The story
Wintrust was founded by Ed Wehmer. Wintrust was among the recipients of capital from the United States government through the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The bank used the 2008 financial crisis to acquire small troubled banks in the Chicago area, backed by its pre-crisis capital supplemented by TARP funds. This positioned it to become one of the area's largest retail banks by eliminating costs and deepening its geographical footprint in the area. Wintrust Financial continues to expand within its footprint area.
In 2018, Wintrust completed its acquisition of Veterans First Mortgage, a Utah-based corporation with approximately 400 employees.
In May 2019, Wintrust acquired Rush-Oak Corporation, the parent company of Oak Bank, an Illinois state-chartered bank which had approximately $201 million in assets. In October 2019, Wintrust acquired STC Bancshares Corp, the parent company of STC Capital Bank, an Illinois state-chartered bank with approximately $275 million in assets.
In 2021, the Hinsdale Bank, a Wintrust Bank, opened the Oak Park Bank in what had been a restaurant space in a historic building. The Oak Park Bank built a second location, new facility, in the village.
In 2022, Wintrust announced a deal to acquire the U.S. asset management arm of Rothschild & Co, which held around $8 billion in assets under management at the time.
On August 1, 2024, it was announced that Wintrust had completed the merger of its operations with Macatawa Bank Corporation, a company based in Holland, Michigan.
From Wikipedia’s article on Wintrust Financial, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6