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INDIANA, Pa. and CINCINNATI, Oh., Dec. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Commonwealth Financial Corporation ("First Commonwealth”) (NYSE: FCF), the holding company for First Commonwealth Bank, and CenterGroup Financial, Inc. ("CenterGroup”), the holding company for CenterBank, today jointly announced the signing of an Agreement and Plan of Merger ("Agreement”) providing for the merger of CenterGroup with and into First Commonwealth in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $54.6 million in the aggregate, based upon the closing stock price of First Commonwealth as of December 17, 2024. Following the merger of CenterGroup with and into First Commonwealth, CenterBank will merge with and into First Commonwealth Bank. The business combination will significantly increase First Commonwealth's presence in the Cincinnati market, adding approximately $348.4 million of total assets 1 , 3 branch locations, a loan production office and a mortgage office to First Commonwealth's Cincinnati franchise. The transaction helps further First Commonwealth's commercially focused strategy within the Cincinnati market by adding a customer base that is 65% business. Under the terms of the Agreement, which has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies, CenterGroup shareholders will be entitled to receive a fixed exchange ratio of 6.10 shares of First Commonwealth common stock for each CenterGroup common share. The merger is expected to qualify as a tax-free reorganization and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025, subject to certain closing conditions, including approval by CenterGroup shareholders and customary bank regulatory approvals. "We are pleased to welcome CenterBank into our organization, further expanding our commercial franchise within the attractive Cincinnati market. We have known the CenterBank team for a long time and believe their customer-focused, commercially oriented business model is a strong cultural alignment and augments our existing Cincinnati growth plans,” said Mike Price, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Commonwealth. "The expansion of our branch network within greater Cincinnati allows us to attract additional talent, create meaningful customer relationships and deepen our penetration within the market.” "We are excited to partner with First Commonwealth's growing and profitable franchise and believe the cultural alignment between our organizations is the ideal next chapter for CenterBank's customers, employees and shareholders. We have admired First Commonwealth's business and reputation within this market and are excited to be a part of its further expansion in Cincinnati. This combination also adds expanded banking products to our organization resulting in an enhanced experience for our customers, employees and community,” said Stewart Greenlee, President and Chief Executive Officer of CenterGroup. Excluding certain one-time merger charges, the transaction is expected to be approximately 2% accretive to First Commonwealth's earnings in 2025, and approximately 3% accretive to earnings in 2026 once anticipated cost savings are fully phased in. Estimated tangible book value dilution is expected to be less than 2%, including the impact of estimated one-time charges. Advisors Raymond James & Associates, Inc. is serving as financial advisor and Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP is serving as legal counsel to First Commonwealth. Janney Montgomery Scott is serving as financial advisor and Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP is serving as legal counsel to CenterGroup. About First Commonwealth Financial Corporation First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE: FCF), headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a financial services Company with 125 community banking offices in 30 counties throughout western and central Pennsylvania and throughout Ohio, as well as commercial lending operations in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Canton, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company also operates mortgage offices in Wexford, Pennsylvania, as well as Hudson and Lewis Center, Ohio. First Commonwealth provides a full range of commercial banking, consumer banking, mortgage, equipment finance, wealth management and insurance products and services through its subsidiaries First Commonwealth Bank and First Commonwealth Insurance Agency. For more information about First Commonwealth or to open an account today, please visit www.fcbanking.com . About CenterGroup Financial Corporation CenterGroup's wholly owned subsidiary, CenterBank, founded in 2000, was built upon an old concept: community banking. CenterBank knows its customers on a first name basis, keeps an open-door policy, and works hard to find common sense solutions for its customers. Specific product sets have been developed for deposits, residential mortgages and full-service banking to owner-managed businesses in the Greater Cincinnati market. CenterBank specializes, and that gives it the opportunity to deliver best in class service to its specific customer niche while effectively managing operating risk. CenterBank has sought to maximize growth within the constraints of acceptable profitability and capital levels to ensure stable and positive regulatory ratings. To learn more about CenterGroup and CenterBank please visit www.center.bank . Forward-looking Statements: This joint press release of First Commonwealth and CenterGroup contains "forward- looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, relating to present or future trends or factors affecting the banking industry and, specifically, the financial operations, markets and products of First Commonwealth and CenterGroup. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe”, "plan”, "expect”, "anticipate”, "intend”, "outlook”, "estimate”, "forecast”, "will”, "should”, "project”, "goal”, and other similar words and expressions. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. In addition to factors previously disclosed in First Commonwealth reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and those identified elsewhere in this press release, the following factors among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward- looking statements or historical performance: ability to obtain regulatory approvals in a timely manner and without significant expense or other burdens; ability to meet other closing conditions to the merger, including approval by CenterGroup shareholders; delay in closing the merger; difficulties and delays in integrating the businesses of CenterGroup and First Commonwealth or fully realizing cost savings and other benefits; business disruption following the merger; changes in asset quality and credit risk; the inability to sustain revenue and earnings growth; changes in interest rates and capital markets; inflation; customer acceptance of First Commonwealth products and services; customer borrowing, repayment, investment and deposit practices; customer disintermediation; the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives; competitive conditions; the inability to realize anticipated cost savings or revenues or to implement integration plans and other consequences associated with mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; economic conditions; and the impact, extent and timing of technological changes, capital management activities, and the actions and policies of the federal and state bank regulatory authorities and legislative and regulatory actions and reforms. First Commonwealth and CenterGroup undertake no obligation to revise these forward-looking statements or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release. CONTACT Media Relations: Ron Wahl Communications and Media Relations Phone: 724-463-6806 E-mail: [email protected] Investor Relations: Ryan M. Thomas Vice President / Finance and Investor Relations Phone: 724-463-1690 E-mail: [email protected] An investor presentation accompanying this release is available at: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/2a211734-7811-4664-bb65-4a4f56ab1be8US homelessness up 18% as affordable housing remains out of reach for many people

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Seven companies were hit with Chinese sanctions this week over U.S. military support for Taiwan. Why It Matters Taiwan is a self-governing democracy that China claims as part of its territory. The U.S.'s military aid support of Taiwan often causes tension between Beijing and Washington. The U.S. State Department reaffirmed in December that Washington's approach to Taiwan has remained consistent across every administration for the past 45 years. The sanctions were also a reaction to the passage of the U.S. annual defense spending bill, which Beijing criticized in a statement from the Foreign Ministry, saying it "includes multiple negative sections on China." Who Are The Seven Companies The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced sanctions against seven companies, including Insitu Inc., Hudson Technologies Co., Saronic Technologies, Inc., Raytheon Canada, Raytheon Australia, Aerkomm Inc. and Oceaneering International Inc. The statement added that "relevant senior executives" from these firms are also targeted, though no names were disclosed. The sanctions freeze any assets the targeted companies may hold in China and bar Chinese entities and individuals from conducting business with them, according to the Foreign Ministry. What To Know Beijing has consistently opposed U.S. military support for Taiwan, frequently imposing sanctions on American companies tied to arms sales or aid packages. However, these measures are largely symbolic as U.S. defense firms do not sell military equipment to China. Meanwhile, the United States remains Taiwan's primary arms supplier, providing crucial support for the island's defense. President Joe Biden authorized up to $571 million in Defense Department resources for Taiwan last week, including equipment, services and military training. Additionally, the Pentagon announced the approval of a $295 million military sales package for the island. The U.S. defense budget has surged to $895 billion, reflecting a more aggressive stance toward China. The legislation includes provisions to establish a fund for sending military resources to Taiwan, mirroring U.S. support for Ukraine. It also broadens restrictions on military purchases from China, targeting items like drone technology and even garlic used in commissaries. Taiwan recently accused Beijing of deploying dozens of ships to waters near the island to simulate a blockade, calling the maneuvers a threat to regional peace and a disruption to international trade. China has not acknowledged or commented on the alleged military operations. What People Are Saying Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang accused the United States of exaggerating the "so-called" threat from Beijing as a pretext for ramping up military spending. During a press conference, Zhang said: "U.S. military spending has topped the world and keeps increasing every year...This fully exposes the belligerent nature of the U.S. and its obsession with hegemony and expansion." China's Foreign Ministry criticized U.S. actions, stating they violate bilateral agreements on Taiwan, interfere in Beijing's internal affairs and threaten the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. What's Next President-elect Donald Trump has recently warned about imposing new tariffs against China and other nations including Mexico and Canada when he takes office. Trump campaigned on a promise to introduce heavy tariffs against China until it cracks down on the production of materials used to make fentanyl as well as a possible universal tariff on all imports to the U.S. This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.

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Article content For anyone mistakenly believing the latest United Nations global gabfest on climate change in Baku, Azerbaijan, was all about saving the planet, it was in fact, all about money. Recommended Videos This annual 11-day meeting – although it always goes into overtime – formally known as COP 29 or the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, has always been about money, specifically about redistributing money from developed countries like Canada to developing nations. It’s also about hypocrisy, given the number of jet-setting politicians, bureaucrats, celebrities and billionaires who attend these annual orgies to excessive consumption, along with tens of thousands of delegates, creating an obscenely high carbon footprint. The issue of money has to do with how much more money taxpayers in developed nations like Canada are going to pay to developing countries in climate reparations for allegedly ruining the planet by using our fossil fuel resources during the industrial revolution to power ourselves out of the third world into the first. The total price tag to avert climate armageddon, we’re being told by “experts,” is $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 from all government and private sources. The goal of COP 29 was to come up with a new figure – formally called a New Collective Quantified Goal – for the portion to be contributed by 22 designated “wealthy” countries, including Canada, starting after 2025. Developed nations are currently paying $100 billion annually toward this goal, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doubling Canada’s contribution to $5.3 billion over five years from 2021 to 2026, compared to the $2.65 billion he committed taxpayers to from 2015 to 2021. The debate in Azerbaijan – a wealthy, corrupt, petro-state bordering Eastern Europe and West Asia, where most of the money ends up in the hands of the ruling family of its authoritarian president – is over how much money Canada and the 21 other “rich” countries should be contributing to the fund post-2026. For that reason, the news coming out of COP 29 has resembled the bargaining that goes on in a Mideast bazaar. RECOMMENDED VIDEO An initial offer of $250 billion a year at was angrily rejected by developing nations, which would receive the funding, as an insult, prompting an offer of $300 billion annually in a bid to reach a deal. Dispute over the final number – developing nations say it should be higher and they’ve been frozen out of the negotiating process by wealthy countries – has resulted in political temper tantrums, staged walk-outs and name-calling over how much more money taxpayers in countries like Canada should be conscripted into paying toward the climate fund. The idea that taxpayers in Canada and other countries are currently facing an affordability crisis with many families struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table for their children holds no sway in the corridors of COP 29. Nor does the fact that the tax-and-spend Trudeau government has already mortgaged the financial future of the children of today’s taxpayers. What COP 29 has underscored is that the debate over how to fight climate change has never been about environmental policy – it’s been about financial policy. The Trudeau government, for example, has already committed $200 billion to the cause through 149 different government programs. This includes the federal carbon tax, clean fuel regulations, clean electricity regulations, methane regulations, a cap on emissions in the oil and gas sector, electric vehicle standards, plus massive subsidies to EV battery makers to establish a supply chain in Canada. RECOMMENDED VIDEO At press time, negotiations at COP 29 were going on and on past its official deadline – which happens at every COP conference – with the standard warning that unless a deal is reached climate catastrophe awaits us all. Negotiators announced Saturday they had agreed to new rules for international carbon credit trading after almost a decade of deliberations, but critics warned the rules are so weak they may invite fraud. And whatever happens, the entire exercise at COP 29 is a house of cards. That’s because U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will pull the United States – the world’s second-largest emitter of industrial greenhouse gases after China and a major contributor to the green climate fund – out of the UN’s Paris climate agreement, which underpins the entire COP process, after he becomes president on Jan. 20, as he did the last time he was president from 2016 to 2020. lgoldstein@postmedia.com

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