Operator
Thank you for standing by. My name is Kate, and I will be your conference operator today.
At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the First Financial Bancorp first quarter 2026 earnings conference call and webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.
After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press *, followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad.
If you would like to withdraw your question, press *1 again. Thank you.
I would now like to turn the call over to Scott Crawley, Corporate Controller. Please go ahead.
Scott Crawley
Thanks, Kate. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss First Financial Bancorp's first 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 www.bankatfirst.com under the Investor Relations section.
We'll 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 first 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 March 31st, 2026, and 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
Thanks, Scott. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call.
Yesterday afternoon, we announced our first quarter results, and I'm very pleased with our overall performance. The first quarter was a busy one as we closed the BankFinancial acquisition, completed the conversion of Westfield Bank, and wrapped up the sale of the BankFinancial multifamily loan portfolio.
Adjusted earnings per share were 77 cents, with an adjusted return on assets of 1.45%, and an adjusted return on tangible common equity of 19.2%. Adjusted earnings per share increased 22% compared to the first quarter of last year, driven by a robust net interest margin and strong fee income.
Our net interest margin was resilient despite the Fed funds rate cut in December, as the expected decline in loan yields was offset by a similar decline in deposit costs. Assuming no short-term rate reductions by the Fed, we expect the margin to remain stable in the near term.
Loan balances increased slightly for the quarter due to the BankFinancial acquisition. Excluding the BankFinancial portfolio, loans declined for the quarter, as seasonally strong loan production was offset by extended payoff pressure in the ICRE portfolio.
Compared to the first quarter of 2025, originations increased approximately 45%, and excluding Westfield and BankFinancial, originations were up by over 25%. Our expectation for loan growth for 20 2026 has not materially changed.
Loan pipelines are very healthy, and we expect strong production in the second quarter. We also expect payoff activity in ICRE to approach more normal levels, leading to solid loan growth in the second quarter.
Adjusted fee income was strong for the quarter. Historically, fee income significantly dips early in the year; however, we successfully combated this trend in the first quarter.
Adjusted noninterest income was $75.6 million, which was 24% higher than in the first quarter of 2025, and only a slight decline from the linked quarter. These results were driven by record wealth management income, strong client derivative income, and record leasing business income.
Additionally, expenses were well controlled during the quarter, with total noninterest expenses coming in well below our expectations and acquisition-related cost savings exceeding our initial estimates. Net charge-offs were 35 basis points of total loans and were impacted by one large commercial relationship.
Other asset quality indicators were stable, with nonperforming assets slightly declining from the linked quarter to 44 basis points. While there is certainly more uncertainty in the economy due to the impact of the war in Iran, our current expectations are for asset quality to gradually improve throughout the year, similar to our performance in 2025.
Capital ratios are strong and continued to climb in the first quarter. All regulatory ratios were well in excess of regulatory minimums, and the tangible common equity increased to 7.9%.
Tangible book value per share was $16.15, which was a 2.6% increase over the linked quarter and a 9% increase compared to the first quarter of 2025. Tangible book value was at approximately the same level as the third quarter of 2025, just prior to the Westfield Bank acquisition.
This month, the board of directors authorized a 5 million share repurchase plan, replacing the plan we had in place through 2025, and we are evaluating opportunities to employ buybacks as part of our overall capital planning. I'd like to take a minute and discuss our recent acquisitions.
During the quarter, we successfully completed the conversion of Westfield Bank. For the quarter, Westfield deposit and loan balances were stable, we maintained high associate retention, and we have achieved the financial results that we expected from the transaction to date.
We're happy with the quality of the bank we acquired and with the talented team that has joined us. We also completed the purchase of BankFinancial on January 1st and plan to convert systems in early June.
We remain excited about the opportunities in the Chicago market and continue to see growth potential from this transaction. Now I'll turn the call over to Jamie to discuss these results in greater detail.
After Jamie, I'll wrap up with some additional forward-looking commentary and closing remarks.
Jamie Anderson
Thank you, Archie, and good morning, everyone. Slides 4, 5, and 6 provide a summary of our most recent financial performance.
The first quarter results were excellent and included strong earnings, record revenues driven by a robust net interest margin, and higher-than-expected fee income. Our net interest margin remains very strong at 3.99%, increasing 1 basis point during the quarter.
Cost of funds declined 13 basis points, while asset yields declined 12 basis points. End-of-period loan balances increased $71 million, which included $228 million acquired in the BankFinancial transaction.
This was partially offset by a $152 million decrease in ICRE balances, reflecting the payoff pressure that Archie mentioned earlier. Total average deposit balances increased $1.7 billion, including $1.2 billion acquired in the BankFinancial transaction and the full quarter impact from Westfield.
We maintain 20% of our total deposit balances in non-interest-bearing accounts and remain focused on growing lower-cost deposit balances. Turning to the income statement, first quarter fee income overcame seasonal headwinds with strong performance across all income types.
Additionally, we had an $8.9 million gain on bargain purchase related to the BankFinancial acquisition. Noninterest expenses increased from the linked quarter, due primarily to the impact of our most recent acquisitions.
Our ACL coverage decreased slightly during the quarter to 1.36% of total loans, and we recorded $8.5 million of provision expense during the period, which was driven primarily by net charge-offs. On asset quality, net charge-offs were 35 basis points on an annualized basis, an increase of 8 basis points from the fourth quarter, while NPAs as a percentage of assets were 44 basis points, declining 4 basis points from the fourth quarter.
Classified assets as a percentage of total assets also declined slightly during the period. From a capital standpoint, our ratios are in excess of both internal and regulatory targets.
Tangible book value increased 41 cents to $16.15, while our tangible common equity ratio increased to 7.88%. Slide 8 reconciles our GAAP earnings to adjusted earnings, highlighting items that we believe are important to understanding our quarterly performance.
Adjusted net income was $80.5 million, or 77 cents per share for the quarter. Noninterest income was adjusted for $1.3 million of losses on the sales of investment securities, the $8.9 million gain on bargain purchase related to the BankFinancial acquisition, and a $1.4 million loss on the surrender of a bank-owned life insurance policy.
Noninterest expense adjustments exclude the impact of acquisition costs, tax credit investment write-downs, and other expenses not expected to recur. As depicted on slide 9, these adjusted earnings equate to a return on average assets of 1.45%, a return on average tangible common equity of 19%, and a pretax pre-provision ROA of 1.99%.
Turning to slides 10 and 11, net interest margin increased 1 basis point from the linked quarter to 3.99%. Total deposit costs declined 13 basis points from the linked quarter, offsetting the impact of lower asset yields.
Slide 13 illustrates our current loan mix and balance changes compared to the linked quarter. Loan balances increased $71 million during the period.
As you can see on the right, we acquired $228 million of loans in the BankFinancial transaction. This was offset by a $152 million decrease in ICRE balances.
Absent the acquisition, loan balances decreased 4.7% on an annualized basis, driven by elevated payoffs in ICRE. Slide 15 depicts our NDFI exposure.
As you can see, our total NDFI balances are approximately 3% of our total loan book, and all NDFI loans were pass-rated at the end of the first quarter. The majority of our NDFI lending is concentrated in loans to REITs, which we believe further mitigates our risk.
Slide 16 shows our deposit mix as well as a progression of average deposits from the linked quarter. In total, average deposit balances increased $1.7 billion, including a $1.2 billion impact from the BankFinancial transaction, as well as a full quarter impact from Westfield.
Slide 18 highlights our noninterest income. Total adjusted fee income was $76 million, with leasing and wealth management both posting record results.
Foreign exchange delivered strong results and client derivative fees increased during the period as well. Noninterest expense for the quarter is outlined on slide 19.
Core expenses increased $12.9 million as expected during the period. This was driven primarily by our recent acquisitions.
Turning now to slides 20 and 21, our ACL model resulted in a total allowance, which includes both funded and unfunded reserves, of $207 million, which includes $3.1 million of initial allowance on the BankFinancial portfolio. This resulted in an ACL that was 1.36% of total loans, which was a 3 basis point decline from the fourth quarter.
We recorded $8.5 million of provision expense during the period. Provision expense was primarily driven by net charge-offs, which were 35 basis points.
Additionally, our NPAs to total assets decreased slightly to 44 basis points, while classified asset balances as a percentage of total assets decreased to 1.02%. Finally, as shown on slides 22 and 23, capital ratios remain in excess of regulatory minimums and internal targets.
During the fourth during the first quarter, tangible book value increased to $16.15, while the TCE ratio increased to 7.88% at the end of the period. Our total shareholder return remained strong, with 35% of our first quarter earnings returned to our shareholders during the period through the common dividend.
The board also approved a 5 million share repurchase program. We maintain our commitment to providing an attractive return to our shareholders and will evaluate capital actions that support that commitment.
I'll now turn it back over to Archie for some comments on our outlook. Archie?
Archie Brown
Thank you, Jamie. Before we conclude our prepared remarks, I want to comment on our second quarter outlook, which can be found on slide 24.
On the balance sheet, we expect mid-single-digit loan growth on an annualized basis during the second quarter as loans filter through our strong pipelines and ICRE payoffs slow. On the deposit side, we expect core deposit balances to remain relatively flat compared to the first quarter.
Our net interest margin remains among the highest in the peer group, and we expect it to hold steady in a 3.99 to 4.04% range over the next quarter, assuming no rate cuts. Related to credit, we expect second quarter credit costs to approximate first quarter levels and ACL coverage to remain relatively stable as a percentage of loans.
As I mentioned earlier, similar to last year, we expect credit trends to gradually improve over the course of the year. Further down the income statement, we expect fee income to be between $75 and $77 million, which includes $14 to $16 million for foreign exchange and $20 to $22 million for leasing business revenue.
Noninterest expenses are expected to be between $151 and $154 million. We've successfully completed the Westfield conversion in March and are scheduled to convert BankFinancial over the summer.
We're on pace to achieve our modeled cost savings in the Westfield acquisition and should realize full savings beginning in the third quarter, and we expect full BankFinancial savings to be realized beginning in the fourth quarter. Before I wrap up, I want to thank our associates for the incredible work they've done this year integrating Westfield into First Financial and the work they're now doing as they prepare for the BankFinancial conversion.
I also want to mention how proud I am that First Financial was selected for the Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award for associate engagement. This marks the second consecutive year that we have received this honor, which is awarded to 4% of the thousands of companies that Gallup works with worldwide.
We've partnered with Gallup for more than 6 years, and we've made associate engagement a core tenant of our corporate strategy. I want to commend our associates and leaders who work throughout the year to drive engagement, knowing that by doing so, we're also improving the client experience and shareholder value.
To conclude, we're really happy with our first quarter results. We've made substantial progress across the company, and we work diligently to be a bank that consistently produces top-level results.
We remain focused on the right things and are determined to build on momentum generated by our first quarter performance. We've had a very strong start to 2026, and we believe that this is going to be another very successful year for First Financial.
Kate will now open up the call for questions.
Operator
At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, press *, then the number 1 on your telephone keypad. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster.
Your first question comes from the line of Daniel Tamayo with Raymond James. Your line is open.
Daniel Tamayo
Thank you. Good morning, Archie and Jamie.
Archie Brown
Morning, Daniel.
Daniel Tamayo
I guess maybe first starting on the loan growth side, you talked about the impact from the payoffs in the first quarter, $152 million, I think, is the number you gave. We talked to a lot of banks this earning season about this headwind, and kind of what's going to change to remove that headwind going forward.
Just curious on your thoughts on that, and what drives your confidence those headwinds on the paydown side slow and, just a little bit more timing, if it's second quarter or you think it's back half of the year, as it relates to the timing of the paydowns. Thanks.
Archie Brown
Thanks, Danny. I'll maybe start with some color, and then I'll come back to the kind of how we see our outlook on it.
We talk about this primarily being ICRE. We don't show REITs in the ICRE totals, but we also had some REIT paydowns or exits, if you will, and that shows up more in our commercial line.
That was probably another $23 million, but it's all related in the commercial real estate space, if you will. Look, it's been a mix.
We probably saw about 30% of our ICRE balances were exit because of the properties were sold. There's been, I think, a little more volume of sales occurring as some of the developers/owners just saying, "Look, I'm getting good pricing, it's a good time to do it with the uncertainty."
That's a piece of it. We've seen about maybe a close to a quarter of it go to the secondary market.
Then we've seen other banks come back in. We've seen, for several years, we weren't seeing the larger regionals in the space.
They're back in, and they're aggressive, and they're taking out loans. In some cases, for us, hotels.
We don't have a big book, but that's where some of it's come from. Other cases, loans that they're taking, and they're taking for very aggressive pricing or, in some cases, structure that we don't think is appropriate.
We're seeing some of it move like that. If you said property sales, secondary market, larger banks coming back in, and then some REIT exits, that's sort of been the mix of what we've seen happen.
We can talk to our commercial real estate team just what we're seeing, and in their conversation with borrowers, and just with the level of payoff requests coming in, they just are slowing. What our team sees is that over the course of the second quarter, that will continue to slow, and in addition, our production ramps up more in the quarter.
The combination of the two, we don't know exactly where this is going to fall, of course. There's timing of payoffs, things that can occur, but they're hopeful that they're going to be somewhere that portfolio around flattish for the quarter.
If they're flattish along with the other activity we have, I think that drives our growth overall.
Daniel Tamayo
That's great. Very helpful detail there, Archie.
I guess the other side of that, and you touched on it at the end, is the production. I think you talked a little bit about it in the prepared remarks, but maybe talk about the pipeline and some of the drivers within that, particularly on the commercial side for the rest of the year.
Archie Brown
Sure. The pipeline, I think we signaled, is pretty strong.
Now, look, I guess everybody can define what a pipeline means. In the language we're using here, we call these the advanced-stage pipeline or a late-stage pipeline.
Generally, this is where we've been awarded the business. That doesn't mean we'll close them all.
Sometimes they'll fall out for different reasons, but that's how we're looking at this. It's up substantially from the early part of the year.
We think that activity is continuing. The sentiment in the market, I know there's a lot of macro activity going on, but demand is pretty strong, borrowers are pretty active, and we think that the pipeline will continue to build.
That's giving us some confidence that we'll see the growth we've talked about. It's pretty much across the board when you look at all of the areas that we lend into.
We're seeing good pipeline activity.
Daniel Tamayo
Great. Then lastly, again, on the same topic, but just curious where you guys stand in Chicago right now.
You closed the BankFinancial deal. It was really for the deposit side.
I know you had some presence there prior to the deal. Maybe update us on where you stand from a lender perspective and where you're looking to get to over time.
Archie Brown
Sure. Daniel, as you said, we closed early in the year, convert early June.
As you said, it's been primarily a deposit play. Deposits are holding, I think, pretty well at this point.
We're sort of building out the team, if you will. We've added some commercial banking talent.
We had a team. I think we've added one here in the last month or two.
We plan to add more bankers to the commercial banking team. We've added wealth advisors to the team, private bankers to the team.
We're kind of filling out, if you will, what I call the wholesale commercial team to complement the retail strategy. We think there's good opportunity.
If you go back and look at that bank, they really weren't generating activity in those areas to speak of. We think it's as we get the team filled out, almost anything we do there is going to be additive to the bank's balance sheet.
Daniel Tamayo
Got it. Thanks for all the color, Archie.
Archie Brown
Yeah. Good to see you, Danny.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Brandon Rud with Stephens. Your line is open.
Brandon Rud
Morning, guys.
Archie Brown
Morning.
Brandon Rud
I guess maybe my first one, I think the cost of interest-bearing deposits was 2.33 for the full quarter. I'm just curious, embedded within your NIM guide, is that kind of a good starting base for the second quarter, or I guess, yeah, is that still a good starting point for the second quarter?
Archie Brown
We talk when we're talking deposits, Brandon, we really talk more kind of our overall cost of deposits. That number that you're quoting there, I guess the exit cost going into the second quarter would be slightly lower than that.
We're showing our overall cost of deposits in the first quarter was 1.83, and we think we can get that down in the second quarter another 2 or 3 basis points. The cost of interest-bearing deposits would just kind of flow right off of that as well, obviously.
Our starting kind of cost of deposits in the second quarter, again, 1.83 for the full quarter in the first quarter, the starting point is around 1.80, 1.81.
Brandon Rud
Perfect. Thank you for that.
Then, I think you said the fourth quarter of this year, I think is going to be the first clean quarter with all the expenses taken out. Thank you for the guide for the second quarter.
I'm assuming it kind of stair-steps down from there. I guess what does that all-in run rate with all the cost saves kind of look like in the fourth quarter then?
Jamie Anderson
Yeah. We will We'll get a stair-step down here in the let's see here in the in the second quarter, call it, down into that range where we where we guided to, and and we think then it is relatively flat for the remainder of the year.
We may get a little bit more coming down, but, obviously, we have some other, other stuff outside of the invest- of outside of the acquisitions where we're, making other investments and whatnot, where where costs are moving up, just just like normal in that, 2 or 3% range. That's going to offset the decline really from the from the BankFinancial deal.
The And the BankFinancial deal, obviously, was a little bit was a little bit smaller in their in their expense base. The fourth quarter So we should see that step-down in the second quarter, which gets us to that to that guide that we put in the outlook, and then it's then it's relatively relatively flat for those for the out quarters.
Brandon Rud
Gotcha. The cost savings effectively fund the investments, and that's the stable rate.
Got it. Thank you very much.
Jamie Anderson
All right. Yep.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Karl Shepard with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Karl Shepard
Hey, good morning, guys.
Jamie Anderson
Hey, Karl.
Karl Shepard
I guess I just want to start on the margin quick. We have the guide for 2Q, but just thinking about your balance sheet, I'm guessing if we don't see any cuts, that's probably a pretty good spot to be for the rest of the year, or should we be thinking about loan growth maybe changing the mix a little bit and helping the margin?
Jamie Anderson
This is Jamie, Karl. That guide obviously with rate cuts looks like getting pushed out into either later in the year or into '27 at this point, obviously helps us from a margin standpoint, being slightly asset-sensitive.
As we remix out of some of the securities balances that we've put on with the liquidity that we got especially from the BankFinancial deal, and it's not a lot obviously because based on the earning asset base that we have, that rotation is relatively small out of the securities book. If we have loan growth in that 5 to 7% range, you're talking about a couple hundred million dollars a quarter, right?
If we rotate out of securities for a portion or all of that, it's not that much to basically get a lot of lift into the margin, but you might see a basis point or two.
Karl Shepard
Okay. Then I saw on the deck a new branch in the Westfield markets.
I'm assuming that was planned ahead of the merger, but just we talked a little bit about Chicago expectations and investments there two questions ago, but anything in Westfield markets to flag?
Archie Brown
Karl, this is Archie. Specific to that branch, that was actually a branch underway when we were negotiating and announcing the deal.
They already had that branch under construction. We opened it up as a First Financial branch prior to the conversion, which was, I think, a good thing from training and letting people get to use kind of get to introduced to First Financial.
With regard to other things we're doing in the Northeast Ohio market, I think all together there's about four FTE added because of Wadsworth, that branch. I think we've added about another nine producers, whether they be on the commercial, small business side, wealth, private banking, we've added about nine producers to that market to kind of round out all the things that we do.
That's all baked into the expense numbers as well. We think there's upside by adding the additional production capability.
Karl Shepard
Okay. Thank you both.
Archie Brown
Yep.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Brian Foran with Truist. Your line is open.
Brian Foran
Hey, good morning. Your capital's rebuilt pretty quickly here, which is a good problem to have.
In some ways, maybe it's just an open-ended question on what you're thinking going forward. I think you mentioned maybe evaluating more buybacks.
Then as part of that, if there's anything notable to share around Basel III or around how you're thinking about the binding minimum between CET1 and TCE and things like that. Really just kind of focus on the excess capital and what you're thinking for the next 12 months or so.
Jamie Anderson
Brian, this is Jamie. We are compounding capital at a high rate just based on our earnings level.
If you look back pre Westfield and BankFinancial, maybe to a lesser extent BankFinancial, but if you look back pre-acquisition, at the end of the third quarter, and I'm talking about our tangible book value per share, we're basically back to where we were now pre-acquisition level, which we were very pleased with. We are piling in at this earnings level a lot of capital.
Really when you think about it for us, our regulatory ratios are fine. We have a lot of cushion there.
Typically, our constraint, when we look at an acquisition, our constraint typically is in the TCE ratio. We're close to 8 now, just below 8.
Obviously, we have some AOCI impact in there, and then rates moved against us a little bit in the first quarter too, or that would have been even a little bit higher. Our typical constraint's the TCE ratio.
We'd like to have that above 8, and we're getting there pretty quickly. When we talk about buyback and looking at that, obviously, we're going to be mindful of price and the earnback on that on a buyback and looking at that TCE ratio.
When we look at the common dividend, we have a payout ratio in the low 30s, call it 30 to 35% now based on our earnings level post-acquisition. We wanted to get a quarter or two of impact in from the acquisitions to see where we were from a capital ratio standpoint, where everything was going to fall out.
Then we had the board approve the share buyback. We haven't done any buybacks in several years, mainly because of several things.
We had a couple of non-bank acquisitions during that So we haven't done a buyback since '21. We had a couple of non-bank acquisitions in there, which ate up a pretty significant amount of capital for us because they were basically all-cash deals and so all goodwill ate into the TCE ratio.
We think we're at a level now, especially with our earnings, the amount of capital we're bringing in, where we can look at buybacks and potentially, I think what we're looking at is looking at that total payout ratio again, which now, with just the common dividend, is in the low 30s, of increasing that somewhere in that 50 to 60% range. If you do that math, obviously, the other piece of that is the buyback.
You're talking about another 20 to 30 points of where the buyback would play into that. Then, but that, I don't know if we're saying we're guaranteeing we're going to do that.
You could probably see us execute some on the buyback. It would be dependent on some other factors, potentially macro factors, and then, if we see a strategic M&A deal, we would prioritize that in front of the buyback.
I think absent that, I think you would see us start executing on the buyback.
Brian Foran
That's great. Thanks for all the detail.
If I could ask one follow-up, the CRE paydown discussion was really helpful. I think the last point you made was seeing some pricing and structure that you don't necessarily want to match.
I wonder just anecdotally, at the aggressive end of the market, could you share where you're seeing yields or spreads get to, and are there any particular points in structure that you're seeing people give on? Is it an LTV thing?
Is it a personal guarantee thing? What are the kind of things that you're seeing in the market that you don't want to match?
Archie Brown
This is Archie. We had a deal that we thought we were within days of closing.
It's a $25 or $30 million transaction. We thought we were within days of closing, and one of the large regionals had been competing on it, and then, I guess, when they realized they had lost it, they came back, and basically eliminated the covenants.
It wasn't even changed, it just eliminated the covenants. We're seeing that where, certainly on a fixed charge coverage ratio, those numbers may be coming down.
It's those kind of things, in particular. Pricing is aggressive also.
I may have mentioned earlier, but certainly sub-200 basis points of spread, 170, 180, in some cases, lower. For some commercial, really high quality commercial deals, even lower on spread.
It tends to be really aggressive pricing,
Jamie Anderson
loosening up some of the coverage ratios would be probably the primary areas we're seeing it.
Brian Foran
All right. Hopefully it's not Truist swooping in with no covenants.
Thank you for that.
Archie Brown
I think the point here, too, is I think everybody's excited about activity and wanting loan growth, and we want it too, but we don't want to get over our skis. We're going to go out and get growth, but we want it to make sense, and we want to be happy about it two years from now.
Brian Foran
Agreed. Thank you.
Operator
Before going to the next question, again, if you would like to ask a question, press *1 on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Brendan Nosal with Hovde Group.
Your line is open.
Brendan Nosal
Hey, good morning, guys. Hope you're doing well.
Jamie Anderson
Hey, Brendan.
Brendan Nosal
Maybe just starting off here on just the overall balance sheet. Looks like there's some pretty big discrepancies between where spot balances were for kind of loans, cash, and securities versus average balances for the quarter.
I get there's a lot of noise. I guess can you fill us in on when the BankFinancial loan sale occurred during the quarter?
Then where do you see overall average earning assets landing in the second quarter?
Jamie Anderson
Yep. Great question, Brendan.
This is Jamie. The loan sale closed at the very end of the quarter.
It closed on March 30th. When you look at our cash and securities, we had call it roughly $400 million sitting in cash, not in securities, it was sitting in cash at the end of the quarter.
That $400 million-ish we will not put that to work in the securities portfolio. We will kind slowly let higher cost either borrowings or deposits or broker deposits run out, and we'll fund that with the cash from that loan sale.
Then so when you're talking about earning assets, the earning asset base for the first quarter kind of spot at the end of the quarter was 19. around $19.7 million.
If you take that 400 out as sitting in cash, I guess it's sitting in interest-bearing deposits, at banks, so that will come out. Then you'll start to see, again, with the loan growth that we guided to, if that is again, if that's in that 5 to 7% range, you're talking about a couple hundred, like $200 million a quarter, our plan is to fund about half of that with cash flows from the securities portfolio, and then the rest we'll grow the earning asset base.
If you're talking about maybe $100 million or so increase in earning assets each quarter. Does that make sense?
Brendan Nosal
Yeah. Then just I guess there's still a bit of a discrepancy on my end of just kind of where that number will land in the second quarter, just with the moving pieces.
Can you just maybe help a little more on kind of where AEAs land?
Jamie Anderson
Yeah. You're talking around $19.5 million.
Brendan Nosal
Okay. All right, fantastic.
Thank you. Maybe turning back to the margin.
Just kind of unpacking the core NIM ex-accretion versus the accretion piece. I think you had 10 basis points this quarter of fair value accretion.
Just kind of curious, when you kind of look at the path for that, what does that number look like?
Jamie Anderson
We think that'll be relatively steady at that 10 basis points. Obviously, it could move around if we get, it's all based on the amount of payoffs/prepayments that we get on that portfolio.
If somewhere around that 10 basis point range in that four to in the dollars would be around that $4 to $5 million of accretion income.
Brendan Nosal
Perfect. Last one for me here.
Just when you kind of look out at growth expectations for the balance of the year, can you kind of dissect that between the core commercial bank versus your various specialty businesses?
Archie Brown
This is Archie. When you say the specialty, are you meaning core versus specialties including Summit and Oak Street, things like that?
Brendan Nosal
When I say specialty, Oak Street, Summit, Agile, those books versus kind of the traditional commercial bank.
Archie Brown
Yeah. It's just top of my head, but I'd say it's slightly tilted towards the core commercial.
Agile is going to grow, but it's just the base is not that huge, and if they grow, I can't recall now, $20, $30 million. Summit will grow, but their amortizations have picked up, their growth rates are just not as strong as they used to be.
Specialty is contributing, but I would say we're talking commercial, core commercial/consumer is going to be, if you said, 50 to 60, maybe 65%.
Brendan Nosal
Yeah. Brendan,
Jamie Anderson
this is Jamie. I would say it's about two-thirds, one-third.
Then Agile, the second quarter is their big quarter for growth. Yeah.
Brendan Nosal
Yep. Yep.
Fantastic.
Operator
I'll now turn the call back over to Archie Brown for closing remarks.
Archie Brown
Thank you, Kate. I want to thank everybody for joining us today and following along our progress during the first quarter.
We look forward to talking again second quarter and hopefully we'll be sharing even more good news with you. Have a great day, have a great weekend.
Bye now.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining.
You may now disconnect.