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FirstMerit Corporation

FirstMerit Corporation was a diversified financial services company headquartered in Akron, Ohio, with assets of approximately $26.2 billion as of June 30, 2016, and 359 banking offices and 400 ATM locations in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Pennsylvania. FirstMerit provided a range of banking and other financial services to consumers and businesses. Principal affiliates included: FirstMerit Bank, N.A., and FirstMerit Mortgage Corporation. It was acquired by Huntington Bancshares in August 2016.[2]

History

FirstMerit predecessors go back as far as 1845. In 1981, First National Bank of Ohio and Old Phoenix National Bank of Medina merged into First Bancorporation of Ohio (First Ohio). The next year, First Ohio purchased Twinsburg Banking Company. In 1985, Exchange Bank in Canal Fulton in Stark County, Ohio was acquired by First Ohio. The Bank continued expansion in Ohio buying bank branches in many Ohio counties for the following nine years.[3]

Following the 1995 purchase of CIVISTA Corporation in Canton, Ohio, parent of Citizens Savings, the holding company name changed from First Bancorporation to FirstMerit Corporation. FirstMerit added to its portfolio in 1997 Abell & Associates, a life insurance and financial consulting firm. Expansion of the corporation continued in Ohio and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania with the purchase of 32 more branches.[3]

FirstMerit made two deals in 2009 with St. Louis-based First Bank and its affiliate for 24 Chicago-area branches with $1.2 billion in deposits and for the affiliates' asset-based loans. In 2010, the acquired First Banks are either closed or converted into FirstMerit branches. Expansion into Chicago continued that year with the acquisition of George Washington Savings Bank and Midwest Bank and Trust, both failed banks.[3]

On September 13, 2012, it was announced that FirstMerit would acquire Citizens Republic Bancorp in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at approximately $912 million. The acquisition closed in the second quarter of 2013.[4] With the stock payment worth less than the stock's tangible book value, several law firms started looking into a possible case of breached fiduciary duties by Citizens Republic Board of Directors.[5]

Sandy Pierce was appointed in January 2013 as FirstMerit's vice chair and chairman and CEO of FirstMerit Michigan. In early April, both Bank Corporations' shareholders approved the merger.[6] On April 12, 2013, FirstMerit Corporation closed the acquisition of company which will operate as of April 13 as "Citizens Bank, now part of FirstMerit Bank."[7] The banks owned by Citizens Republic Bancorp were officially renamed FirstMerit Bank on June 13, 2013.[8] In November 2013, the landmark Citizens Bank weather ball on top of the former Citizens Republic Bancorp headquarters in Flint, Michigan was refaced with the letters C B replaced with F M.[9]

Huntington acquisition

On January 26, 2016, Huntington Bank announced it would purchase FirstMerit, subject to regulatory approval, in a deal that would make Huntington the largest bank in Ohio.[10] Huntington completed the acquisition of FirstMerit on August 16. Due to anti-trust concerns by the Justice Department, 11 branches in Canton and two in Ashtabula were sold to First Commonwealth Bank.[11] Additionally 107 branches located within 2.5 miles of other Huntington / FirstMerit branches were closed.[12] All remaining FirstMerit branches and accounts were converted to Huntington in early 2017.[2]

In 2017, Huntington became responsible for the costs of a $15.9 million class-action lawsuit filed in 2011 that alleged FirstMerit unfairly charged some customers overdraft fees.[13]

Headquarters

FirstMerit, founded in 1845, was headquartered in Akron, Ohio at the FirstMerit Tower. The building, built in 1931, is the tallest in Akron with 27 floors.[14]

Subsidiaries

  • FirstMerit Bank, N.A.
  • FirstMerit Mortgage Corporation
  • FirstMerit Community Development Corporation[15]

External links

References

  1. Form 10K FY2014 SNL Financial, retrieved May 9, 2015^
  2. Williams Mark. Huntington closes FirstMerit deal The Columbus Dispatch, 2016-08-16, retrieved 2016-08-21^
  3. Shaun Byron. Citizens Republic buyer FirstMerit has three decades of expansion, bank acquisitions in Midwest MLive.com, September 13, 2012, retrieved 17 September 2012^
  4. Jeremy Allen. Flint-based Citizen Republic Bancorp Inc. sold to Akron, Ohio-based FirstMerit Corp. The Flint Journal, September 13, 2012, retrieved September 14, 2012^
  5. Shaun Byron. Multiple law firms launch investigations against Citizens Republic Bancorp following sale to FirstMerit Corp. The Flint Journal, September 19, 2012, retrieved September 19, 2012^
  6. Jeremy Allen. Getting to know FirstMerit Corporation: A history of the Citizens Bank buyer The Flint Journal, April 12, 2013, retrieved April 13, 2013^
  7. Jeremy Allen. FirstMerit, Citizens Bank deal closes; branches open April 13 under 'Citizens Bank, now part of FirstMerit Bank' name The Flint Journal, April 12, 2013, retrieved April 12, 2013^
  8. Jeremy Allen. First look at new Flint Weather Ball: Follow live blog as icon redesign revealed The Flint Journal, June 12, 2013, retrieved January 27, 2016^
  9. Jeremy Allen. Watch as two women with strong ties to Flint's weather ball take part in history The Flint Journal, November 21, 2013, retrieved January 27, 2016^
  10. Betty Lin-Fisher. Huntington to acquire Akron-based FirstMerit Akron Beacon Journal, 25 January 2016^
  11. Jeremy Nobile. First Commonwealth Bank to acquire 13 branches divested in Huntington, FirstMerit merger Crain's Cleveland Business, July 27, 2016, retrieved August 21, 2016^
  12. Williams Mark. Huntington to close 107 offices as part of FirstMerit acquisition The Columbus Dispatch, March 11, 2016, retrieved August 21, 2016^
  13. Jeremy Nobile. Class-action lawsuit alleging FirstMerit unfairly charged some customers overdraft fees settled for $15.9 million Crain's Cleveland Business, March 20, 2017, retrieved March 23, 2022^
  14. Mark J. Price. Scraping the Sky Sunday Beacon Magazine, March 14, 1999, retrieved March 23, 2022^
  15. Corporate Profile: About FirstMerit FirstMerit Investor Relations, retrieved September 17, 2012^