First Merchants Stock

First Merchants Corporation operates as a financial holding company for First Merchants Bank that provides community banking services.

The bank also operates First Merchants Private Wealth Advisors (a division of First Merchants Bank). The bank includes banking locations in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. In addition to its branch network, the company offers comprehensive electronic and mobile delivery channels to its customers.

Through the bank, the company offers a broad range of financial services, including accepting time, savings and demand deposits; making consumer, commercial, agri-business and real estate mortgage loans; providing personal and corporate trust services; offering full-service brokerage and private wealth management; and providing letters of credit, repurchase agreements and other corporate services.

Investment Securities

As of December 31, 2022, the company’s investment portfolio included U.S. treasury; U.S. government-sponsored agency securities; state and municipal securities; U.S. Government-sponsored mortgage-backed securities; and corporate obligations.

Loans

As of December 31, 2022, the company’s loan portfolio included commercial and industrial loans; agricultural land, production and other loans to farmers; real estate loans, including construction, commercial real estate, non-owner occupied, commercial real estate, owner occupied, residential, and home equity; individuals' loans for household and other personal expenditures; and public finance and other commercial loans.

Deposits

As of December 31, 2022, the company’s deposits included uninsured certificates of deposit and other time deposits.

Regulation and Supervision

The company is registered as a bank holding company and has elected to be a financial holding company. It is subject to the supervision of, and regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended.

The company and the bank are subject to certain risk-based capital and leverage ratio requirements under the Basel III capital rules adopted by United States banking regulators. These rules implement the Basel III international regulatory capital standards in the United States, as well as certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The bank is subject to the primary regulatory oversight, supervision and examination of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions.

The bank’s deposit accounts are insured by the Deposit Insurance Fund of the FDIC. As an FDIC-insured bank, the bank is subject to deposit insurance premiums and assessments to maintain the Deposit Insurance Fund.

The bank is subject to a number of federal and state consumer protection laws that govern its relationship with customers. These laws include, but are not limited to: the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, religion or other prohibited factors in the extension of credit); the Fair Credit Reporting Act (governing the provision of consumer information to credit reporting agencies and the use of consumer information); the Truth-In-Lending Act (governing disclosures of credit terms to consumer borrowers); the Truth-in-Savings Act (which requires disclosure of deposit terms to consumers); the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (governing automatic deposits to and withdrawals from deposit accounts and customers’ rights and liabilities arising from the use of automated teller machines and other electronic banking services); the Fair Debt Collection Act (governing the manner in which consumer debts may be collected by collection agencies); the Right to Financial Privacy Act (which imposes a duty to maintain the confidentiality of consumer financial records and prescribes procedures for complying with administrative subpoenas of financial records); the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and Regulation C, requiring financial institutions to provide certain information about home mortgage and refinanced loans; and the respective state-law counterparts to the above laws, as applicable, as well as state usury laws and laws regarding unfair and deceptive acts and practices.

The company and the bank are subject to the Federal Reserve Act, which restricts financial transactions between banks and affiliated companies.

History

First Merchants Corporation was founded in 1893.