Old National-First Midwest merger still waiting on Fed approval

Evansville, Ind.-based Old National Bancorp and Chicago-based First Midwest Bancorp Inc. are still waiting on the Federal Reserve to approve their merger.

"There's no outstanding questions we have with any regulatory agencies and in particular the Fed," said Old National Chairman and CEO James Ryan on the company's conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings. "I think like many other bank holding companies, we're in the queue, and we're just waiting for that approval process."

In the meantime, Old National and First Midwest are working on integration and strategic planning, he said.

The companies already received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Also during the call, CFO Brendon Falconer addressed Old National's commercial loans, saying the third quarter represented the company's fifth consecutive quarter of organic loan growth.

"Over that year commercial outstandings have grown 11%," he said. "Our strong commercial production of $1 billion was once again led by our Louisville and Minnesota markets, with all of the regions posting quarter-over-quarter growth."