frme is the largest financial holding company based in central indiana . 1 since its organization in 1982 the corporation has grown to include banks with more than 100 locations in 27 indiana 2 ohio and 2 illinois counties and a wealth management company . as of december 31 2015 total asset size of first merchants corporation was 6.8 billion . bank divisions within the corporation include first merchants bank in adams brown delaware fayette hamilton hancock hendricks henry jay johnson lake madison marion miami morgan porter randolph shelby union wabash and wayne counties in indiana ; butler and franklin counties in ohio ; and cook and dupage counties in illinois lafayette bank and trust company a division of first merchants bank in carroll clinton jasper montgomery tippecanoe and white counties first merchants private wealth advisors a division of first merchants bank is one of the largest wealth management companies in the state of indiana and provides a full complement of trust investment management retirement plans private banking and brokerage solutions . first merchants corporation type public traded as nasdaq frme founded 1982 first merchants corporation headquarters muncie indiana united states key people michael rechin president & ceo products banking trust total assets 6.8 billion usd 2015 number of employees 1 400 2013 slogan the strength of big the service of small website https www.firstmerchants.com history edit first merchants bank was originally known as the merchants national bank of muncie indiana and it was organized during the panic of 1893 by a group of service minded businessmen who recognized a need in their community and acted to fulfill that need . 2 spearheaded by hardin roads a former successful wholesale grocer the enterprising men invested capital of 100 000 . this was the only time it was necessary to raise capital through outside sources . references edit investors first merchants . www.firstmerchants.com . retrieved 2016 05 05 . http www.indianahistory.org our services books publications hbr first merchants bank.pdf external links edit official website first merchants stock retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title first merchants corporation & oldid 737738562 categories companies listed on nasdaqcompanies based in indianabanks based in indianahidden categories official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 4 september 2016 at 19 13 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view