Wintrust is a financial
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
in the United States that operates 15 chartered
community bank
A community bank is a depository institution that is typically locally owned and operated. Community banks tend to focus on the needs of the businesses and families where the bank holds branches and offices. Lending decisions are made by people w ...
s in northern
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
and southern
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. Wintrust is a relatively
medium-sized banking institution in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and it trades on the
Nasdaq Global Select Market with stock symbol WTFC. Wintrust is the second largest banking company in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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.
Services
The company provides traditional retail and commercial banking services, as well as
wealth management
Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high ...
services, commercial and
life insurance premium financing, and certain treasury management services such as data processing of
payroll
A payroll is the list of employees of some company that is entitled to receive payments as well as other work benefits and the amounts that each should receive. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time worked or tasks pe ...
s and billings. In 2015 Wintrust began to expand into equipment financing, both directly through its bank branches and indirectly through dealers.
History
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 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President ...
.
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 2022, Wintrust announced a deal to acquire the U.S. asset management arm of ]Rothschild & Co
Rothschild & Co is a multinational investment bank and financial services company, and the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the French and British branches of the Rothschild family.
The banking business of the firm covers th ...
, which held around $8 billion in assets under management at the time.
Community banks
Unlike most major U.S. banks, Wintrust's business strategy is to retain the identities of the community banks it acquires rather than rebranding them. However, each community bank uses the tagline, "A Wintrust Community Bank." Wintrust's 15 chartered bank subsidiaries and their respective community banks are:
* Barrington Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (Hanover Park Community Bank, Hoffman Estates Community Bank, and Palatine Bank & Trust)
* Beverly Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (Brighton Park Community Bank, First National Bank of Evergreen Park, Hyde Park Bank, Oak Lawn Bank & Trust, and Pullman Bank & Trust)
* Crystal Lake Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (Algonquin Bank & Trust, Cary Bank & Trust, McHenry Bank & Trust)
* Hinsdale Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (Clarendon Hills Bank, Community Bank of Downers Grove, The Community Bank of Western Springs, Community Bank of Willowbrook, Lemont Bank & Trust, Proviso Community Bank, Riverside Bank, and Suburban Bank & Trust)
* Lake Forest Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (Bank of Highwood-Fort Sheridan, Highland Park Bank & Trust, North Chicago Community Bank, Waukegan Community Bank, and Wintrust Banking Center)
* Libertyville Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (Gurnee Community Bank, Mundelein Community Bank, Vernon Hills Bank & Trust, and Wauconda Community Bank)
* Northbrook Bank & Trust Company, N.A.(Buffalo Grove Bank & Trust, Deerfield Bank & Trust, Des Plaines Bank & Trust, Glenview Bank & Trust, and Northview Bank & Trust)
* Old Plank Trail Community Bank, N.A. (New Lenox) (Dyer Bank & Trust, First National Bank of Illinois, Joliet Bank & Trust, Markham Bank & Trust, Orland Park Bank & Trust, Shorewood Bank & Trust, South Holland Bank & Trust)
* St. Charles Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (Aurora Bank & Trust, Elgin State Bank, and Geneva Bank & Trust)
* Schaumburg Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (Addison Bank & Trust, Bloomingdale Bank & Trust, Elk Grove Village Bank & Trust, Roselle Bank & Trust, and Wood Dale Bank & Trust)
* State Bank of the Lakes, N.A.
* Town Bank, N.A.
* Village Bank & Trust, N.A.
* Wheaton Bank & Trust Company, N.A. (Bolingbrook Bank & Trust, Glen Ellyn Bank & Trust and Naperville Bank & Trust)
* Wintrust Bank, N.A. (Evanston Community Bank & Trust and North Shore Community Bank & Trust
Subsidiaries
Its major non-bank subsidiaries are:
* Great Lakes Advisors, LLC
* The Chicago Trust Company
* First Insurance Funding
* Tricom, Inc.
* Wintrust Investments, LLC
* Wintrust Information Technology Services Company
* Wintrust Mortgage – a division of Barrington Bank & Trust Company N.A.
Marketing
Wintrust is the official banking partner of the Chicago Cubs. Part of its marketing includes the giant sign atop the JumboTron at Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago ...
;Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
for the naming rights to club seats at Guaranteed Rate Field.
References
External links
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{{Illinois Corporations
American companies established in 1991
Banks established in 1991
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Banks based in Illinois
Companies based in Cook County, Illinois
Mortgage lenders of the United States
1991 establishments in Illinois
Rosemont, Illinois