First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ: FFBC) is a financial holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, with its principal subsidiary being First Financial Bank, N.A. The company was founded in 1863 and has a long history as one of the oldest national banks, holding the sixth oldest national bank charter. As of ...First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ: FFBC) is a financial holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, with its principal subsidiary being First Financial Bank, N.A. The company was founded in 1863 and has a long history as one of the oldest national banks, holding the sixth oldest national bank charter. As of the latest data, it employs 2,199 full-time employees and operates more than 150 banking centers across four states. The bank offers a comprehensive suite of commercial banking products, including checking and savings accounts, time deposits, and cash management services. Its lending portfolio includes residential real estate loans, commercial and industrial loans, consumer loans, and home equity lines of credit. Additionally, it provides specialized financing for the insurance industry, registered investment advisors, certified public accountants, and restaurant franchisees. The company also delivers trust and wealth management services, lease and equipment financing, and foreign exchange hedging. Financially, First Financial Bancorp has total assets of approximately $22.4 billion, total loans of $13.7 billion, and total deposits of $17.6 billion. It has a market capitalization of around $3.5 billion and trades on NASDAQ. The company has demonstrated solid profitability with a return on equity of 10.1% and a net profit margin of 21.4%. It pays a quarterly dividend, with a current yield of about 3%. Under the leadership of CEO Archie Brown, the bank focuses on community banking, emphasizing personal relationships and local decision-making. It continues to expand, including recent entry into the Michigan market. With more than 160 years of experience, First Financial Bancorp remains committed to client service and financial expertise.
Operator : Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the First Financial Bancorp Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. I will now hand the conference over to Scott Crawley, Corporate Controller. Scott, please go ahead.
Scott Crawley : Thank you, Leah. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss First Financial Bancorp's second quarter 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 will make reference to the slides contained in the accompanying presentation during today's call. Additionally, please refer to the forward-looking statement disclosure contained in the second quarter 2026 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 June 30, 2026, 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.
Archie Brown : Thanks, Scott. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. With second quarter earnings and the Finward announcement, we have a lot to cover, so the format of our call will be a little different today. Our plan for today's remarks is that I will start with my summary of the quarter, then turn it over to Jamie, who will add his comments on the financial results. After Jamie is finished, I'll provide thoughts on our third quarter outlook. And then once I've wrapped up the outlook commentary, we'll then pivot to discuss the details of the Finward acquisition, which is a deal that we're very excited about. After that, we'll open it up for questions. The second quarter was another active quarter as we remain focused on post-integration efforts related to the Westfield acquisition and successfully converted BankFinancial systems. Our second quarter operating results were strong, and we're very pleased with our performance. Adjusted net income for the period was a record $83.9 million or $0.80 per share with an adjusted return on assets of 1.5% and an adjusted return on tangible common equity of 19.7%. These adjusted earnings per share represent an 8% increase over the second quarter of 2025, and they were driven by increases in earning assets from a combination of organic loan growth and our recent acquisitions. Our net interest margin was stable at approximately 4% as lower funding costs offset a decline in loan accretion income. Assuming no significant changes in interest rates, we expect our margin to remain stable over the near term. Loan growth for the quarter was 7% on an annualized basis and reflected continued …
