This year will be “full steam ahead” for First Financial Bancorp as it builds off its momentum of 2011 in the Dayton and Cincinnati markets, top bank officials said.

Part of that strategy for the former Hamilton-based company is plans to open two additional locations this year in the region and relocate a third.

“We’re the small guys coming into town or growing in town and have lots of room to grow from a market share perspective,” said Roger Furrer, Dayton-Middletown market president for First Financial.

The company gives local customers a bank alternative, targeting small to mid-size business clients, Furrer said.

Its largest competitors have more than $100 billion in assets and its smaller competitors have $600 million to $800 million in assets. First Financial, with about $6.7 billion in assets, about 4 percent of the market share in Dayton and Cincinnati, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.

“Part of us being the new kid in town is we are not as dependent on that overall economic growth for our success as the banks that have been here longer. A lot of our growth is market share takeaway,” said Adrian Breen, Greater Cincinnati/Kentucky regional president.

First Financial has 136 locations in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, not including the new ones. Of that, 20 are in the Dayton market and 45 are in the Cincinnati market.

A branch on Montgomery Road in Kenwood is scheduled to open April 9. Currently under construction is another location on Montgomery Road in Montgomery in Hamilton County, scheduled to open June 4. The retail branch at the company’s new Cincinnati headquarters will open in the summer, according to First Financial.

It plans to close one of its two locations in Lebanon this year.

Jill Wyman, co-chief retail banking officer, said First Financial is also actively studying the east side of Cincinnati for potential more locations.

First Financial opened its first Montgomery County retail branch in 2006 in Washington Twp., Furrer said.

Then it acquired 16 branches of Liberty Savings Bank in the Dayton area in 2011, its fourth acquisition over the past three years.

“The physical presence that the Liberty offices provide for us really help us from a brand awareness perspective and gives us visibility in communities where we might be there, but we didn’t have any name recognition,” Furrer said.

Also in 2011, First Financial signed a long-term lease agreement for a headquarters building in downtown Cincinnati, renaming the building First Financial Center.

“Market awareness in Greater Cincinnati and Greater Dayton has grown exponentially over the last five years, which we’re starting to see,” Breen said. “We are probably close to record new relationships and production performance last year and we’re well on the way for that this year.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.