First Financial Bancorp.

Good morning and welcome to the First Financial Bancorp First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Reference Call and Webcast. All participants will be in 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. Please note this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Scott Crawley, Corporate Controller. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Jason. Good morning, everyone, and 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, www.bancorpfirst.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 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 reflect 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 accommodated 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 from the most recent quarter, after being adjusted to remove non-recurring items, included earnings per share of 50 cents, 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 Payment Protection Program, and 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 borrow 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 remain 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.