Mercantile forming one midwest bank, to be Iowa's no. 2 bank

Northwestern Financial Review, Sep 5, 1998

Mercantile Bank of Eastern Iowa and Mercantile Bank of Western Iowa merged Aug. 22 to form Mercantile Bank Midwest. The merged bank, with its new name, is headquartered in Des Moines.

The charter for Mercantile Bank of Eastern Iowa was in Waterloo, while the charter for the Western Iowa bank was in Newton.

When two previously announced mergers involving the Rock Island Bank of Rock Island, Ill., and First National Bank of Iowa City are finalized, Mercantile Bank Midwest will have assets of $3.8 billion, making it Iowa's second largest bank. The bank will operate 93 offices throughout Iowa and western Illinois.

Denis Wilcox, president of Mercantile Bank of Western Iowa, has been named chairman of the new bank, while Daniel Watters, president of the Mercantile Bank of Eastern Iowa, has been named president and CEO.

The Mercantile banks are subsidiaries of the $32 billion Mercantile Bancorporation, a bank holding company based in St. Louis.