FirstMerit Corp. in Akron has named Paul G. Greig, a Charter One Financial Inc. and Bank One Corp. veteran, as its president and chief executive officer.
Mr. Greig, 50, was also appointed to a three-year term on the board of directors, FirstMerit said Thursday. He succeeded John R. Cochran, who will remain the $10.2 billion-asset company's chairman until his retirement at yearend.
"Paul Greig is a terrific banker, a strong executive, and exactly the right person to become the next leader of the FirstMerit team," Mr. Cochran, 63, said in a news release.
Mr. Cochran, who joined FirstMerit in 1995 as its president, added the titles of chairman and CEO in 1998.
Most recently, Mr. Greig was the president and CEO of Charter One Bank-Illinois. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC bought Charter One in 2004.
From 1999 to 2005, Mr. Greig was the president of Bank One Wisconsin. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired Bank One Corp. in late 2004.
In heavy trading, FirstMerit's stock was down 5.2% late Thursday, to $23.96 a share.
"There had been a lot of takeover speculation in the stock price," and Mr. Greig's hiring would indicate that no sale is imminent, said Fred A. Cummings, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland.
Mr. Greig's biggest challenges are expanding FirstMerit's retail business and "optimizing" its indirect automobile lending business, which makes up 14% of its loan portfolio, Mr. Cummings said.
"Indirect auto lending is very competitive," he said. "The question is, how do you grow the business, or do you get out of it? And if you get out of it, what do you replace it with?"
FirstMerit is the sixth-largest bank holding company based in Ohio and has 156 branches in its home state and four in western Pennsylvania.
