But: ‘There will be job losses’
Stock Yards Bank intends to provide the same level of support that for years Field & Main Bank has offered to the Henderson community, said Stock Yards chief executive officer and chairman Tuesday.
“We’re already committed,” said Ja Hillebrand, CEO and chairman of Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. “We’re in. We’re going to stay committed to everything that Field & Main has been doing.”
In fact, Hillebrand and Field & Main Bank CEO and chairman Scott Davis said a list of the funding and assistance that Field & Main provides was created and they went through it together.
In what was a surprise to many, Stock Yards announced on Jan. 27 the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Field & Main Bancorp Inc., the parent company of Field & Main Bank. The all-stock transaction is valued at $105.7 million, according to a news release issued then.
Hillebrand spent Monday in Henderson, touring the town, meeting people and talking to employees. One of the stops he made was to Audubon Kids Zone, the East End community nonprofit organization that he said impressed him.
He also said that before last week—before the announcement of the acquisition—he didn’t know about the W.C. Handy Festival and its legacy here in Henderson. He’s since learned and said whatever the support is, “we need to keep doing it,” he said.
The chairman for the Handy Festival, Gale Myers, told the Hendersonian that he felt good that Stock Yards officials had already reached out to him to set up a meeting. He doesn’t know the level of support that Stock Yards will provide, though. He said he will know more after next week’s meeting.
Hillebrand repeated during a Tuesday interview with the Hendersonian that Stock Yards Bank is a community bank and likened its mission to that of Field & Main’s.
“We’re a community bank (like Field & Main),” he said. “We’re just a little bigger.
“To be a community bank, you have to give back to the community where you are,” Hillebrand said. “We’re trying to keep community banking alive” in Kentucky.
He also said that he’s seen other banks move into Louisville—where Stock Yards was founded and is headquartered—and has seen those institutions quit giving. “All of a sudden those charitable dollars are gone,” he said.
Currently, Field & Main operates six retail branches in Henderson, Lexington and Cynthiana, Kentucky, and Evansville. Once the Stock Yards and Field & Main merger goes through in May, Stock Yards will have 81 branches, the majority of which are in Kentucky.
Hillebrand also said that the bank plans to add three additional branches in Indianapolis, Bowling Green and Cincinnati, bringing its total to 84 by the end of 2026.
Davis said that despite the new ownership, the Raymond B. Preston Family Foundation, of which he is a board member, will continue to have a connection to Stock Yards and will continue its charitable giving in the community. He said “that will always exist.”
Job losses
Hillebrand said efforts will be made for all of Field & Main’s current employees to continue with Stock Yards after the merger, but said the reality is that some jobs will be lost.
“There will be job losses,” he said, and added it’s too early to tell how many.
But Hillebrand maintained that Stock Yards is going to do what it can to keep the losses minimal.
Part of that comes down to the evaluation that will occur, what jobs are open in other markets, an employee’s willingness to move and the possibility of jobs being performed remotely, among other factors, Hillebrand said.
He said that positions of employees in Louisville who retire or resign will not be filled so that employees here can be given the opportunity to fill them.
If a job is open in Louisville, and an employee does not want to move to Louisville, then the bank will need to determine if the job can be done in Henderson. Then if it can’t be done in Henderson, then the employee would be made redundant, he said.
He said, however, all employees working in customer-facing positions will keep their jobs.
Hillebrand said severance will be offered to anyone who loses their job. He said the structure of severance packages will come at a later date–most likely in the next six weeks.
