Good morning, and welcome to the First Financial Bancorp First Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. All participants will be in listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions) After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded. I’d now like to turn the conference over to Ken Lovik, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Please go ahead sir.

Thank you, Denise. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today’s conference call to discuss First Financial Bancorp’s first quarter 2012 financial results. Discussing our operating and financial results today will be Claude Davis, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Frank Hall, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Before we get started, I would like to mention that both the press release we issued yesterday announcing our financial results for the quarter and the accompanying supplemental presentation are available on our website at www.bankatfirst.com under the Investor Relations section. Please refer to the forward-looking statement disclosure contained in the first quarter 2012 earnings release, as well as our SEC filings for a full discussion of the company’s risk factors. The information we provide today is accurate as of March 31, 2012, and we will not be updating any forward-looking statements to reflect facts or circumstances after this call. I will now turn the call over Claude Davis. Dave?

Thank you, Ken, and thank you to those joining the call today. We’re pleased to announce another quarter of strong performance, reporting net income of $17 million or $0.29 per diluted common share. Return on average assets was 1.05%, and return on average shareholders’ equity was 9.67% for the quarter. During the quarter, we incurred $1.8 million of expenses not expected to recur, which reduced earnings per share by $0.02. Our adjusted pre-tax, pre-provision earnings were $31.2 million for the quarter or 1.94% of average asset. Adjusted pre-tax, pre-provision earnings were essentially flat as higher net interest income and fee revenue were offset by higher operating expenses, primarily compensation cost due to a full quarter’s impact of the associates joining us from Flagstar, as well as seasonal factors. We were extremely pleased with our net interest margins for the quarter, which increased 19 basis points to 4.51%, driven primarily by performance in our investment portfolio. Frank will provide more details on these items later in the call. We paid our third variable dividend during the quarter, representing a 100% dividend payout ratio based on our fourth quarter’s reported earnings per share of $0.31. We’re also pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved an increase in our regular dividend to $0.15 per share, an increase of 25%. While economic conditions in our operating markets have yet to fully recover, the increase reflects our confidence in sustainability of our earnings power and our continued commitment to providing shareholders with a solid long-term return on their investment in First Financial. The increase will not affect the variable dividend in the short-term, as we also announced that we intend to maintain this component for the next six quarters, unless capital deployment opportunities arise that cause our capital ratios to move towards…

Thank you, Claude. We have provided supplemental information furnished separately that is available on our website bankatfirst.com in the Investor Relations section or in the 8-K we filed last night. As in previous quarters, this supplement is crucial to establishing and maintaining a clear understanding of our reported results, as well as the concepts that have a material effect on our current and future performance. Unique accounting and reporting requirements and the strategic distinctions we’ve made related to our 2009 acquisitions materially impact our operating results. So to aid in the clear understanding of our strategic activities, I will focus primarily on the ongoing or strategic aspects of our business. Our first quarter 2012 GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.29. And I will speak briefly to the major components of our performance in the quarter. Total interest income was relatively flat compared to the linked quarter, as higher interest income earned on investments was offset by a decline in the interest earned on loans and amortization of the FDIC indemnification asset. The higher income earned on the investment portfolio during the first quarter was driven by an approximately $407 million increase in the average balance of the investment portfolio reflecting both purchases during the quarter, as well as a full quarter’s impact of approximately $229 million of purchases that set in late in the fourth quarter 2011. The combined impact of these purchases was a 32 basis point increase in the yield on the investment portfolio compared to the linked quarter. In a continued effort to full deploy cash received from the 2011 branch transactions and increased yield, we purchased approximately $292 million of securities during the first quarter, primarily agency mortgage-backed securities and to a lesser extent, investment grade single issuer trust preferred securities and further extended the…

Great. Thanks, Frank. And we’ll be happy to open the call for questions now.

Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. (Operator Instructions) And our first question this morning will come from Scott Siefers of Sandler O’Neill. Please go ahead sir. Scott Siefers – Sandler O'Neill & Partners: Good morning, guys.

Hi, Scott. Scott Siefers – Sandler O'Neill & Partners: Just wanted to ask a couple of quick questions on the, decision on the variable dividend to start. So, I guess as I look at things, even though you’re still going to be paying out pretty much everything you make through the end of next year, at least on like a TCE basis, you’re still going to be building capital, I’d imagine, given the run off of the recovered portfolio. So I guess, going forward, how will you guys be managing the capital priorities? And then, Frank, a kind of nitpicky question, but you guys alluded to the migration of the covered portfolio into non-covered portfolio. Even if your TCE is going to be building over that timeframe, will your regulatory capital ratios still be building as well? I guess it’s just been a little difficult with all the kind of puts and takes from the deals you’ve done, the securities purchases, et cetera, to get a sort of a clear line of what’s happening internally. Maybe if you guys can speak to those couple of dynamics, please?

Sure, Scott. This is Claude. I’ll take the first one, then Frank can talk to the kind of migration of the ratios. First, as it relates to just kind of dividend strategy, as we’ve always talked about, we evaluate it quarterly. The intent of talking about six-quarter period for the variable was to deal with what we heard from shareholders, which is an interest and it really are having some predictability to it. And with this allowing us to continue it through 2013, assuming no major changes related to acquisitions or other issues that would impact capital, we wanted to kind of deal with what the term or expiration might be, or would be. Certainly, I think our history shows as the board that – we tend to be shareholder friendly and when we get to that point, evaluate where the ratios are, what our growth opportunities are, what the growth, or what the earnings prospects are, and evaluate the right capital strategy at that point.

Scott, this is Frank. And, I’ll speak to the migration of the risk-weighting of the covered portfolio. Certainly, as that occurs over time, and I won’t describe it as a cliff event but there is a more abrupt end to it as the loss share expires at a date certainly in the future. There is certainly an impact immediately to risk base capital, the regulatory capital ratios. And given our expectations for what long-term growth prospects look like, there will continue to be, I’d call it, a very modest step-down in the regulatory capital ratios until we start to see the capital build through earnings retentions. So, it’s a little bit of both, but certainly the more significant events for the risk-based capital is the expiration of the loss share. Scott Siefers – Sandler O’Neill & Partners: Okay, that’s helpful. I appreciate the color. And then, Frank, I was hoping to ask you just an unrelated question, just the size of the securities portfolio going forward. With the run-off of the covered portfolio and the money you guys are making, I guess, you’ve to put that money somewhere. I’m just curious to hear how you will handle that going forward given the bigger relative size of the securities portfolio now versus say a year ago, for example?

Sure, Scott. So, if you’re asking about what the future expected size of the investment portfolio is likely to be I would say it’s probably around the size – there may be some volatility in size depending on what the deposit composition looks like over time. But we expected to say about the size. I will just point out though, related to any margin questions and the contribution from the investment portfolio, because of the size and because of that – looking at the investment portfolio in the context of our liquidity planning, we do feel more comfortable managing it to a longer duration than we have done historically. Scott Siefers – Sandler O’Neill & Partners: Okay. That’s perfect, I appreciate the help.

Yes. Thanks, Scott.

And our next question will come from Jon Arfstrom of RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead, sir. Jon Arfstrom – RBC Capital Markets Equity Research: Thank you. Good morning guys.

Hi, Jon.

Good morning, Jon. Jon Arfstrom – RBC Capital Markets Equity Research: Maybe a question for you, Claude, any story on decline in commercial balances, was there anything in there like large payoff or anything that was unusual, or is it just kind of the weakness early in the quarter that you alluded to that seems to have rebuilt?

I don’t think anything unusual. We did see just some payoffs, nothing of note or significance. We view it more as normal activity. I would say the build in that portfolio was not as greater – it’s not that we had hope it would be going into the quarter. We’re still hopeful that pipeline is continuing to build and will yield some growth as we go throughout 2012. And it’s a competitive time, and I think especially for the C&I credits, they’re high-quality, which is what we’re all looking for. We’re just seeing enhanced or increased competition in that area. Jon Arfstrom – RBC Capital Markets Equity Research: Okay. And then can you talk a little bit more about the long-term plan for leasing in the asset-based lending businesses. You alluded to in your prepared comments, and I was just curious what your plans are in particular there? What kind of organic opportunities do you see, and then if – is it possible for any potential acquisitions in that business?

Sure. What we’re really trying to do is to build out our commercial product platform, hence, we, if you will – and equipment finance, so we do both whole loan and leasing in that part of the business, as well the asset-based lending component were both holes in our product suite. So we hired some individuals who were very experienced in that area and we’ve just seen some really good traction over the last couple of quarters in client interest, both within our portfolio and external to our current portfolio. So we do see it as a real growth opportunity, and to the extent that there might be an acquisition opportunity likely we’d look at in all of our product areas, we would certainly take a look at it. We like both of those products. And we think we have the infrastructure to manage it effectively. And so, yes, if the right opportunity presented itself, we’d certainly take a look at it. Jon Arfstrom – RBC Capital Markets Equity Research: It sounds like you’re primarily in footprint though is your interest at this point?

We are, yes. Jon Arfstrom – RBC Capital Markets Equity Research: And then any update on bank, M&A? I don’t know if you’re sending a message with the dividend statement or not but is the flow changing at all in the quality of what you’re seeing changing at all?

We obviously, as we’ve talked about before we don’t kind of speak to specifics, but it is one where we continue that if the right fit were there strategically, both in our current markets as well as nearby metropolitan markets, we would certainly have an interest. We integrated the acquisitions in ’11, and that we did in 2011; and we feel like that we have certainly the capacity and the ability to integrate more, if the right opportunity presented itself. As it relates to environment, I don’t' know that I would be in the – by the best position to sense a change in tone. But it’s one where we view this as a long-term event that we’re going to continue to look for a good strategic, both organic as well as acquisitive growth opportunities. Jon Arfstrom – RBC Capital Markets Equity Research: Okay. All right, thank you.

You bet.

And our next question will come from Christopher McGratty of KBW. Please go ahead, sir. John Barber – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.: Good morning. It’s John Barber filling in for Chris.

Sure, John. John Barber – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.: Claude, you’ve mentioned that you’ve seen an increase in competition in loan processing in your metro markets. I guess who are you seeing that from and how is that impacting your loan pricing? John Barber – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.: Yeah, we’ve really seen it across the board. I wouldn’t kind of single out any one institution because I think what we’ve seen and certainly what all of you see throughout the industry is the industry is now much healthier. Most of the banks have or are dealing with their problem credit issues. And certainly asset growth on the loan side is an interest of all of us. So when you see good companies, if they’re going out for request for proposals, it’s pretty heated competition. And I would say it’s across-the-board, both the large regionals as well as some of the smaller community banks. And you’re talking about smaller credits. There is pretty intense competition. We’re winning our share and we feel good about that and we’re still doing it at a pricing that meets our target rates of return. So I don’t want to oversell that point because we’re getting lots of good deals. But the competition is certainly stepped up from where it was a year ago and certainly two years ago. John Barber – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.: Okay. And any seasonality in deposits this quarter and also where are you offering now one-year CD rates and kind of how does that compare to your CD costs right now?

Competition, I don’t know. Frank, if you’d have a sense...

Yeah, sure. As to seasonality on the deposits, I’d say there is some slight seasonality certainly in public funds. But on deposit pricing where we try to be is in the median of the competitive environment. And so I think, just on a one-year type CD product that might translate to a 10 basis points to 20 basis points type pricing, but again 25th to 50th percentile in a relative sense to the competition is where we try to be. John Barber – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.: All right. Thanks. And last one I had related to the comments on the variable dividends. Should we think of the six quarters as a maximum, meaning, you won’t go beyond that or is there something you will evaluate at that time?

Yeah. The way I would think about it is that, first, is our confidence in our earnings stream or the increase in the core dividend of 25%. The variable dividend, again, because of the three factors we mentioned, which again I would just kind of reiterate. I think that what we’ve heard from shareholders, which is an interest in knowing. And what that certainty is or predictability of it is, we wanted to give people some sense of time which was the intent of the six quarters. Second was the fact that, in 2014, our FDIC loss share coverage expires, which puts a little more pressure on the regulatory ratios. And then third was the interest in certainly retaining some capital for growth opportunities. As it relates to kind of how you should read that, I think you should read it as we intended to continue the variable dividend for six quarters. And as we’ve always done as a board, not only at the end of that period, but from now until that period and beyond, we always look at our capital position, how best should we deploy that capital in the most shareholder-friendly way. And I think, like I said, I would just point to our last few years of history, I just think our board has done a terrific job of not following the pack and doing a good job of returning capital to shareholders when it was appropriate and deploying that capital when it was appropriate. And we will follow the same process. John Barber – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.: Thanks for taking my questions.

You bet.

(Operator Instructions) Our next question this morning will come from David Long of Raymond James. Please go ahead, sir. David Long – Raymond James & Associates: Thanks, good morning guys.

Hi, Dave.

Good morning, Dave. David Long – Raymond James & Associates: Looking at the C&I loans across the industry and looking at some of our peers, we still have seen some pretty good growth there. You guys were down in the quarter. Just want to get some more color from you guys and what you’re seeing in the C&I side, what does your pipeline look like and how have your spreads changed there – yeah, how spreads change there in the first quarter versus the fourth quarter maybe, a year ago?

Sure. David, as I mentioned earlier, our pipeline has been strong. We’ve seen good activity really from the third quarter last year fourth quarter, where we saw some growth. We did see some payoff in this quarter. We also saw some – and not necessarily payoff to people going to another – to other banks, but line pay-downs, etcetera. So we did see some of that impact. Competitively, again, just as I referenced on the other question, I think pricing is where it’s the most competitive. We try to stay disciplined, but it is competitive. I would guess that origination yields are down in commercial, probably 100 basis points year-over-year. Obviously, deposit costs are down as well. But from what we were seeing a year ago to now, certainly we have seen a compression in what rates you can get on good quality clients. David Long – Raymond James & Associates: Okay. It sounds like it’d be safe to assume that your utilization rate has come down.

The utilization rate on lines has continued to be lower than historically where they have been. I don’t have the number of where they were last year versus this year, but they’re at historically low levels still. David Long – Raymond James & Associates: Okay and then one question on the securities portfolio. Of that $292 million that was purchased in the quarter, was that done throughout the quarter or were there any lump purchases in their? Just trying to get a sense of the timing in the quarter.

Yes, this is Frank. Most of the purchases were done throughout the quarter. David Long – Raymond James & Associates: Great, thanks guys.

Thanks, Dave.

And our next question will come from Emlen Harmon of Jefferies. Please go ahead. Emlen Harmon – Jefferies & Co., Inc.: Hi, good morning.

Good morning, Emlen. Emlen Harmon – Jefferies & Co., Inc.: Frank, maybe a question for you. I heard a lot of commentary so far just on the competitive environment for loan pricing. But, you guys have actually been able to maintain kind of like the legacy and originated loan portfolio yields, pretty pre-consistent kind of quarter-over-quarter, the last few quarters. Is that a mix effect and is that sustainable going forward?

That’s a great question. I would say that’s probably our greatest area of risk or a headwind on margin is how our loan portfolio has a duration of about three years. And about 60% of that is variable priced. So as those loans renew, re-price, and as we’re competing for new loans, as Claude mentioned, we were certainly repricing those in a new environment. So that will be a challenge that we have going forward. So I think you’ve identified the risk there. But as Claude said, we can certainly try to remain disciplined in our pricing. But the competitive landscape could create some headwind and some pressure there. Emlen Harmon – Jefferies & Co., Inc.: Okay, thanks, and then just a quick follow-up on expense progression. And as we start to look forward, should we expect that you guys are able to pull some additional expenses kind of out of acquired franchises? And just how should we thinking about the trajectory of the expense run-rate?

Yeah, sure. This is Frank. Again, I think that we’re continually looking for opportunities to reduce the cost base of the franchise. But I would say that the run-rate that we’ve been operating on and where we are for the quarter is materially indicative of what it will look like. Certainly, there’re going to be some cost saves on the margin that we’ll experience. But all in all, those should be relatively small. After we go through the full disposition and closure of the offices that Claude mentioned, certainly we’ll see the full impact of that in the second quarter. Emlen Harmon – Jefferies & Co., Inc.: Hey, great thanks. Thanks for taking my questions.

You bet. Thanks

Thank you.

This will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Claude Davis, President and CEO, for any closing remarks.

Great. Thank you and I would just offer – again, we feel good about the quarter and we appreciate everyone’s interest in First Financial. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.