Wilmington Trust

Wilmington Trust Company
Subsidiary
Industry Financial
Founded 1903
Headquarters Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware
Key people
 Donald E. Foley, CEO & Chairman & Robert V.A. Harra Jr., President & COO
Products Banking
Number of employees
 2,672
Parent M&T Bank
Website www.wilmingtontrust.com

Wilmington Trust Company was founded on July 8, 1903, as a banking, trust, and safe deposit company by DuPont president T. Coleman du Pont. In 2010, it became a subsidiary of M&T Bank.

History

Wilmington Trust was founded on July 8, 1903, by T. Coleman du Pont, then the president of DuPont, to manage the growing fortune of the duPont family.[1] DuPont opened the business in the dining room and parlor of a former private residence at 915 Market Street in Wilmington, Delaware, with a handful of investors and $500,000 in market capitalization.[2]

In 1907, the company moved to the DuPont Building at Tenth & Market Streets. It paid its first dividend (2.5%, $1.25 per share) on August 1, 1908. The company’s first merger occurred on July 15, 1912: the acquisitions of the First National Bank and the National Bank of Wilmington & Brandywine made it the largest bank on the East Coast. In 1971, it became one of the founding members of NASDAQ.[2] In 1999, it moved its listing to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).[2]

On November 1, 2010, Wilmington Trust announced a merger with M&T Bank, of Buffalo, New York. The deal valued the 107-year-old company at $3.84 a share, or 46 percent less than its closing price on Oct. 29. Investors received 0.051 shares of Buffalo-based M&T for each Wilmington share.[3]

In 2011, it announced its intention to "voluntarily de-list" from the NYSE upon completion of its merger with M&T Bank.[2]

Company structure

The bank is divided into three sections:.

For 2007, net income was stated at $182 million. Additionally, combined assets under management totaled $49.8 billion by the end of 2007, an increase of 11% from 2006.

Offices

Headquarters on Rodney Square.

The corporate headquarters for Wilmington Trust is in the converted post office on Rodney Square in downtown Wilmington. It has domestic offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Atlanta, Baltimore, Beverly Hills, Stamford, Connecticut; Palm Beach, Florida; West Chester, Pennsylvania; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Villanova, Pennsylvania; and Charleston, South Carolina.

Internationally, Wilmington Trust has offices in the Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Wilmington Trust operates a virtual direct savings division, WTDirect.

Its main branch in Newark, Delaware was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[4]

See also

Sources

  1. ↑ Robin Sidel (27 November 2010). "How Loyalty to Customers Led to Storied Bank's Fall". Wall Street Journal. Business. Retrieved 17 April 2011.; first 100 words of article available without login.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Eric Ruth (22 April 2011). "Delawre (sic) banks: Wilmington Trust to leave stock tickers". News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware: Gannett). Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  3. ↑ Mildenberg, David; Mider, Zachary R. (2 November 2010). "M&T to Acquire Wilmington Trust for $351 Million". Bloomberg.
  4. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.