The Hillsboro institution behind the name
This profile covers Merchants National Bank (Hillsboro, Ohio). [1]
The Merchants National Bank is headquartered in Hillsboro, Ohio, at 100 North High Street. FDIC certificate 6605 identifies the active national bank, whose primary federal regulator is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The geography and certificate matter because similarly named Merchants banks operate elsewhere. A national charter does not mean this institution has a nationwide branch system. [1]
The bank dates its establishment to 1879 and describes itself as independent. The OCC’s August 2025 CRA evaluation identifies it as wholly owned by Merchants Bancorp, Inc., a one-bank holding company based in Hillsboro. Its history and ownership are therefore those of a specific Ohio banking organization, rather than evidence about other companies sharing the Merchants name. [3, 4]
A regional network rooted in smaller communities
The current directory lists seventeen offices, with multiple locations in Hillsboro, Greenfield, Wilmington and Logan, as well as Athens, Washington Court House, Mount Orab, Springfield, London, Batavia, Georgetown and Marysville. The spread connects rural communities with several larger regional markets. Individual hours and facilities differ, so the directory remains the relevant source for customers deciding where to conduct a transaction. [5]
Physical offices matter most where a borrower needs a local conversation, a business handles cash or a household cannot complete everything digitally. The same network also creates operating expense. A broad county footprint alone does not show whether each office is profitable or whether the bank has a dominant share of local deposits; those would require more specific evidence. [5]
A leadership transition and a future branch
Denise Fauber succeeded Paul W. Pence Jr. as president and chief executive officer effective December 31, 2025, under the transition announced that May. Pence was to remain chairman. The bank’s June 2026 announcement identifies Fauber as president and CEO, supporting the transition’s completion rather than leaving it as an unfulfilled succession plan. [6]
On June 1, 2026, Merchants announced an office planned for 74 North Main Street in Cedarville’s historic Opera House. The bank said the village had been without a local bank since 2024 and anticipated opening in the first quarter of 2027, initially with limited hours. As of this profile, that is a planned expansion, not an operating branch included in the existing seventeen-office network. [6]
Property, equipment and seasonal cash flow
Merchants markets commercial-property purchase and refinancing, equipment finance, construction lending, working-capital lines and agricultural loans. Its construction description includes monitoring costs and disbursements as a project progresses. The farm offering covers land, equipment, crops, livestock and operating expenses. These uses connect the bank to both longer-term investment and shorter seasonal needs in its communities. [7]
At June 30, 2026, real-estate-secured loans were $819.0 million out of $952.1 million of total loans and leases. Property security was therefore central to the portfolio. This category includes different types of real estate; it cannot be treated as an office-building exposure measure. Collateral values, borrower cash flow and refinancing terms all matter, but the aggregate figures do not disclose those details. [2]
A smaller balance sheet with higher first-half income
The bank reported $1.267 billion in assets, $1.107 billion in deposits, $940.8 million in net loans and leases and $121.3 million in equity at June 30, 2026. A year earlier, assets were $1.332 billion, deposits $1.140 billion and net loans $972.6 million. These are bank-only FDIC figures converted from thousands. They show contraction over the year, rather than an assumption that all branch-oriented banks were expanding. [2]
Calendar first-half net income nevertheless rose to $7.7 million from $7.0 million. Nonaccrual loans increased to $4.9 million from $4.2 million. A smaller balance sheet and higher earnings can coexist because income depends on pricing, funding expense and other factors as well as volume. These figures alone do not attribute the change to a particular management decision. [2]
The daily business of moving money
Merchants’ treasury menu includes electronic check deposits, ACH payments, merchant services through Elavon and Positive Pay. The latter compares presented checks against a file supplied by the business and sends unmatched items for a decision. Customers can use ACH for suppliers, payroll and taxes. The service package makes the bank part of recurring business operations, beyond arranging an occasional loan. [8]
These services are tools rather than promises that fraud cannot happen. Their use involves customer authorization, accurate payment files and timely exception review. Remote deposit also changes how checks reach the bank; it does not remove the underlying need to identify the payer and control who can access the account. The bank’s public description explains functionality without quantifying the revenue of each service. [8]
The regulator’s community-credit assessment
The OCC rated Merchants Satisfactory overall in its August 11, 2025 CRA evaluation, with Outstanding lending and Satisfactory community development. It found 83% of the number of evaluated loans inside assessment areas during 2022–2024. The different component grades are worth retaining rather than reducing the report to a promotional label. CRA evaluates community credit performance; it expressly does not assess the institution’s overall financial condition or safety and soundness. [4]
Sources
- FDIC BankFind identity; October 2, 2026 datasetOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- FDIC bank financials; June 30, 2026 and 2025; income is calendar year-to-dateOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3
- Merchants history and missionSourceBack to text: ↑
- OCC CRA evaluation, August11 2025Official source · PDFBack to text: ↑1↑2
- Merchants current location directorySourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- Merchants leadership transition and Cedarville announcementSourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- Merchants business and agricultural loansSourceBack to text: ↑
- Merchants treasury servicesSourceBack to text: ↑1↑2