First Financial Bancorp.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the first Financial Bank Corp third quarter 2020 earnings conference call and webcast. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star and then one using a touchtone telephone. To withdraw your questions, you may press star and two. Please also note today's event is being recorded. And at this time, I'd like to turn the conference call over to Scott Crawley, Corporate Controller. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you, Jamie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss First Financial Bancorp's third quarter and year-to-date 2020 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. Additionally, please refer to the forward-looking statement disclosure contained in the third quarter 2020 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 September 30, 2020, 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 third quarter. We're very pleased with our performance, especially when considering the challenging economic environment. Our third quarter results demonstrated continued strength and diversity in our business lines. Despite difficult business conditions, we produced our 120th consecutive quarter of profitability. Highlights after being adjusted to remove non-recurring items included earnings of $0.44 per share, 1.09% return on average Core banking trends were solid as net interest income increased slightly despite the continued interest rate headwinds impacting the industry. Transaction deposit growth was extremely strong with increases from the prior quarter of $435 million on average, or 19% annualized, with much of that growth in personal and business non-interest bearing deposits, which increased $179 million, or 23% on an annualized basis. The third quarter was again highlighted by record fee income from mortgage banking and our Bannockburn Foreign Exchange team. Our mortgage team had a sensational quarter supporting the home financing needs of our customers during this historically low interest rate environment. Expenses were temporarily elevated in the third quarter as our strong operating results and exceptional fee income performance led to higher incentive and commission expense. Credit trends remained relatively stable, while our allowance for credit losses increased to 1.81% of total loans, excluding PPP, as we recorded $13.4 million of provision expense in anticipation of credit deterioration for the remainder of this year and into 2021. Our low delinquency and payment deferral trends are encouraging. We continue to manage the portfolio in a disciplined in the Midwest, and uncertainties around the timing of vaccines to bring the pandemic under control. We've made much progress over the last six months of the global pandemic and are encouraged by our improved operating performance and the resiliency of our associates. Almost all our retail banking centers have reopened, and some associates are returning to the corporate workspaces, albeit at significantly reduced capacity levels. Our guiding principles in managing this crisis continue to be prioritizing associate and client safety, preserving the continuity of our business, assisting our communities, and ensuring the safety and soundness of our company. I'm sincerely appreciative of the ability of our associates to produce strong financial results while prioritizing the individual needs of our customers and communities during these challenging times. I'll now turn the call over to Jamie to discuss details of our third quarter results. And after Jamie's discussion, I'll wrap up with an update on loan payment deferrals and provide some forward-looking commentary. Jamie.