M&T Bank names O’Hara general counsel

BUFFALO, N.Y. — M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) recently announced it has appointed Laura P. O’Hara as senior VP and general counsel.

She reports to Richard S. Gold, M&T vice chairman, and will be based in Buffalo, where the bank is headquartered.

O’Hara brings more than 30 years of litigation, regulatory, compliance and risk-management experience. She most recently worked for Santander Bank, where she served as executive VP and general counsel from 2015 to 2017, according to an M&T news release. At Santander, she was responsible for legal support for all lines of business as well as risk management, compliance, regulatory, and human resources.

O’Hara previously was executive VP and general counsel, consumer and commercial banking at Royal Bank of Scotland, RBS Citizens (RBS) from 2011 to 2015. There, she led legal support for all consumer and commercial lines of business, including retail banking, mortgage, broker dealer, business banking, credit card, auto lending, student lending as well as servicing and operations for those businesses.

She also previously worked at J.P. Morgan Chase and Company and Chase Home Lending.

“I am pleased to welcome Laura to M&T. She is a highly talented and trusted counselor with vast experience in managing complex legal matters. She brings a wealth of banking and regulatory expertise and she will play an important role at M&T as we drive strategic growth in the years to come,” Gold said in the release.

O’Hara earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and bachelor’s degree in economics from Villanova University.

M&T Bank, a major player in the Central New York banking market, has branches in New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

 

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Photo credit: M&T Bank