ANDERSON JAMES M 4

What happened

• James M. Anderson, Chief Financial Officer of First Financial Bancorp (FFBC), was granted 20,668 shares on 2026-03-04 (reported as an award/acquisition, code A). On 2026-03-05, 1,557 shares were surrendered/treated as a disposition to cover tax withholding at $27.75 per share, totaling $43,207 (code F). Net effect: +19,111 shares (20,668 granted minus 1,557 withheld).
• The grant includes performance-based restricted shares: 10,334 of the awarded shares are restricted performance shares that vest after three years if certain performance goals are met (see footnote F1).

Key details

• Transaction dates and prices: 2026-03-04 award of 20,668 shares at $0.00; 2026-03-05 tax withholding of 1,557 shares at $27.75 (proceeds/covering tax ≈ $43,207).
• Net shares added from these transactions: 19,111.
• Footnotes: F1 = 10,334 performance shares subject to 3-year vesting contingent on performance. F2–F4 relate to small dividend reinvestments and a fractional-share administrative adjustment from 2025.
• Filing: Report filed 2026-03-06 for a report period beginning 2026-03-04 (no late-filing flag provided in the supplied data).

Context

• This was an equity award (not an open-market purchase). The subsequent disposition was a standard tax-withholding action (company withheld/surrendered shares to satisfy tax obligations), not an open-market sale — a routine administrative step that doesn’t necessarily signal a change in the insider’s investment view.
• Performance shares only convert to final ownership if performance conditions are met at the end of the vesting period; until then they remain subject to forfeiture.