ROSEMONT, Ill., March 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wintrust Financial Corporation (“Wintrust” or “the Company”) (Nasdaq: WTFC) announced today that it is temporarily closing or modifying service locations at approximately 50 Wintrust community bank locations in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin beginning Tuesday, March 17. At present, approximately 135 branches will remain open to serve clients. This is consistent with actions that other peer banks have taken and that others are anticipated to take in the coming days.
Wintrust made this precautionary decision to allow for staff to manage for school closures and aid family members, and to support the public health efforts to reduce transmission of the COVID-19 virus, although to date, Wintrust is not aware of any employee or customer at any location who has been infected. Wintrust anticipates serving its entire client footprint despite these limited temporary closures. Clients can find listings of open and closed branches at www.wintrust.com.
Edward J. Wehmer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The health and safety of our clients and employees are at the heart of every decision we make. The temporary measures we are taking now, which also include splitting our staff into teams at different sites, encouraging work from home where possible and incremental backup sites, are aimed at making sure that we keep our staff and clients as safe as possible, that we are positioned to take care of clients’ financial needs and remain equipped to withstand any further disruption. We will continue to carefully monitor the situation and quickly adapt to take further actions as necessary until public health officials advise that these measures are no longer necessary.”
All of Wintrust’s bank sites are receiving enhanced cleaning as part of their routine activities and employees have been informed and are being regularly reminded of best practices in hygiene and physical interactions.
Wehmer continued, “The coming weeks will be a challenge for all of us, and we apologize for any inconvenience these temporary actions may cause our clients. We are making sure our clients know they can receive 24/7 support through our online and digital tools, where you can perform most transactions and access most information without coming into our facilities. We value our clients’ loyalty and appreciate their support during this time.”
About Wintrust
Wintrust is a financial holding company with assets of over $35 billion whose common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. Built on the "HAVE IT ALL" model, Wintrust offers sophisticated technology and resources of a large bank while focusing on providing service-based community banking to each and every customer. Wintrust operates fifteen community bank subsidiaries, with over 180 banking locations located in the greater Chicago and southern Wisconsin market areas. Additionally, Wintrust operates various non-bank business units including business units which provide commercial and life insurance premium financing in the United States, a premium finance company operating in Canada, a company providing short-term accounts receivable financing and value-added out-sourced administrative services to the temporary staffing services industry, a business unit engaging primarily in the origination and purchase of residential mortgages for sale into the secondary market throughout the United States, and companies providing wealth management services and qualified intermediary services for tax-deferred exchanges.
Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Investors are cautioned that such statements are predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. Wintrust's expected financial results or other plans are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" and the forward-looking statement disclosure contained in Wintrust's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in any of the Company’s subsequent SEC filings. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and Wintrust undertakes no duty to update the information.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Edward J. Wehmer, Founder & Chief Executive Officer
David A. Dykstra, Vice Chairman & Chief Operating Officer
(847) 939-9000
Web site address: www.wintrust.com