After several months of back and forth discussions, principals with Farmers National Bank in Canfield and Butler Wick Trust Company sat together Thursday afternoon announcing they're joining forces.
This is the second portion of the Butler Wick enterprise to be sold recently. Late last month, Butler Wick & Company, the securities and insurance arm of the business, was purchased by the St. Louis based Stifel Financial. The move leaves holding company United Community Financial Corporation with its Home Savings and Loan banking operation. Executives today explained the Trust company specializes in the more conservative areas of asset management.
The deal will allow all of Butler Wick's current staff to remain in place, something the company's president, James Sisek says, "that's one thing our clients look to and they want stability."
Sisek admits he and his staff were well aware of the changes facing the financial industry, specifically UCFC, which was under federal directives to build capital and reduce debt, saying a number of potential suitors had been making inquiries.
Meantime, as the industry was facing difficult times, executives with Farmers had begun looking for ways to diversify. FNB president Frank Paden says, "we've been looking and looking and this one just kinda fell into our lap."
Butler Wick Trust has about a thousand clients, many of them among the area's larger corporations or foundations, with assets of 700 million dollars.
Farmers has seventeen branches in the Valley, with around 270 employees.
That number will be growing now with the 27 employees from Butler Trust.
