{{Short description|Bank}} {{More citations needed|date=April 2013}} {{Infobox company | name = FirstMerit Corporation | logo = FirstMerit Corporation.png | logo_size = 250px | image = FirstMerit Tower (Akron, Ohio).jpg | image_caption = FirstMerit's headquarters in Akron, Ohio | type = Public | traded_as = {{NASDAQ was|FMER}} | industry = {{Ubl|Banking|Financial services|Investment}} | founded = {{start date and age|1845}} | defunct = {{end date|2017}} | fate = Acquired by Huntington Bancshares in August 2016 | hq_location = 106 King James Way | hq_location_city = Akron, Ohio | hq_location_country = United States | successor = Huntington Bancshares | num_locations = 366 | area_served = {{Ubl|Ohio|Western Pennsylvania|Northern Illinois|Michigan|Wisconsin}} | key_people = Paul G. Greig (chairman & CEO) | products = {{Ubl|Retail Banking|Commercial bank|Private Banking|Mortgage loan|Credit Card}} | revenue = {{Increase}} {{US$|1.1 billion|link=yes}} | revenue_year = ''FY 2014'' | net_income = {{Increase}} {{US$|237 million}} | net_income_year = ''FY 2014'' | assets = {{Increase}} {{US$|24.9 billion}} | assets_year = ''FY 2014'' | equity = {{Increase}} {{US$|2.8 billion}} | equity_year = ''FY 2014'' | num_employees = 4,619 (FTE) | website = {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208024659/https://www.firstmerit.com/|date=February 8, 2014|title=firstmerit.com}} | footnotes = <ref name=ml/><ref name=hcfdCD/><ref name = 201410K>{{cite web |url=http://www.snl.com/Cache/29340807.PDF?Y=&O=PDF&D=&FID=27892137&T=&OSID=9&IID=100241 |title=Form 10K FY2014 |website=SNL Financial |accessdate=May 9, 2015}}</ref> }}
'''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.<ref name=hcfdCD>{{cite news| last=Mark| first=Williams| title=Huntington closes FirstMerit deal| newspaper=The Columbus Dispatch| date=2016-08-16| url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/08/16/1-huntington-closes-firstmerit-deal.html| accessdate=2016-08-21| archive-date=2016-08-22| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822063922/http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/08/16/1-huntington-closes-firstmerit-deal.html| url-status=dead}}</ref>
==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.<ref name=ml>{{cite news| last=Byron| first=Shaun| title=Citizens Republic buyer FirstMerit has three decades of expansion, bank acquisitions in Midwest| url=http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2012/09/firstmerit_has_three_decades_o.html| accessdate=17 September 2012| newspaper=MLive.com| date=September 13, 2012}}</ref>
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.<ref name=ml/>
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.<ref name=ml/>
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.<ref>{{cite news| last=Allen| first=Jeremy| title=Flint-based Citizen Republic Bancorp Inc. sold to Akron, Ohio-based FirstMerit Corp.| url=http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2012/09/citizen_republic_bancorp_inc_a.html| accessdate=September 14, 2012| newspaper=The Flint Journal| date=September 13, 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news| last=Byron| first=Shaun| title=Multiple law firms launch investigations against Citizens Republic Bancorp following sale to FirstMerit Corp.| url=http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2012/09/citizens_bank_board_of_directo.html| accessdate=September 19, 2012| newspaper=The Flint Journal| date=September 19, 2012}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite news| last=Allen| first=Jeremy| title=Getting to know FirstMerit Corporation: A history of the Citizens Bank buyer| url=http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2013/04/getting_to_know_firstmerit_cor.html| accessdate=April 13, 2013| newspaper=The Flint Journal|date=April 12, 2013}}</ref> 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."<ref name=fj0>{{cite news| last=Allen| first=Jeremy| title=FirstMerit, Citizens Bank deal closes; branches open April 13 under 'Citizens Bank, now part of FirstMerit Bank' name| url=http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2013/04/firstmerit_citizens_bank_deal.html| accessdate=April 12, 2013| newspaper=The Flint Journal| date=April 12, 2013}}</ref> The banks owned by Citizens Republic Bancorp were officially renamed FirstMerit Bank on June 13, 2013.<ref>{{cite news| title=First look at new Flint Weather Ball: Follow live blog as icon redesign revealed| url=http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2013/06/renderings_for_cb_weather_ball.html#incart_river_default| last=Allen| first=Jeremy| date=June 12, 2013| newspaper=The Flint Journal| accessdate=January 27, 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news| title=Watch as two women with strong ties to Flint's weather ball take part in history| url=http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2013/11/watch_as_two_women_with_strong.html#incart_river| last=Allen| first=Jeremy| date=November 21, 2013| newspaper=The Flint Journal| accessdate=January 27, 2016}}</ref>
=== 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.<ref>{{cite news| title=Huntington to acquire Akron-based FirstMerit| url=http://www.ohio.com/business/huntington-to-acquire-akron-based-firstmerit-1.657290| last=Lin-Fisher| first=Betty| newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal| date=25 January 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news| last=Nobile| first=Jeremy| title=First Commonwealth Bank to acquire 13 branches divested in Huntington, FirstMerit merger| newspaper=Crain's Cleveland Business| date=July 27, 2016| url=http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20160727/NEWS/160729818/first-commonwealth-bank-to-acquire-13-branches-divested-in-huntington| accessdate=August 21, 2016| url-access=subscription}}</ref> Additionally 107 branches located within 2.5 miles of other Huntington / FirstMerit branches were closed.<ref>{{cite news| last=Mark| first=Williams| title=Huntington to close 107 offices as part of FirstMerit acquisition| newspaper=The Columbus Dispatch| date=March 11, 2016| url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/03/10/0310-huntington-to-close-107-offices.html| accessdate=August 21, 2016| archive-date=August 22, 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822062426/http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/03/10/0310-huntington-to-close-107-offices.html| url-status=dead}}</ref> All remaining FirstMerit branches and accounts were converted to Huntington in early 2017.<ref name=hcfdCD/>
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.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170320/NEWS/170329969/class-action-lawsuit-alleging-firstmerit-unfairly-charged-some| title=Class-action lawsuit alleging FirstMerit unfairly charged some customers overdraft fees settled for $15.9 million| newspaper=Crain's Cleveland Business| first=Jeremy| last=Nobile| date=March 20, 2017| access-date=March 23, 2022| url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==Headquarters== [[Image:FirstMeritTower.jpg|thumb|The FirstMerit Tower from the ground in Akron, Ohio.]]
{{See also|Huntington Tower}} 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.<ref>{{cite news| first=Mark J.| last=Price| title= Scraping the Sky| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98238977/the-akron-beacon-journal/| newspaper=Sunday Beacon Magazine| page=13| date=March 14, 1999| access-date=March 23, 2022}}</ref>
==Subsidiaries== *FirstMerit Bank, N.A. *FirstMerit Mortgage Corporation *FirstMerit Community Development Corporation<ref>{{cite web| title=Corporate Profile: About FirstMerit| url=http://www.snl.com/IRweblinkx/corporateprofile.aspx?iid=100241| website=FirstMerit Investor Relations| accessdate=September 17, 2012}}</ref>
==References== {{Portal|Banks}} {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://firstmerit.com/ Firstmerit.com] – Official website
Category:Banks based in Ohio Category:Companies based in Akron, Ohio Category:Banks established in 1845 Category:Banks disestablished in 2017 Category:Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Category:Huntington Bancshares Category:Defunct banks of the United States Category:2016 mergers and acquisitions Category:Companies disestablished in 2017 Category:American companies established in 1845 Category:American companies disestablished in 2017 Category:2017 disestablishments in Ohio