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African-American consultant leading brainstorm session with team of business people
African-American consultant leading brainstorm session with team of business people

we’re banking on inclusion

Our suppliers should look like the communities we serve

First Financial Bank (FFB) bases our success on the strength and innovation of the people who support our brand and services, and that includes our vendors. We believe that excellence is more likely to be when everyone gets an equal chance to participate.

First Financial Bank encourages all vendors that believe their services or products will enhance our operations and customer experience to contact us. Diverse vendors are given equal consideration and valued for their unique perspectives, which we believe enrich our culture. Diverse vendors include, but are not limited to, businesses that are greater than 50% minority-owned, woman-owned, disability-owned, and veteran-owned.

We know that the entire FFB team, including vendors, should reflect the community we serve. It’s the only way to fully relate to and be as good as our customers. The Company seeks vendors that will assist the Bank in delivering exceptional services to its clients. An important part of this procurement process is to encourage FFB business line management to seek out local providers in the areas that we serve and consider vendors that are diversity-owned businesses.

Are you a supplier that employs and empowers while holding a certification from one of the following?

Women’s Business Enterprise National Council

National Minority Supplier Development Council

National Veteran-Owned Business Association

Disability:IN

Or, submit a certified affidavit stating that you are an applicable Diverse Vendor. We’re excited to hear from you.

 











*Indicates field is mandatory



Getting Started

It’s essential to ensure all our vendors are a good fit, so we have developed a competitive procedure to vet all vendor applicants to ensure fairness to our prospective vendors. During this period, we assess experience, capabilities, local community commitments, price, ethics, innovation, and relationships. From there, we will forward the information to the appropriate business line management for current or future consideration. If a vendor is selected, they start an onboarding process that will include a risk assessment.

Where do I start?

Our vendors form a community, and we are heavily invested in protecting its integrity. This is the reason FFB conducts initial and ongoing risk evaluations of all our active vendors. The risk rating from this evaluation determines the appropriate due diligence required for the vendor. Due diligence may include, but not be limited to, financial statements, a SOC report, a business continuity plan, a pandemic plan, an attack and penetration test, evidence of a security policy, and a review of the vendor's user entity controls. Once a vendor has been onboarded, ongoing monitoring and supervising activities will occur and may include, but not be limited to, the vendor management requirements, the service-level agreements, and the maintenance of the contract.

FFB works closely with each selected vendor to establish a sustainable risk and performance management blueprint.

To be considered for a vendor opportunity, we advise all vendors to be prepared to submit the following:

  • Bidding reports or documents, including request for information (RFI) and request for proposal (RFP)
  • Activity Risk Determination Form – internal risk assessment
  • Supporting documentation and/or an on-site review to verify survey responses
  • An overview of the product, service, technology, and/or system architecture
  • A list of client references
  • Minority or veteran-owned certifications (if applicable)

The performance of each of our vendors–and our partnership’s performance–depends mostly on how well we support one another. FFB works shoulder-to-shoulder with all our vendors, including Diverse Vendors, through a variety of practices.

We will maintain ongoing monitoring of both the vendor relationship and the contractual requirements for each vendor. Our process includes satisfying the timely due-diligence requirements based on risk level, keeping the contractual requirements for each agreement, and ensuring that the vendor adheres to the agreed-upon service-level provisions.

FFB strives to outperform our competition fairly and honestly. We don’t expect our vendors to be legal experts, but we do expect them to understand and comply with the laws, rules, and regulations of the industry, as applicable to the services or products provided.

Discover more

Community Investment Plan

Why First Financial?

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