M&T Bank profit holds steady in third quarter

M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB), Central New York’s largest bank ranked by deposit market share, Thursday announced it earned $294 million in the third quarter that ended Sept. 30.

That’s up slightly from the $293 million in net income M&T produced in the same quarter in 2012, the Buffalo–based banking company said in a news release.

Diluted earnings per common share totaled $2.11 in the third quarter, down from $2.17 in the year-earlier period, M&T said.

The third-quarter results included after-tax gains of $34 million from loan-securitization transactions, or 26 cents per diluted common share, according to the earnings report.

In addition, declines in mortgage-banking revenues and higher operating expenses “significantly” affected M&T’s third quarter’s results, compared to the same period in 2012.

Profits “clearly softened” during the third quarter relative to M&T’s “strong” second-quarter performance when net income rose more than 50 percent, Rene Jones, M&T Bank’s executive vice president and CFO, said in the news release.

“The higher interest-rate environment resulted in a significant reduction in mortgage- banking revenues, while operating expenses for the quarter were up as a result of investments we are making in several key areas, including risk management, capital planning and stress testing, regulatory compliance, and our technology and operating infrastructure,” Jones said.

Shares of M&T Bank Corp. fell by $3.44, or nearly 3 percent, to $112.62 Thursday.

M&T had total assets of $84.4 billion as of Sept. 30, up from $81.1 billion a year ago, according to the earnings report.

Loans and leases, net of unearned discount, totaled $63.7 billion on Sept. 30, compared with $64.1 billion a year earlier. Total deposits rose 4 percent to $66.6 billion at the end of the third quarter, which is up from $64 billion at the end of the same quarter in 2012, according to M&T.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com