Transcript: First Financial Bancorp Q2 2026 Earnings Conference Call

On Wednesday, First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ: FFBC ) discussed second-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below. This transcript is brought to you APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit for a consultation.

9 million for Q2 2026, with an 8% increase in adjusted earnings per share over the previous year. The company completed the integration of the Westfield acquisition and announced a new acquisition of Finward Bancorp to expand its presence in Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland. Loan growth was strong at 7% on an annualized basis, driven by CNI, Agile, and Summit, with a stable net interest margin of approximately 4%. Lower foreign exchange swap income and investment banking fees led to a decrease in adjusted fee income; however, the company anticipates a rebound in Q3.

The acquisition of Finward is expected to be 5% accretive to earnings per share, with a quick tangible book value earn-back, enhancing the company's strategic market presence. 2%. Management expects mid-single-digit loan growth and stable net interest margins in Q3, with plans for cost savings from recent acquisitions to be fully realized by year-end. Full Transcript Leah, Operator Hello everyone.

Thank you for joining us and welcome to the First Financial Bancorp Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call and webcast. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again.

I will now hand the conference over to Scott Crawley, Corporate Controller. Scott, please go ahead. Scott Crawley, Corporate Controller Thank you, Leah. Good morning everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss First Financial Bancorp 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 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; 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, President and Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Scott. Good morning everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call.

With second quarter earnings and the FinWord 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 over to Jamie who will add his comments on the financial results. After Jamie's 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 FinWord 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, successfully converted bank financial systems. Our second quarter operating results were strong and we're very pleased with our performance. 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 momentum across the portfolio with CNI, Agile and Summit being the primary drivers of our increase in balances. Loan originations increased 23% over the first quarter and advanced-stage pipelines remain strong heading into the back half of the year.

We expect loan production to remain healthy and contribute to solid loan growth in the third quarter. Second quarter adjusted fee income was below our expectations after a very strong first quarter. Lower foreign exchange swap income and investment banking fees led to a decline in total noninterest income compared to the linked quarter. While results in these business lines can vary from quarter to quarter, we anticipate a rebound in the third quarter.

Conversely, adjusted noninterest expenses were materially lower than the linked quarter driven by lower commission expense, payroll taxes and acquisition-related synergies. As of June 30, virtually all the expected Westfield cost reductions have been realized, while savings related to the Bank Financial acquisition will gradually phase in over the course of the third quarter with full savings expected by quarter end. Asset quality was stable for the quarter with net charge-offs declining by 15 basis points to perce