Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions) Our first question comes from Scott Siefers with Sandler O’Neill.
Tom O’Malley
Hello, Scott.
Scott Siefers – Sandler O’Neill
Hello?
Tom O’Malley
Hi, Scott.
Scott Siefers – Sandler O’Neill
Hey! Can you guys hear me now?
Tom O’Malley
Yes.
Scott Siefers – Sandler O’Neill
Good afternoon. I was wondering, you talked about some of the dislocation obviously with MetCity [ph] now in the process of being acquired, I was wondering if you can talk about any opportunities to pick up employees, specifically like commercial lenders?
Paul Grieg
Yes, Scott. We’ve been talking to a number of employees over the past year and we have hired a number both on the commercial side as well as on the loan [ph] side and I think we clearly have that opportunity and we'll continue those discussions and we'll see what evolves over the next few months.
Scott Siefers – Sandler O’Neill
Okay, perfect. And then, could you also extend a bit on what you're seeing on the pricing side? You alluded, I think, a couple times to some betters spreads on the loan side. If you could just expand the part of that just a bit.
Paul Grieg
Yes, commercial spreads in general has started to widen. I've mentioned on previous calls that in the middle market, those spreads are some of the last to widen. They are beginning to widen. We have been charging increased spreads or have been receiving increased spreads on our indirect portfolio for probably a good six months now and I've also increased our spreads on the general consumer portfolio.
Scott Siefers – Sandler O’Neill
Okay. And then, just last question will be a more strategic one. On the M&A front, what's the general appetite, FirstMerit, what kind of things would you be interested in doing? What kind of availability do you see as you look out here over the 12 to [ph] next year or so?
Paul Grieg
We have had an ongoing program between Terry Bichsel, Mark DuHamel, our treasurer, and myself, of talking to enough number of folks in the marketplace that we may have an interest in partnering with or buying. The general tone until the last several weeks has been that because of depressed stock prices, the institutions have little interest to sell at a depressed stock price. We have made the regulatory agencies aware of names that we have an interest in, should a failure occur and we're very carefully assessing all of our options. Clearly, anything we do will have a shareholder vote [ph] focus and be looking to grow our shareholder value.
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