First Financial Bancorp

                             P R E S S R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release                                             April 25, 2000

Contact Person:
Leon Zimmerman
President and CEO

         First Financial Bancorp Reports First Quarter 2000 Earnings and
              Declares Twenty-first Consecutive Quarterly Dividend

     Based upon the  earnings  for the first  quarter of 2000,  First  Financial
Bancorp's Board of Directors  declared a 5% stock dividend  payable May 23, 2000
to shareholders of record on May 9, 2000.

     Earnings for the quarter ended March 31, 2000,  were $346,000,  or $.23 per
diluted  share.  Annualized  return on average  assets and equity  were .79% and
9.5%,  respectively.  The net  income  for the  quarter  ended  March  31,  2000
represents  an  increase  of 27% over the prior  year  quarter's  net  income of
$273,000.  Earnings benefited from increases in loan and deposit volumes as well
as improvement in noniterest income.

     Total assets at March 31, 2000, were $176 million,  and were unchanged from
December 31, 1999. First Financial Bancorp was formed in 1982 and now provides a
number of financial services to the California  communities of Lodi, Woodbridge,
Lockeford, Galt, Plymouth, San Andreas, Elk Grove, and Folsom through its wholly
owned subsidiary,  Bank of Lodi, and Bank of Lodi's  affiliation with Investment
Centers of America.