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First Mid Bancshares
First Mid Bancshares was chartered in 1865 as the First National Bank of Mattoon, a product of Lincoln-era National Banking Acts.
First Mid Bancshares
First Mid Bancshares was chartered in 1865 as the First National Bank of Mattoon, a product of Lincoln-era National Banking Acts. Joe Dively has led the company through its modern expansion, including an acquisition strategy that folded community banks across central and southern Illinois into a single operating platform. The firm went public on the NASDAQ in 1995 and has since consolidated a fragmented local-bank geography, absorbing institutions in communities like Champaign, Decatur, and Effingham. Today, First Mid operates more than 60 branches and a dedicated wealth management arm. The company deploys its balance sheet across three primary lanes: commercial and industrial lending, agricultural finance, and commercial real estate. Its trust division — First Mid Wealth Management — administers fiduciary accounts and provides investment management services, placing the firm in the rare position of operating both a regulated bank and an RIA-style advisory practice under one roof. Recent known credit exposures include middle-market manufacturing, farmland operations, and multifamily housing. The firm's loan book skews toward relationship-based underwriting in communities where national banks have withdrawn, giving First Mid pricing power on smaller, stickier credits. By leaning into in-market trust services, it compounds deposit loyalty with wealth retention — a structural advantage over rate-sensitive competitors. Dively has held the CEO role since 2010, guiding the company's rise from a $1.2 billion asset base through a series of FDIC-assisted and open-market bank acquisitions. The firm maintains its headquarters in Mattoon — a deliberate locational signal that its deposit base sits outside metropolitan rate competition. In March 2023, First Mid closed its acquisition of Blackhawk Bank & Trust, adding $1.3 billion in assets and extending its footprint into the Quad Cities region and western Illinois. First Mid's structural differentiator is the pairing of a century-old community banking charter with a scalable wealth management division. Most regional banks outsource trust services or treat them as a loss leader. First Mid monetizes them through recurring advisory fees, creating a dual-engine revenue model — net interest income from lending plus fee-based income from fiduciary services. That architecture stabilizes earnings through rate cycles in a way that pure-play community lenders rarely achieve.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1865
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Mattoon
Corporate office
Mattoon, IL, United States
Principals
Joseph R. Dively
Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs First Mid Bancshares?
Joseph R. Dively has served as Chairman, President, and CEO since 2010. He led the company through its transformation from a single-bank entity into a multi-charter holding company with over $7 billion in assets. His tenure is defined by a decade-long acquisition strategy targeting community banks in downstate Illinois and Missouri.
Is First Mid a bank, a wealth manager, or a holding company?
It is all three. First Mid Bancshares is the publicly traded holding company (NASDAQ: FMBH). Its principal subsidiary, First Mid Bank & Trust, operates an FDIC-insured community bank alongside First Mid Wealth Management, a fiduciary trust and advisory division. This structure allows the firm to generate both net interest income and fee-based advisory revenue under a single corporate roof.
How does First Mid's wealth management division operate?
First Mid Wealth Management acts as a corporate trustee and investment advisor, administering over $5 billion in client assets. It provides estate settlement, trust administration, farm management, and portfolio construction services — primarily for families and institutions within the bank's Illinois-Missouri footprint. The division functions with a separate fiduciary mandate from the commercial bank.
What type of lending does First Mid prioritize?
The loan book centers on commercial and industrial credits, agricultural operating lines, and owner-occupied commercial real estate in small and mid-sized Midwestern markets. Mitigation leans toward relationship-based underwriting — lending against known operators and hard assets in communities where the bank has multi-generation deposit relationships.
What is First Mid's acquisition strategy?
First Mid consolidates sub-$2 billion community banks in Illinois and eastern Missouri. The Blackhawk Bank & Trust acquisition (March 2023) is the latest example — adding branches, trust assets, and deposit share in a contiguous geography. The firm typically retains local management while centralizing compliance and treasury functions in Mattoon.
Does First Mid Bancshares disclose assets under management?
The firm reports total assets of roughly $7.6 billion on its balance sheet as of Q1 2024. It separately reports client assets under administration in its wealth division, which exceeded $5 billion as of year-end 2023 (per the firm's public filings). The bank does not report a private-fund AUM in the alternative-asset manager sense.
Where does First Mid operate geographically?
The branch network spans central and southern Illinois, with additional locations in eastern Missouri and the Quad Cities region following the Blackhawk acquisition. Wealth management services are offered in all banking markets, with trust offices concentrated in the largest communities — including Champaign, Decatur, and now the Illinois side of the Quad Cities.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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