A local bank becomes a regional business
First Merchants Bank began in Muncie, Indiana, and grew by bringing neighboring institutions into a larger network. Its own history identifies Hardin Roads, a former teacher and wholesale grocer, among the organizers who raised $100,000 and incorporated The Merchants National Bank of Muncie on February 3, 1893. The FDIC records March 13, 1893 as the bank’s establishment date. Incorporation and opening are separate milestones. [1][3]
Today’s bank is the Indiana-chartered institution identified by FDIC certificate 4365, headquartered in Muncie. First Merchants Corporation, formed in 1982, is the separately traded parent. The 2025 annual report describes one full-service bank charter, with wealth services offered through First Merchants Private Wealth Advisors, a division of the bank. The group’s growth therefore does not mean that every acquired name remains a separately insured bank. [1][4]
The corporate history dates a deliberate acquisition strategy to 1985 and its first purchase, Pendleton Banking Company in Indiana, to 1988. The bank adopted the First Merchants name in 1991. Later purchases pushed it beyond its original East Central Indiana base, while consolidations increasingly brought customers under the same bank and brand. [3]
Expansion brought a test of whom the bank served
In 2019, First Merchants was trying to complete its acquisition of MBT Financial Corp., parent of Monroe Bank & Trust in Michigan, while resolving a federal fair-lending investigation. Its June 13 SEC filing said the company had submitted a Federal Reserve application in place of a requested waiver as the settlement approached. That made the approval process a concrete part of the expansion story. [7]
The U.S. Department of Justice alleged that from 2011 to at least 2017 the bank had intentionally avoided predominantly African-American neighborhoods in Indianapolis and adopted a mortgage policy that denied those residents equal access to credit. These were allegations, not an adjudicated liability finding. The bank’s contemporaneous SEC disclosure said it did not admit the allegations or liability. [6][7]
The court approved the settlement in August 2019. Its terms included a $1.12 million loan-subsidy fund, $500,000 for advertising, outreach, credit repair and education, and a branch and loan-production office serving predominantly African-American neighborhoods. The MBT parent merger and Monroe Bank & Trust’s merger into First Merchants Bank became effective September 1, 2019. A later SEC filing reports that the court approved the bank’s and Justice Department’s joint request to terminate the settlement in December 2022. The agreement was no longer in force by 2026. [5][6][8]
A new chief executive, and more Michigan banking
Michael C. Rechin retired as chief executive at the end of 2020, after leading the company since 2007. Mark K. Hardwick, previously chief operating officer and chief financial officer, succeeded him on January 1, 2021. Michael J. Stewart, known as Mike, became president. Hardwick had joined First Merchants as corporate controller in 1997, making this an internal succession rather than the arrival of an outside turnaround team. [9]
The expansion into Michigan continued when First Merchants Corporation completed its legal merger with Level One Bancorp on April 1, 2022. The announcement described a cash-and-stock transaction and a combined group of roughly $18 billion in assets. Level One Bank, based in Farmington Hills, added to the bank’s southeastern Michigan presence. As with earlier acquisitions, legal closing preceded the planned conversion of customer systems. [3][10]
Why First Savings mattered
The next major addition came from southern Indiana. On September 25, 2025, First Merchants announced an agreement to acquire First Savings Financial Group, Inc., parent of First Savings Bank in Jeffersonville. The all-stock agreement offered 0.85 First Merchants shares for each First Savings share. Hardwick pointed to both its Indiana deposit network and specialized lending businesses as reasons for the transaction. [11]
Those businesses included lending secured by properties under triple-net leases, where tenants generally pay property taxes, insurance and maintenance; first-lien home-equity lines of credit; and lending supported by Small Business Administration programs. They brought different customer channels alongside the traditional local branch business. The expected earnings benefits announced with the deal were forecasts, not results already earned. [11]
The companies completed legal closing effective February 1, 2026. First Savings brought 16 banking centers and about $2.4 billion of assets at December 31, 2025, according to the subsequent annual report. The July 2026 results announcement confirmed that systems conversion finished in mid-May. That later milestone matters to customers whose accounts and service channels had to move onto the combined platform. [4][12][13]
Lending growth was accompanied by credit problems
The customer business remains broad: commercial lending, business deposits and cash-management services, consumer accounts and borrowing, mortgages, and wealth management. The annual report treats these activities as one community-banking segment. Interest from loans and investments is a central revenue source, but that revenue must cover funding costs and credit losses alongside operating expenses. [4]
The parent’s second-quarter 2026 release illustrates the trade-off. It reported that two commercial lending relationships totaling $41.8 million were placed on nonaccrual status, with $29.7 million of associated reserves. Nonaccrual means the bank stops recognizing ordinary interest income on a troubled loan; a reserve is an allowance for expected loss, not proof that the entire balance has already been charged off. The release said information obtained after quarter-end concerned conditions already present at June 30 and raised that quarter’s provision expense. [13]
The company also sold $271.1 million of lower-rate mortgage loans during the quarter, using proceeds to fund new lending and reduce expensive funding. Those loans had already been moved to held-for-sale and marked to fair value in the first quarter. The sale, the credit problems and acquisition costs help explain why a larger loan book does not automatically produce stronger reported profit. [13]
The bank’s balance sheet and community commitments
At June 30, 2026, the insured bank had $21.320 billion of assets, $16.779 billion of deposits, $15.367 billion of net loans and leases, and $2.735 billion of equity, according to FDIC data. Securities totaled $3.292 billion. Its $79.747 million of net income is the total for the first six months, not second-quarter earnings or the parent’s earnings available to common shareholders. [2]
Real-estate loans were $9.284 billion, or 59.5% of $15.609 billion of gross loans and leases. Commercial and industrial loans totaled $4.733 billion, or 30.3%. The property category includes different forms of real-estate lending and is not synonymous with commercial real estate. These bank-level figures show the combination of property lending and finance for operating businesses behind the regional branch network. [2]
In June 2026, First Merchants Bank and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition announced a $2.02 billion agreement covering 2026 through 2030. Its commitments included $650 million of mortgage lending for lower-income borrowers and communities, $464 million of small-business lending in lower-income and rural communities, $700 million of community-development lending, $200 million of investments and $6 million of philanthropy. These are multi-year commitments rather than amounts already delivered. The plan is a new agreement, separate from the terminated 2019 settlement. [14]
Another handover is announced, not yet completed
On October 1, 2026, First Merchants Corporation announced Hardwick’s retirement effective January 1, 2027. Its SEC filing named Stewart as the next president and chief executive from that date. At this profile’s October 5 research cutoff, Hardwick remained chief executive and Stewart was the designated successor. [15]
The incoming leader is therefore set to inherit a broader Indiana, Ohio and Michigan business with First Savings already integrated. The immediate story combines continuity in leadership with practical questions about the enlarged operation: retaining acquired customers, delivering the promised services and managing the specific lending problems recognized in 2026. Those are operating outcomes still to be established, rather than guaranteed benefits of the completed mergers. [12][13][15]
Sources
- FDIC institution directory, October 2, 2026 index; reviewed October 5Official sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- FDIC June 30, 2026 bank financials; dollar fields in thousands; income year to dateOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First Merchants Bank institutional history; undated page, reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3
- First Merchants Corporation 2025 Form 10-K, filed February 25, 2026Filing / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3
- First Merchants Form 8-K: MBT and Monroe Bank & Trust mergers effective September 1, 2019Filing / reportBack to text: ↑
- U.S. Department of Justice case summary: United States v. First Merchants Bank; updated September 6, 2022Official sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First Merchants Form 8-K on fair-lending settlement and MBT approval process, June 13, 2019Filing / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First Merchants Form 8-K on termination of DOJ settlement, filed January 3, 2023Filing / reportBack to text: ↑
- First Merchants announces Michael C. Rechin retirement and 2021 succession, September 29, 2020SourceBack to text: ↑
- First Merchants completes legal closing of Level One Bancorp merger, April 1, 2022SourceBack to text: ↑
- First Merchants and First Savings definitive merger announcement, September 25, 2025SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First Merchants announces February 1 legal closing of First Savings merger, February 2, 2026Filing / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First Merchants second-quarter 2026 results, July 22, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4
- First Merchants and NCRC announce 2026–2030 community benefits agreement, June 25, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑
- First Merchants Form 8-K: Hardwick retirement and Stewart succession effective January 1, 2027, October 1, 2026Filing / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2