RankingBanking 25 - Flipbook - Page 12
10
Specializing in
Profits
By John Engen
C
hristopher Murphy III was in
At a time when unit banking laws barred
his mid-20s when he became a
institutions from expanding even into some
member of the board of what is
neighboring communities, 1st Source looked to
now 1st Source Corp. The year was
those specialty finance roots for growth. It hired
1972, and he had joined his father-
some old Associates hands and got into financing
in-law and some other folks to buy
the trucking business. A few years later, it began
the South Bend, Indiana-based
working with auto rental companies; a few years
banking company from the old
Associates First Capital Corp., a big consumer
after that, aircraft financing was added to the mix,
followed by construction equipment.
and commercial finance operation the in-laws had
“We said, ‘If we’re going to be in these busi-
helped found decades earlier to help people buy
nesses, we need to be in a number of different
Model Ts from Ford Motor Co. Murphy, then a
verticals so that we’re not too dependent on any
lawyer for Citibank with family connections, was
one of them,’” recalls Murphy, 78, 1st Source’s
a perfect fit.
chairman since 1998 and CEO since 1979. “We
