Company Profile
- Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: WTFC) (“Wintrust” or “the company” or “the firm”) is the BHC for 16 separately chartered banks (“subsidiary banks”) that operate in more than 200 branches/offices primarily located within the Midwestern United States. The firm is based in Chicago suburb Rosemont, IL and at nearly $66 billion in assets, is the 4th largest BHC headquartered in the state, though those ahead of it in asset size include 2 Canadian-owned BHCs and a trust bank (BMO, CIBC, Northern Trust).
- Wintrust was founded in 1991 by a group of local bankers led by Ed Wehmer with the goal of providing a banking alternative to big banks in the region. The firm started as a single bank (Lake Forest Bank & Trust) and subsequently opened a number of other banks under different charters in and around the suburbs of Chicago. Over the years, WTFC has grown through a combination of organic growth, acquisitions of smaller banks in adjacent communities and…