Description
Wintrust Financial is a financial holding company in the United States that operates 15 chartered community banks in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Wintrust is a relatively medium-sized banking institution in the United States and it trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market with stock symbol WTFC. Wintrust is the second largest banking company in Chicago.
The company provides traditional retail and commercial banking services, as well as wealth management services, commercial and life insurance premium financing, and certain treasury management services such as data processing of payrolls 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 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.
