Sky Financial Group


Sky Financial Group, Inc., was a diversified financial services holding company that operated in the Midwestern United States from 1998 until its 2007 acquisition by rival bank Huntington Bancshares. Its largest subsidiary was Sky Bank, a commercial and retail banking company headquartered in Salineville, Ohio, that operated 330 financial centers and over 400 ATMs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan and West Virginia. Other wholly owned subsidiaries included investment, trust, and insurance services.
Sky Financial Group was headquartered in Bowling Green, Ohio, and was formed by the 1998 "merger of equals" of the $2.2 billion Mid Am, Inc., of Bowling Green and the $1.8 billion Citizens Bancshares, Inc., of Salineville.
The resulting $4 billion company ranked as the 96th largest American bank. At the time of its 2007 acquisition by Huntington, Sky Financial Group was the 43rd largest bank holding company in the country with over $17.6 billion in assets.
The company had 4330 employees.

Huntington acquisition

On December 20, 2006, Sky Financial Group announced that Huntington Bancshares, based out of Columbus, Ohio, would be taking over the company. This was considered a merger, with Huntington Bancshares taking the upper hand.
Beginning in March, Sky and Huntington began consolidating and closing redundant offices. When completed, Sky's major operations centers in Bowling Green, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, and East Liverpool, Ohio, were then closed. Additionally, 88 banking centers were consolidated. Huntington's withdrawal in these markets has resulted in their weakening economically. Several have questioned the impact on local economy this merger will have on the communities where Sky and Huntington co-exist, including Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Congressman Kucinich had asked the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank to hold hearings concerning the Sky-Huntington merger, however, the Federal Reserve approved the merger without regard to Kucinich's requests.

Acquisition and merger history

Prior to its merger with Huntington Bancshares, Sky completed fourteen acquisitions and mergers during its nine years of operation.
Date announcedCompanyNotes
2006-08-24Wells River BancorpWells River Bancorp operated Perpetual Savings, a $74.7 million bank with 3 offices in Columbiana County, Ohio.
2006-08-09Waterfield Mortgage CompanyWaterfield Mortgage operated Union Federal, a $2.5 billion bank with 42 branches in Indiana. Union Federal Bank was the fourth largest bank in Indianapolis, Indiana.
2005-06-21Falls BankFalls Bank was an $83.6 million bank that operated two full-service branches in the Akron, Ohio market.
2004-12-22Belmont BancorpBelmont had $297 million in assets and 12 branches in the Wheeling, West Virginia area. Sky now has 280 branches.
2004-09-17Prospect BancsharesProspect had $202 million in assets and four branches in the Columbus, Ohio area.
2004-01-08Second BancorpSecond was $2.1 billion in assets and operated 33 branches in the Warren, Ohio area. Sky now has nearly $15 billion in assets and over 260 offices.
2003-07-16GLB BancorpGLB Bancorp operated Great Lakes Bank, with 13 branches in Lake and Cuyahoga counties.
2002-10-24Metropolitan Financial Corp.Metropolitan Bank was a $1.5 billion bank that operated 30 offices in the Cleveland area. Sky now has 254 financial centers and $12.5 billion in assets, making it the 54th largest bank holding company in the country.
2002-05-07Three Rivers BancorpThree Rivers was a $1 billion commercial bank with 25 offices in the metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.
2001-07-11Standard Federal BankStandard Federal Bank sold ten northwest Ohio offices. Sky now has 205 financial centers and has #2 market share in Wood and Lucas counties.
1999-06-07Mahoning National BancorpMahoning National was a $809 million bank holding company headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio that operated 20 banking offices in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Sky Financial now has $7.7 billion in assets and ranked 66th largest bank holding company in America.
1998-12-17Wood BancorpWood Bancorp operated First Federal Bank, a $166 million federal savings bank with seven offices in Wood County, Ohio.
1998-12-14First Western BancorpFirst Western was a $2.2 billion bank holding company headquartered in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Sky Financial now a $7 billion financial services organization with 210 banking centers.
1998-07-22The Ohio BankThe Ohio bank had over $600 million in assets and operated 18 branches with 250 employees. It was the number one market share holder in Hancock and Putnam counties.
1998-05-22Mid Am and Citizens BancsharesMerger of equals between the $2.2 billion Mid Am, Inc. and the $1.8 billion Citizens, Inc. resulting in a combined bank with 144 branches and over 2,300 employees.