M&T gets New York State approval for Hudson City acquisition

BUFFALO, N.Y — M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) today cleared the final hurdle for completing its long-delayed acquisition of Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) when New York State’s financial regulator OK’d the deal.

Anthony J. Albanese, acting superintendent of financial services for New York, today announced he approved M&T Bank’s application to acquire Hudson City.

Buffalo–based M&T announced Sept. 30 that it had finally received permission from the Federal Reserve to complete the long-stalled purchase of Paramus, N.J.–based Hudson City. It said the transaction was expected to be completed on or about Nov. 1, subject to the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) approval it received today.

M&T first announced its plan to buy Hudson City more than three years ago for about $3.7 billion at the time, but the deal was halted several times by regulatory issues. The sticking points included regulators’ concerns over M&T’s anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act programs, as well as Hudson City’s lending practices.

NYDFS said it received M&T’s application in 2012. In approving it, the department noted that, “M&T Bank has taken substantial steps to strengthen its risk management and anti-money laundering compliance programs,” according to a department news release.

As M&T’s stock price has increased over the last three years so has the value of this deal, which M&T last pegged at $5.4 billion.

Hudson City, which had total assets of $35 billion at mid-year, operates 135 branches located in New Jersey (97), downstate New York (29), and Fairfield County, Connecticut (9). Hudson City’s branches will continue to operate under its own name, as a division of M&T Bank, until they are converted to M&T’s network, which is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2016, the banks said.

M&T, which had total assets of $97 billion as of mid-year, operates banking offices in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and DC. M&T is ranked number one in deposit market share in the 16-county Central New York market, according to the latest FDIC data.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com