Description
M&T Bank is an American bank holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It operates 780 branches in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Connecticut. M&T is ranked 462nd on the Fortune 500. Until May 1998, the bank's holding company was named First Empire State Corporation.
M&T Bank has been profitable in every quarter since 1976. Other than Northern Trust, M&T was the only bank in the S&P 500 Index not to lower its dividend during the financial crisis of 2007–2008.
The bank owns the Buffalo Savings Bank building in downtown Buffalo. M&T Bank also sponsors M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens. M&T Bank is the official bank of the Buffalo Bills in Western New York and of their home Bills Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. Wilmington Trust is a subsidiary of M&T Bank Corporation, offering global corporate and institutional services, private banking, investment management, and fiduciary services.
History
In the mid-19th century, few banking options existed for the growing number of manufacturers in the city of Buffalo. As a result, businessmen Pascal Pratt and Brownson Rumsey founded M&T Bank in 1856 as "Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company". The company opened its first branch on August 29 of that year at 2 East Swan Street in Buffalo.
In 1983, Robert G. Wilmers was named Chairman and CEO, a position he held until his death in December 2017.
Between 1987 and 2009, M&T Bank acquired 20 financial institutions, as follows:
- December 1987: East New York Savings of New York City
- January 1989: Monroe Savings Bank of Rochester, New York
- September 1990: Assets of Empire of America Savings Bank of Buffalo (along with KeyBank and others)
- May 1991: Assets of Goldome Bank of Buffalo (along with KeyBank and others)
- July 1992: Central Trust and Endicott Trust of Rochester, New York and Binghamton, New York.
- December 1994: Hudson Valley branches of Chemical Bank; New York and Ithaca Bancorp of Ithaca, New York.
- July 1995: Hudson Valley branches of Chase Manhattan
- January 1997: Green Point Bank branches of Westchester, New York
- June 1999: First National Bank of Rochester
- April 1998: OnBank of Syracuse, New York
- September 1999: 29 Chase Bank Branches in Buffalo, Jamestown, and Binghamton
- October 2000: Keystone Financial of Central Pennsylvania
- February 2001: Premier Nation Bancorp of Newburgh
- April 2003: Allfirst Bank of Baltimore, a subsidiary of Allied Irish Banks of Ireland, in exchange for 26.7 million shares of M&T and $886 million in cash. At the direction of Irish government financial regulators, AIB sold its 22% ownership interest in M&T in 2010.
- July 2006: 21 Citibank branches in Buffalo and Rochester
- December 2007: Partners Trust Financial Group, including 33 branches in upstate New York, for $555 million.
- December 2007: 12 First Horizon National Corporation branches in the greater Washington D.C. and Baltimore markets.
- May 2009: Provident Bank of Maryland in a stock transaction.
- August 2009: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) seized Bradford Bank and sold all its deposits and most assets to M&T. M&T and the FDIC agreed to share future losses on $338 million worth of Bradford's assets.
In May 2011, M&T acquired Wilmington Trust for $351 million in stock.
On August 27, 2012, M&T announced the acquisition of Hudson City Bancorp for $3.7 billion. The bank had $25 billion in deposits and $28 billion in loans and 135 brick-and-mortar branch locations including 97 in New Jersey. The acquisition was delayed for 3 years due to a money laundering case involving an M&T branch and the acquisition closed on November 2, 2015.
In 2008, M&T received a $600 million investment by the United States Treasury as a result of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and M&T assumed another $482 million in TARP obligations from its acquisitions. In 2011, the bank repaid $700 million of TARP funds.
On December 16, 2017, Robert Wilmers died and non-Executive Chairman Robert T. Brady became acting Chairman and CEO. On December 20, 2017, René F. Jones was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
On February 22, 2021, M&T Bank announced an agreement to acquire People's United Bank in an all-stock transaction valuing at approximately $7.6 billion.
