First Financial Bancorp, the holding company of First Financial Bank, has agreed to acquire Ohio-based capital markets firm Bannockburn Global Forex for an undisclosed price.
Image: Bannockburn will operate as a division of First Financial Bank. Photo: courtesy of Nyttend/Wikimedia Commons.
Bannockburn, which was founded in 2009, is engaged in providing transactional currency payments, foreign exchange hedging, and other advisory products. The capital markets firm caters to over 1,500 enterprises, downstream financial institutions, and financial sponsors in the US.
Bannockburn is said to have executed more than $90bn (£70.83bn) of transaction volume driven by over 150,000 secure transactions. Its main focus is on middle-market clients that have a requirement for customised foreign exchange solutions.
The capital markets firm, through a network of 10 office locations in major metro markets, has established a nationwide footprint.
First Financial Bank president and CEO Archie Brown said: “We are excited about the opportunity to expand our capital markets capabilities through the addition of the highly successful Bannockburn team.
“With this addition, we continue to broaden our product offering to clients, especially middle-market firms that conduct business on an international scale. In addition, we are excited about the opportunity to provide banking services to Bannockburn’s extensive customer base.”
After completion of the acquisition, Bannockburn will operate as a division of First Financial Bank under the existing brand name. Its current leadership will retain their positions and will be led by Bannockburn’s senior managing partner Mark Wendling.
Wendling said: “First Financial Bank gives us the opportunity to continue to move forward with our customer-first culture and to deliver what our customers have come to expect from us – flexible, customized solutions that solve currency issues that impact their business.
“Having access to more capital will allow us to accelerate our growth and to continue to move more up-market. We are pleased to be partnering with the First Financial management team to assist them in constructing a best-in-class commercial bank.”
The completion of the transaction will be based on receipt of various regulatory approvals and meeting of other closing conditions.
Headquartered in Cincinnati, First Financial Bank operated 159 banking centres as of 31 March 31 2019, which are located mainly in the states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.
In April 2018, First Financial Bancorp completed merger with Indiana-based bank holding company MainSource Financial Group.