1. Name and Address of Reporting Person
Hall, J. Franklin
9850 Regetta Drive #301
Cincinnati, OH 45252
USA
2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
First Financial Bancorp (FFBC)
3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary)
273-68-2948
4. Statement for Month/Year
12/2002
5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year)
6. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable)
( ) Director ( ) 10% Owner
(X) Officer (give title below) ( ) Other (specify below)
Principal Accounting Officer
7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line)
(X) Form filed by One Reporting Person
( ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person
TABLE I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
+------------------------------+----------+----------+---------+--------------------------+--------------+-----------+------------+
|1. Title of Security |2. Trans- |2A.Execu- |3. Trans-|4. Securities Acquired (A)|5. Amount of |6. Owner- |7. Nature |
| | action | action | action| or Disposed of (D) |Securities | ship | of In- |
| | Date | Date | Code | |Beneficially | Form: | direct |
| | | | | |Owned | Direct | Bene- |
| | (Month/ | (Month/ | | |Following | (D) or | ficial |
| | Day/ | Day/ | +-----------+---+----------+ Year | Indirect| Owner- |
| | Year) | Year) | |Amount |A/D|Price | | (I) | ship |
+------------------------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------+---+----------+--------------+-----------+------------+
Common Stock 540 D
Common Stock 5685 I Restricted
Stock Awards
Common Stock 285.6816 I 401-K
TABLE II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
+----------+--------+-------+-------+---------+-----------+---------------------+----------------+----------+-------+-------+------+
|1. |2. |3. |3A. |4. |5. |6. |7. |8. |9. |10. |11. |
| | | | | | | | | |Number |Owner- | |
| | | | | | | | | |of |ship | |
| | | | | | | | | |Deriv- |Form of| |
| | | | | | | |Title and Amount| |ative |Deriv- | |
| | | | | | | |of Underlying | |Secur- |ative |Nature|
| |Conver- |Trans- |Execu- | |Number of | |Securities | |ities |Secur- |of |
| |sion or |action |tion | |Derivative |Date Exercisable +-------+--------+ |Benefi-|ity: |In- |
| |Exercise|Date |Date | |Securities |and Expiration Date | |Amount | |cially |Direct |direct|
| |Price of| | |Transac- |Acquired(A)|(Month/Day/Year) | |or | |Owned |(D) or |Bene- |
|Title of |Deriv- |(Month/|(Month/|tion Code|Disposed(D)+----------+----------+ |Number |Price of | |In- |ficial|
|Derivative|ative |Day/ |Day/ | +-----+-----+Date Exer-|Expira- | |of |Derivative|at End |direct |Owner-|
|Security |Security|Year) |Year) | |(A) |(D) |cisable |tion Date |Title |Shares |Security |of Year|(I) |ship |
+----------+--------+-------+-------+---------+-----+-----+----------+----------+-------+--------+----------+-------+-------+------+
2000 (ISO) $17.56 01/24/2010 Common 5694 D
Stock Stock
Option
2000 (NQ) $17.56 01/24/2010 Common 1078 D
Stock Stock
Option
2001 (ISO) $16.0124 01/22/2011 Common 5250 D
Stock Stock
Option
2002 (ISO) $17.2 01/17/2012 Common 5000 D
Stock Stock
Option
2002 (NQ) $17.2 09/03/2 03/05/2 J 4 4187 01/12/2002 01/12/2012 Common 4187 $0.0000 0 D
Stock 002 003 Stock
Option
Explanation of Responses:
Correction of shares listed in error on initial Form 3 filed 09/03/02.
SIGNATURE OF REPORTING PERSON
/s/ Terri J. Ziepfel
DATE
03/05/2003