Farm­ers Trust ex­pands in Wooster mar­ket

Farmers Trust Company, with offices in Boardman, Howland, Canton, opened its fourth trust office in 2016 in Wooster. The new office is in the heart of downtown Wooster. The Trust Company achieved near record total assets over $1.5 billion at year end, with total revenue surpassing $6.4 million for the first time.

Adhering to the highest fiduciary standards, Farmers Trust Company offers expert estate planning services, investment management, trust administration and retirement planning. With 28 employees, the company’s staff credentials include three attorneys, three masters in tax graduates, three Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA), two Certified Public Accountants (CPA), three Certified Financial Planners (CFP®), one Pension Plan Consultant (PPC™) and three Employee Benefit Specialists.

Farmers Trust Company prides itself on being an independent financial advisory firm with no internal proprietary products or conflicts of interest. While other firms offer their own family of mutual funds and investments, Farmers avoids inherent conflicts of interests and acts in a fiduciary capacity with our clients.

While other organizations have outsourced a variety of functions, the Trust Company continues to maintain locally operated pension, operations and tax departments in the Mahoning Valley. “I can walk down the hall if a client has a question about an operational or tax issue and get an answer in minutes,” said Joseph J. DePascale, the company’s president. “We want to act as a total financial planner for our clients and our quality and credentialed staff allow us to do so,” continued DePascale who is a CPA, CFP® and PPC™.

Charitable foundations held at the Trust Company continue to actively support area nonprofit organizations in the Mahoning Valley, distributing nearly $7 million. The beneficiaries are diverse and include early intervention programs for high school students, colleges, hospitals and other health, youth, cultural and religious organizations.

Plans for 2017 include further implementation of a range of sophisicated solutions for high net worth clients. Those range from option strategies to protect portfolios and possibly generate additional income, creating tax alpha for clients and overall financial planning for clients and families. A state-charted bank, Farmers Trust is overseen by the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.