk factors. The information we will provide today is accurate as of March 31st, 2021, and we will not be updating any forward-looking statements to reflect facts or circumstances after this call. I'll now turn the call over to Archie Brown. Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. Yesterday afternoon, we announced our financial results for the first quarter, which once again reflects strong earnings and our consistent ability to deliver value to our shareholders. While uncertainty remains due to the ongoing pandemic, the accelerated COVID vaccine distribution, the unprecedented fiscal stimulus, and an accommodative Federal Reserve have led to widespread optimism for our economy, which is in stark contrast to our sentiment at this time last year. Our first quarter operating performance reflects this change in sentiment, and we're more optimistic as a result of the improved business climate, despite an operating environment that presents ongoing challenges due to very low interest rates and muted loan demand. Highlights for the most recent quarter, after being adjusted to remove non-recurring items, included earnings per share of $0.50, a return on average assets of 1.24%, and a 58% efficiency ratio. Net income for the quarter was bolstered by lower expenses and significantly lower credit costs. Despite expected seasonal declines, non-interest income was strong due to healthy mortgage demand, robust foreign exchange activity, and higher wealth management fees. In addition, adjusted non-interest expenses declined $4.6 million from the linked quarter, resulting in a sub 60% efficiency ratio. As I mentioned, credit costs were low, with $4 million of provision expense during the quarter, and resulted in an allowance for credit losses of 1.84% of total loans, excluding PPP. Classified assets increased during the quarter. However, our overall credit outlook has improved significantly, and our borrowers are seeing benefits from the various stimulus actions and the improved economy. While the first quarter net charge-offs increased slightly from prior quarters, this was driven by a single customer relationship. Given our overall credit outlook, we expect the allowance for credit losses to continue to decline over the course of 2021. I continue to be pleased with the progress we've made in reducing our CARES Act loan modifications. Active loan modifications at the end of the first quarter totaled $251 million, or 2.5% of total loans, with hotel loans making up $153 million, or 61% of these deferrals. We expect loan balances with modifications to steadily decline through the third quarter of this year. As you know, the first quarter was again an active period for the Paycheck Protection Program. Through March 31st, we originated over $307 million in second draw PPP loans with an average fee of 5.3%. We expect forgiveness payoffs for this round to flow in through the remainder of this year. Excluding PPP activity, loan balances declined slightly for the quarter due to accelerated mortgage and HELOC payoffs, increased borrower liquidity, and muted business loan demand. As a result of these trends, we anticipate slower growth in the near term, with some acceleration in the second half of the year. As of March 31st, consumers and businesses were holding record levels of deposits, with average balances increasing during the quarter as a result of the stimulus package approved by Congress last December. We anticipate further deposit balance growth in the second quarter after the passage of the most recent stimulus bill. This anticipated growth will likely continue to suppress loan demand and service charge income in the near term. From a capital standpoint, our ratios remained strong through the first quarter. The combination of our current capital levels and our improved credit outlook led us to repurchase approximately 840,000 shares during the quarter. Absent higher priority capital deployment alternatives, we anticipate additional buyback activity in the second quarter. I'll now turn the call over to Jamie to discuss the details of our first quarter results, and after Jamie's discussion, I'll wrap up with some additional forward-looking commentary. Jamie? Thank you, Archie. Good morning, everyone. Slides four and five provide a summary of our first quarter 2021 results. As Archie mentioned, we were encouraged by our solid first quarter results. Earnings were strong as the net interest margin stabilized, fee income remained elevated, and provision expense moderated. In addition, our expense base decreased compared to the linked quarter, and our efficiency ratio remained below 60%. As expected, core net interest margin stabilized during the quarter. Lower loan fees and continued pressure on asset yields led to a nine-basis-point decline in total net interest margin on an FTE basis. These declines were partially offset by deposit cost reductions. While there will be some volatility in total margin due to loan fees, we expect core margin to decline slightly in the coming periods. Regarding fee income, mortgage banking exceeded expectations despite seasonal headwinds. In addition, Bannockburn had another strong quarter of foreign exchange income, while trust and wealth management income grew during the period. Net charge-offs and classified assets increased during the period, due primarily to a single $7 million charge-off and COVID-related credit migration. While these trended negatively, these events were largely anticipated in previous quarters, and we continue to believe our current reserve levels are more than adequate to absorb any further credit deterioration in 2021. In addition, we capitalize on market conditions and repurchase approximately 840,000 shares during the quarter. Our capital ratios remain strong and are in excess of both internal and regulatory targets. We continue to believe that our balance sheet is well-positioned for both the near and long term. Our stress testing results continue to indicate our ability to maintain these capital levels for the foreseeable future. Slide six reconciles our GAAP earnings to adjusted earnings, highlighting items that we believe are important to understanding our quarterly performance. Adjusted net income was $49 million or $0.50 per share for the quarter, which excludes $1.3 million of severance costs and another $1.3 million of non-recurring items. As depicted on slide seven, these adjusted earnings equate to a return on average assets of 1.24% and a return on average tangible common equity of 15.8%. In addition, our 58.4% adjusted efficiency ratio remains very strong, reflecting our ability to diligently manage expenses. Turning to slides eight and nine, net interest margin decreased nine basis points from the linked quarter to 3.4%. This decline was primarily related to lower loan fees, including PPP forgiveness fees. Despite the overall decline in margin, we were very pleased that basic net interest margin increased five basis points as declines related to funding mix and costs outpaced the impact from lower asset yields and changes in asset mix. The low interest rate environment continues to negatively impact asset yields, which declined during the period. Similar to the fourth quarter, a higher mix of investment securities contributed to the decline in total asset yields in the period as we deployed excess liquidity on the balance sheet. In response to these declining yields, we continue to aggressively lower our cost of deposits, which declined six basis points during the period to 14 basis points. These lower deposit costs reflect strategic rate adjustments, as well as a shift in funding mix from higher priced CDs to lower cost core deposits. While some additional decline is expected in the coming periods, we expect this to be more gradual as we approach our expected pricing floor. Slide 10 illustrates our current loan mix and balance changes compared to the linked quarter. Excluding the increase in PPP loans, end-of-period loan balances declined slightly as an increase in CRE loans was offset by declines in mortgage and consumer loans and a modest decline in C&I loans. Slide 11 shows our deposit mix as well as a progression of average deposits from the fourth quarter. In total, average deposit balances grew $447 million during the first quarter, driven primarily by increases in low-cost transactional deposits. We remain very pleased with the trajectory of deposit balances as average transactional deposit balances increased 21% on an annualized basis during the period. In addition, non-interest-bearing deposits grew $137 million during the quarter as clients received tax refunds and another round of stimulus checks. We remain focused on deposit pricing, and we will continue to make any necessary adjustments based on market conditions and our funding needs. Slide 12 highlights our non-interest income for the quarter. As I mentioned previously, first quarter fee income remained strong and was driven by elevated mortgage banking and foreign exchange income. We were also pleased with the increase in wealth management fees. Seasonal headwinds and the additional round of government stimulus muted the trajectory of deposit service charge income, though we remain optimistic that this will rebound in the back half of the year. Non-interest expense for the quarter is highlighted on slide 13. Overall, core expenses were in line with our expectations and declined when compared to the linked quarter, driven by a decrease in incentive compensation and lower professional fees during the period. Despite the decline from the prior period, salaries and benefits remained elevated due to incentive compensation tied to our high fee income as well as increased healthcare costs. Turning now to slide 14. Our first quarter ACL model resulted in a total allowance, which includes both funded and unfunded reserves of $183 million and $4 million in total provision for credit losses. The decline in provision expense from the linked quarter was driven by improved economic forecasts, which were partially offset by elevated net charge-offs. The model utilized the Moody's baseline economic forecast released at the end of March, which was improved from the forecast utilized in the fourth quarter. Net charge-offs as a% of loans increased to 38 basis points on an annualized basis, primarily driven by a $7 million charge related to a single relationship. Additionally, as shown on slide 15, classified assets increased $54.8 million, as pandemic-related stress resulted in some negative credit rating migration during the period. The potential for this credit migration led to our significant reserve build in 2020, and at this point in time, we believe we've captured the risk from future COVID-related credit stress in the ACL model. Barring something unforeseen, we expect lower levels of provision expense for the remainder of 2021. Finally, as shown on slides 16 and 17, capital ratios remain in excess of regulatory minimums and internal targets. All capital ratios remain strong. However, the shift in interest rates at the end of March led to a decline in other comprehensive income and resulted in a slight decrease in our tangible common equity ratio and our tangible book value during the period. In addition, we resumed our share buyback program during the quarter and repurchased approximately 840,000 shares. Once again, we do not anticipate any near-term changes to the common dividend. However, we will continue to evaluate various capital actions as the year progresses. I'll now turn it back over to Archie for commentary related to our outlook going forward. Archie? Thank you, Jamie. Before we end our prepared remarks, I want to further comment on our forward-looking guidance, which can be found on slide 23. Loan balances excluding PPP are expected to remain flat over the near term as we continue to see pressure in certain portfolios, and we expect low single-digit growth as we get into the back half of the year. Average securities balances are projected to increase further by approximately $250 million in the second quarter, as deposit balances are expected to stabilize without additional stimulus activity. The net interest margin is expected to be positively impacted by further PPP forgiveness payoffs and the associated acceleration of fee recognition through the remainder of the year. Excluding our more volatile variables such as PPP fees, purchase accounting, and loan fees, we expect the margin to be under modest pressure from the low interest rate environment, as well as the excess liquidity on the balance sheet and subsequent increases to our securities portfolio. Regarding credit, we expect the provision expense to continue to decline throughout 2021. Specific to fee income, we expect continued strong mortgage performance with seasonal increases to volume, partially offset by pressure on premiums. Foreign exchange income should remain consistent with the prior quarter, and deposit service charges are expected to remain under pressure given stimulus activity. We expect some modest growth in our interchange revenues as customer spending accelerates. We expect expenses to be consistent with the prior quarter over the near term. This could fluctuate some with fee income. Lastly, we will continue to evaluate capital deployment opportunities, including share repurchases, over the remainder of the year. Overall, we're pleased with our improved performance and outlook from this time last year. We've started to transition associates back into their physical office locations, and we look forward to implementing the lessons learned over the past year to create an efficient, safe, and collaborative workplace. As our local and national economies continue to improve, we believe we're well positioned to deliver industry-leading services to our clients and returns to our shareholders. With that, we'll now open up the call for questions. Jason? Thank you. We'll now begin the question- and- answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch-tone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the key. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Our first question comes from Scott Siefers from Piper Sandler. Please go ahead. Morning, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Hey, Scott. Hey, Scott. I guess the first question was just on that charge-off that you had cited. Is that sort of fully resolved or would you expect any further charges? Then I guess just to look forward, would the expectation generally be for charge-offs to revert back to, I guess last couple of quarters at least, it's been sort of that 20%-25%, or pardon me, basis points range. Something like that reasonable to look at going forward? Yeah, Scott, we would expect the charge-off rate to come back down from the first quarter levels based on what we're seeing right now. Kind of more normal in the range that you're describing. I'll have Bill maybe talk about the resolution of that credit specifically to give you an answer there. Go ahead, Bill. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Archie. Hey, how you doing, Scott? Good. How are you? Good. Yeah, this was a long-time customer Of the bank, of the commercial finance group. Over time, it morphed from our traditional agency deal into an aggregator of medical malpractice. There were some issues between the carrier and our borrower, and that relationship broke down, and that led us to cut a deal with the carrier. This should be all behind us after this quarter or after discharge. Okay. This isn't even really related to any areas that would be COVID impact. This strikes me as kind of a special situation. Fair enough conclusion? Yes, Scott, I think we'd say if it were completely COVID related, we probably would've had a different outcome in terms of provision, but because it was something outside of that, it led to probably a little more provision. Yep. Okay, perfect. Thank you for that. Maybe just as we look to the second half of the year, certainly understand what's going on on the consumer side, and then I think we're all sort of waiting for this recovery on the commercial side. Maybe to that end, any color you can provide on where utilization rates are currently versus what a typical number is and where you might expect those to go as we look to the second half/2022 recovery in commercial. This is- Utilization. Scott, I'm sorry. On the first part, you said utilization rates? Yeah, commercial utilization rates. Yeah. Scott, in the back half of the year, we think they'll start to move up. You have several things happening. Certainly, the liquidity that is sitting on balance sheets. We're seeing record balances sitting in demand deposit accounts, both consumer and business. You have that going on. There's still, I think, some clarity around the pandemic and making sure we're getting to final firm footing. There are still some supply disruptions, and I think all that's got to work through, but we would think that would start to get better in the back half of the year. Yeah. Makes sense. Perfect. Okay. Thank you guys very much. Yep. Thanks, Scott. The next question is from Christopher McGratty from KBW. Please go ahead. Hey, good morning, guys. Hey, Chris. Jamie, maybe just to kind of start with you on a balance sheet question. The expectation to add to the bond book and loan portfolio kind of stay flat. Given all the liquidity that's in the system, do you expect earning assets to have an upward bias, or are we kind of just remixing for a couple of quarters? Right now, we're going to add to the bond book, to the investment securities, and so that will go up. Our targeted balance now is right around $4 billion for investment securities. Overall, yes, earning assets will go up period to period by that amount. That's just with loans staying relatively flat. Chris, when you think about that, your next question probably would be talking about the margin. When you think about that's going to have an effect on the net interest margin and dilute the margin slightly. When we're reinvesting right now on the security side, we're getting somewhere around in that 2% range, maybe 2.10%. You think about that, obviously, that is dilutive to the margin, and we're still seeing a little bit of repricing on the loan side as well. When you look at the deposit side, we had a large move down in the first quarter that we were expecting. We could see that coming. We knew we had some room on the deposit side, and we moved from 20 basis points on deposit costs to 14 basis points. There's not as much room to move down here going forward. We think we can get that down by another two or three basis points. Not all in one quarter, but it just takes a little bit of time here over the next two or three quarters to get that down. From a rate perspective on the margin in the second quarter, we're going to see some pressure just given that, putting that excess liquidity to work in the securities book and just some continued repricing on the loan side. Okay. That's great color. Thanks. You guys referenced the efficiency ratio a few times in your prepared remarks. Just a question about that. Is the expectation that in this environment, you can stay below 60? Just a clarification, the near-term expense flat, is that relative to the reported number or the adjusted number? That's relative to the adjusted number. Whenever we're talking about that, we're talking about the operating number. We think that here in the short term, we'll remain relatively flat. In the back half of the year, just as things open up a little bit, you start to see T&E expenses start to come back a little bit in the back half of the year. We may see those expenses tick up a little bit. Yes, it's off the operating number, flat in the short term and maybe up a little bit in the back half of the year. On the revenue side, certainly we see fee income slightly improving from here and with the additional securities book. Hopefully, that we can hold revenue and maybe that efficiency ratio will stick. Yes. Okay. Maybe the last one, kind of housekeeping on PPP. Do you have the average balances in the quarter, and then also the fees that were in the quarter and what might be still to come? Thanks. I don't have the average balances right in front of me, Chris, but at the end of the quarter, talking about the fees, so from the first round and then this last round of PPP, we have about $22 million of unearned fees that will still come in. We're expecting the bulk of those to come in over the remainder of the year. We think the second quarter is actually going to be a little on the low side, just with the first round kind of wrapping up, and this last round kind of really has the forgiveness hasn't kicked in quite as much. We think, overall, if you're trying to project those, we think it's maybe roughly a third of those come in in the second quarter, and then the other 2/3 will be spread out in the third and fourth quarter. Great. Thanks, Jamie. Yep. The next question is from Jon Arfstrom from RBC. Please go ahead. Hey, thanks. Good morning, guys. Hey, Jon. Can you talk a little bit about maybe following up on Scott's question, can you talk a little bit about the commercial pipelines and what they look like maybe relative to a quarter ago? Sure. Jon, this is Archie. Thank you. I'd say the pipeline overall is slightly higher than it was a quarter ago. Even in recent weeks, we're seeing more activity, especially in our approved pipeline that is starting to move up. We think, again, in the near term, a little more flattish, but we're starting to see some momentum, and that as some things improve, supply chain, all that stuff works its way through. We think in the back half, we would start to see some growth out of that group. How would you describe the competitive environment also maybe relative to a quarter ago? Highly competitive. It's very competitive on pricing and structure. We're probably competing a little more when we have to on price, but we're trying to stick to our disciplines on the structuring side of deals, but it's highly competitive for loans right now. Can you touch on franchise finance for a second and how that business is doing? Yeah. I'm going to have maybe Bill give you just a little color. I know we've got a slide on the portfolio as well in the deck, but maybe Bill can give us a little color on how that portfolio's looking now. Yeah. The franchise book has performed very well through the COVID and the pandemic, especially in our delivery and our quick serve restaurants. They adapted very quickly to the new normal during the pandemic. We also have some sit-downs that we've talked about in the past, Golden Corral, Denny's, IHOPs, and things like that. We're starting to see a lot of progress being made in Denny's, IHOP, and Golden Corral as those stores reopen. Denny's and IHOP are a little bit earlier in their performance returns than the Golden Corral. Our portfolio has the bulk of the stores are open now. Not all of them on the GC side, but on the Denny's and the IHOP they are. With the plans that are in place is all of the Golden Corrals should be open by the end of this quarter. The results have been, not at 2019 level, but rebounding very nicely in all sit-down formats through the Q4 and Q1 of this year. It's making me hungry, by the way. Just a couple more things. Can you touch on the classified asset increase? I know you talked about a little bit, but anything going on there that's unique or different? Yeah. The uptick in classified assets really tied into the COVID impacted portfolios. About 75% of that uptick was hotel sit down and then a retail credit. As we put our COVID mods in place and we monitored the credits, we obviously benchmarked them opposite our projections and our plans. These are ones that fell beneath where we thought they would, so we made the reserve adjustment as appropriate. Based on our look-out, we do think that the bulk of this portfolio is set to rebound as things open up. With the traction of the vaccine and the pent-up demand that we're seeing, we feel pretty optimistic about those credits actually improving over time. I think we're seeing with Bill occupancies north of 50% now. Yeah. We're seeing occupancies uptick in all of our hotel books. We're anticipating up around 50%, 52% occupancy based on customer feedback, which is right in line or a little bit above the STR reports for the balance of the year. Okay. Last one here on credit. This has been popular on other calls as well. I'll let you give it a shot. Do you see a path back to your day one CECL reserve levels? If so, any thoughts on the timing of that? Yeah, Jon, it's Jamie. I think, yes. I think in theory, that's where we should, once everything has kind of cycled through, where the industry really, and us, should come back to. Timing is the key here, right? If is it over the next year or so, I think is probably where we end up landing on that. Just as the recovery, kind of see where the recovery is, and where things kind of land. When you think about hotels specifically, those are going to take a little bit of time to kind of see where they're at post pandemic. I think personally that it's a year out, until we start to see that, and it could be even a little bit longer than that. Yeah. When you think about that for us, our reserve, when you take out the PPP loans, we're at 184 of loans. Our day one was right at 130. That's 54 basis points of release. Obviously it can come in many different forms and charge-offs are going to be some of that. If we have loan growth, it obviously affects the denominator of that equation. The signs are obviously pointing to lower provision expense here in the intermediate term. Okay. Thanks a lot, guys. I appreciate it. Thanks, Jon. The next question is from David Long from Raymond James. Please go ahead. Good morning, everyone. Hey, David. You had mentioned on the securities investments you were getting about 2%. Obviously still at that level, diluted to the NIM as the mix is shifting. The question I have is, what type of securities are you buying to get these yields? Are those yields still in place today? Yeah, I would tell you that's our blended reinvestment rate is right around 2%. It would be when you look it out, the mix of our book between roughly 60% agencies, 40% non-agency. It's essentially the same mix of investment that we would have in our book at the current time. Nothing different. We're not going out really any longer and extending. Our securities portfolio is in that 3.5-4 duration. It's not really extending a lot there. It's really going into the same type of securities that we currently have in the book. Yes, we're still getting roughly that 2% reinvestment rate. Got it. Second question you talked about the Round Two of the PPP gross fees, about 5.3%. Were there some deferred expenses with Round Two that would offset that gross fee when you start to report your net fees maybe in the back half of this year? Yes. No, there's no deferred expenses with that, no. All of that 5.3% will be coming in. We are initially amortizing or accreting, I guess, those fees in over the five-year maturity period. Obviously as they get forgiven, we'll bring those in. Got it. Thank you, Jamie. Appreciate the color. Yep. You too. Again, if you have a question, please press star and then one. The next question is a follow-up from Scott Siefers from Piper Sandler. Please go ahead. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the follow-up. Yep. First one is sort of a ticky-tack one on PPPs. Do you have the breakout of the balances between Round One and Round Two, by any chance, of today's balances, just Round One versus Round Two? Scott, this is Jamie. At the end of March, we had about $400 million in first draw in the first round and about $300 million in the second round. Just to follow up from Chris McGratty's earlier question, the average for the period in PPP loans for the first quarter was $645 million, and the fourth quarter was $778 million. We're projecting about $600 million of average balances in the second quarter. Perfect. All right. That's great. Thank you. Just on the lower credit costs, I don't want to make you put too fine a point on it, but it seems that maybe with the exception of hotels, everything is in pretty good shape, particularly considering that the first quarter charge-off was more or less a special situation. Could you guys see yourselves taking a negative provision? Would you anticipate just very modest positive provisions? What's sort of the thinking there? I was hoping you were going to follow up about the demise of the European Super League, Scott. On the provision, I guess, and I hate to say it depends, but it does depend. On the provision expense here going forward. Again, we do think it's going to be lower. I guess the question becomes what charge-offs look like here going forward. Charge-offs can be lumpy. If we have a quarter here over the next couple of quarters where charge-offs are on the lower side, call it sub $5 million, there's a real chance that we could have negative provision expense. There's other factors, obviously, going into that would be how much loan growth we would have in the period, and then just what the overall forecast looks like. Again, a quarter here over the next two or three where we had low charge-offs, you could see that happening for us. Okay. Perfect. Thank you very much. I'll follow up offline regarding just sort of the influence of British politicians and fans in continental Europe. Yeah. That's a longer discussion. Thanks. Yeah, appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you, guys. Good. There are no more questions in the queue. This concludes our question- and- answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Archie Brown for any closing remarks. Thank you, Jason. I want to thank all of you for being on the call with us today and following along our progress. We look forward to talking with you again next quarter. Have a great day. Bye now. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.