First Financial Bancorp.

Welcome to the fourth quarter and full year 2020 earnings call-in 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, then one on your touch-tone phone. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Scott Crowley, Corporate Controller. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Sarah. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss First Financial Bancorp's fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results. Participating on today's call will be Archie Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jamie Anderson, Chief Financial Officer, and Bill Herod, Chief Credit Officer. Both the press release we issued yesterday and the accompanying slide presentation are available on our website at www.bankitfirst.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 fourth 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 December 31, 2020 and 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.

Thanks, Scott. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. Yesterday afternoon, we announced our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2020. Before I turn the call over to Jamie to discuss those results in greater detail, I want to reflect on this past year and then provide some highlights from the most recent quarter. When considering a year in which we encountered a global pandemic, experienced widespread government-mandated business shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, and a reduction in the Fed funds rate of 150 basis points, I'm very pleased with our response to these challenges and our overall management of the company. Despite the challenging back-profit 2020, we grew loans and deposit balances, achieved record CNI in mortgage loan production, assets under management, fee income, and total revenues. On an adjusted basis, we earned $1.66 per diluted share, achieved a 1.05% return on average assets, strengthened Tier 1 common equity and total capital, significantly bolstered our allowance for credit losses from 0.63% of loans to 1.77%, and experienced low levels of charge-offs. Business conditions remained difficult in the fourth quarter. However, our quarterly financial metrics earnings per share of 51 cents, adjusted return on assets of 1.23%, and an adjusted efficiency ratio of 56.8%. An increase in interest income, which includes PPP, loan forgiveness fees, strong mortgage banking, and record foreign exchange income drove our solid quarterly results. Loan origination activity rebounded to near record levels with record production in CNI and continued strong production in mortgage. Transactional deposit growth was, again, very strong, with increases from the prior quarter of $544 million on average, or 22% annualized, with all client segments seeing growth. Our sub-60% efficiency ratio reflected our diligent expense management, despite adapting to a remote working environment, continued investment in processes and technologies that position the company, for long-term success. Credit trends remain relatively stable. However, with COVID-19 cases in the Midwest remaining at peak levels, a slower than anticipated vaccine rollout, and general economic uncertainty, we recorded $11.5 million of provision expense, resulting in an increase in our allowance for credit losses to 1.89% of total loans, excluding PPP. We believe the increase in our allowance has positioned us to absorb future losses anticipated by the pandemic or otherwise. I am most pleased with the response of our associates and their commitment to our clients and communities. They demonstrated amazing flexibility and resilience in pivoting from normal business activities and processes to working remotely or with significant changes to their in-office routines. From the beginning of the pandemic, we prioritized keeping our associates safe and engaged and which enabled them to support our clients in one of the most stressful and uncertain periods in our history. Our associates were constant stewards, embodying our organizational belief that banking is an essential function in the lives of consumers, businesses, and our communities, and were focused on ensuring that we remain faithful to our mission. Notably, our corporate-wide effort in granting approximately 7,000 PPP loans, totaling over $900 million, in a matter of months was something to remember. I'm very proud of the effort and commitment of our First Financial team. I'll now turn the call over to Jamie to discuss the details of our fourth quarter results, and then after Jamie's discussion, I'll wrap up with an update on CARES Act modifications, our hotel and franchise portfolios, and then provide some forward-looking commentary. Jamie.