HAMILTON, Ohio, May 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First Financial Bancorp (Nasdaq: FFBC) president and chief executive officer, Stanley N. Pontius, today announced its Community First Bank & Trust affiliate in Celina, Ohio, is planning to sell its banking center on State Route 274 in Chickasaw, Ohio.

Osgood State Bank, Osgood, Ohio, has signed an agreement with Community First for the purchase of the deposits and facilities of the Chickasaw Banking Center. Community First will retain the banking center's loan portfolio, serving those loan customers from its neighboring banking centers in Mercer County. Subject to regulatory approval, the purchase is expected to be consummated in late summer of 2003.

Pontius said, "While Community First will no longer have a banking office in Chickasaw, we will continue to do business with customers in this area. Under Bancorp's growth strategies as outlined in Project Renaissance, we are focusing our resources in areas with greater opportunities for growth and profitability."

Osgood State Bank is a $76 million bank with offices in Osgood and Fort Loramie, as well as an automated teller machine in North Star. In business since 1915, the bank serves Ohio's Shelby, Darke, Mercer, and Auglaize counties.

A $734 million community bank with over 63,000 customers, Community First Bank & Trust currently operates 19 retail banking centers. In Ohio, the bank serves these cities: Bryan, Celina, Chickasaw, Coldwater, Delphos, Ft. Recovery, Paulding, Payne, Rockford, St. Mary's, Van Wert, and Willshire. In Indiana, the bank serves Ft. Wayne, Union City, and Winchester.

First Financial Bancorp currently operates 8 banking affiliates in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Indiana with a total of 105 retail banking centers, as well as an investment-advisor affiliate. With assets of $3.7 billion, the publicly owned bank holding company has over 4,000 shareholders. Additional information is available on First Financial Bancorp's web site at www.ffbc-oh.com .

SOURCE  First Financial Bancorp
    -0-                             05/14/2003
    /CONTACT:  Analysts, C. Douglas Lefferson, +1-513-867-4993, or
doug.lefferson@ffbc-oh.com, or Media, Cheryl R. Lipp, +1-513-867-4929, or
cheryl.lipp@comfirst.com, both of First Financial Bancorp/
    /Web site:  http://www.ffbc-oh.com/
    (FFBC)

CO:  First Financial Bancorp; Community First Bank & Trust; Osgood State Bank
ST:  Ohio
IN:  FIN
SU:  TNM



JJ-BG 
-- CLW006 --
6303 05/14/200308:42 EDThttp://www.prnewswire.com