M&T outstrips pledge to ramp up small-business lending

M&T Bank exceeded a promise it made last year to boost small-business lending, it said today.

The Buffalo–based bank increased small-business lending by $196 million since last year, it indicated in a progress report to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). That outpaces a pledge it made in September of 2011 after a meeting with the SBA, Vice President Joe Biden, and 13 other banks to raise such lending by $50 million above 2010 levels for three consecutive years.

When it made its pledge, M&T said it made 139,000 new loans worth a total of $17 billion in 2010. About 8,250 of those loans were to small businesses.

“Small businesses are vitally important to the creation of new jobs and economic recovery,” M&T Bank Chairman and CEO Bob Wilmers said in a news release. “By partnering with small businesses today, we move more confidently toward economic success tomorrow. While we’ve exceeded our goal to lend to small businesses this year, our commitment is unwavering, and we will continue to seek out partnerships with businesses that will help drive the economy forward.”

M&T is the leading bank in the Syracuse-area deposit market, according to the most recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. figures. It has 30 branch offices, more than $2.2 billion in deposits, and a market share of more than 21.2 percent.

It also leads the market in the Binghamton area with 16 branches and more than $1.2 billion in deposits, as well as a market share of 48.7 percent. The bank ranks second in the Utica-Rome market with 13 branches, over $615 million in deposits, and a market share of 16.8 percent.

M&T is the sixth-largest SBA lender in the nation and the top SBA lender in Syracuse, it said. The bank has branches in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and Delaware.

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com