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CAPITAL
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2024
Banking Regulation, Total Capital [Abstract]  
CAPITAL Capital
Risk-based capital. First Financial and its subsidiary, First Financial Bank, are subject to regulatory capital requirements administered by federal banking agencies. Capital adequacy guidelines and, additionally for banks, prompt corrective action regulations involve quantitative measures of assets, liabilities and certain off-balance sheet items calculated under regulatory accounting practices. Capital amounts and classifications are also subject to qualitative judgments by regulators. Failure to meet minimum capital requirements can initiate regulatory action.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System approved Basel III in order to strengthen the regulatory capital framework for all banking organizations, subject to a phase-in period for certain provisions.  Basel III established and defined quantitative measures to ensure capital adequacy. These measures require First Financial to maintain minimum amounts and ratios of Common equity Tier 1 capital, Total and Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets and Tier 1 capital to average assets (Leverage ratio).  

Basel III includes a minimum ratio of Common equity Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets of 7.0% and a fully phased-in capital conservation buffer of 2.5% of risk-weighted assets.  Further, the minimum ratio of Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets is 8.5% and all banks are subject to a 4.0% minimum leverage ratio, while the required Total risk-based capital ratio is 10.50%. Failure to maintain the required Common equity Tier 1 capital will result in potential restrictions on a bank’s ability to pay dividends, repurchase stock and pay discretionary compensation to its employees. The capital requirements also provide strict eligibility criteria for regulatory capital instruments and change the method for calculating risk-weighted assets in an effort to better identify riskier assets, such as highly volatile commercial real estate and nonaccrual loans.

As of December 31, 2024, management believes that First Financial met all capital adequacy requirements to which it was subject.  The Company's most recent regulatory notifications categorized First Financial as "well-capitalized" under the
regulatory framework for prompt corrective action. There have been no conditions or events since those notifications that management believes have changed the Company's categorization. Total regulatory capital exceeded the minimum requirement by $581.7 million on a consolidated basis at December 31, 2024.

The following tables present the actual and required capital amounts and ratios as of December 31, 2024 and 2023 under the Basel III Capital Rules and include the minimum required capital levels based on the phase-in provisions of the Basel III Capital Rules. Capital levels required to be considered "well capitalized" are based upon prompt corrective action regulations, as amended to reflect the changes under the Basel III Capital Rules.
ActualMinimum capital
required - Basel III		PCA requirement to be
considered well
capitalized
(Dollars in thousands)Capital
amount		RatioCapital
amount		RatioCapital
amount		Ratio
December 31, 2024
Common equity tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated$1,709,422 12.16 %$984,145 7.00 %N/AN/A
First Financial Bank1,751,512 12.48 %982,565 7.00 %$912,382 6.50 %
Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated1,754,584 12.48 %1,195,033 8.50 %N/AN/A
First Financial Bank1,752,054 12.48 %1,193,114 8.50 %1,122,931 8.00 %
Total capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated2,057,877 14.64 %1,476,218 10.50 %N/AN/A
First Financial Bank1,912,456 13.62 %1,473,847 10.50 %1,403,664 10.00 %
Leverage
Consolidated1,754,584 9.98 %702,969 4.00 %N/AN/A
First Financial Bank1,752,054 9.97 %702,666 4.00 %878,333 5.00 %
 
ActualMinimum capital
required - Basel III		PCA requirement to be
considered well
capitalized
(Dollars in thousands)Capital
amount		RatioCapital
amount		RatioCapital
amount		Ratio
December 31, 2023
Common equity tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated$1,568,815 11.73 %$936,192 7.00 %N/AN/A
First Financial Bank1,701,338 12.73 %935,746 7.00 %$868,907 6.50 %
Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated1,613,480 12.06 %1,136,805 8.50 %N/AN/A
First Financial Bank1,701,840 12.73 %1,136,263 8.50 %1,069,424 8.00 %
Total capital to risk-weighted assets
Consolidated1,907,441 14.26 %1,404,289 10.50 %N/AN/A
First Financial Bank1,830,677 13.69 %1,403,619 10.50 %1,336,780 10.00 %
Leverage
Consolidated1,613,480 9.70 %665,125 4.00 %N/AN/A
First Financial Bank1,701,840 10.24 %664,781 4.00 %830,976 5.00 %

Share repurchases. Effective January 2024, First Financial's board of directors approved a stock repurchase plan (the 2024 Repurchase Plan), replacing the 2022 Repurchase Plan which became effective in January 2022. The 2024 Repurchase Plan
continues for two years and authorizes the purchase of up to 5,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock and will expire in December 2025. Under the 2024 Repurchase Plan, First Financial did not repurchase any shares during 2024.
The 2022 Repurchase Plan replaced the plan that expired on December 31, 2022 (the 2020 Repurchase Plan). Under the 2022 Repurchase Plan, First Financial did not repurchase any shares during 2023.