Profit increases in Q4, full year at M&T Bank

Net income at M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) rose to $296 million in the fourth quarter from $148 million a year earlier.

Earnings per share for the period totaled $2.16, up from $1.04 in the fourth quarter of 2011. Although there were no unusual items in M&T’s 2012 fourth quarter, the year-earlier period included several one-time items that pushed income down by $33 million, or 26 cents per share, according to the bank.

For the full year in 2012, Buffalo–based M&T earned $1.03 billion, or $7.54 per share, up from $859 million, or $6.35 per share, in 2011.

M&T Executive Vice President and CFO Rene Jones noted several major accomplishments from throughout 2012 during a Jan. 16 conference call on the banking company’s latest results.

They included M&T’s successful exit from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) program. The Treasury sold its preferred stock in M&T to the public and no longer holds any M&T shares.

M&T in 2011 repaid more than $700 million in TARP funds, some acquired through acquisition. Those repayments had left the Treasury with M&T shares worth more than $381 million.

The bank was also able to capitalize on upheaval caused by HSBC’s exit from the upstate New York retail market, Jones said. HSBC sold its branch network in the region to First Niagara Financial Group in May.

M&T’s deposits at the end of the year totaled $65.6 billion, up 10 percent from a year earlier.

And during the third quarter, M&T announced plans to acquire Paramus, N.J.–based Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK). The $3.7 billion acquisition will bring M&T $25 billion in deposits and $28 billion in loans.

Most of Hudson City’s 135 branches are in New Jersey, where M&T said it will have the fourth largest deposit share following the acquisition’s closing.  Hudson City has other branches in downstate New York and Connecticut.

For the fourth quarter at M&T, net interest income totaled $674 million, up from $624.6 million a year earlier. Noninterest income for the period was $453 million, up from $398 million a year earlier.

Excluding some one-time items, noninterest income was $468 million in the fourth quarter, up from $368 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. The increase was mainly the result of higher mortgage banking revenues, according to M&T.

Noninterest expense for the fourth quarter was $626 million, compared with $740 million a year earlier.

Loans at the end of the year totaled $66.6 billion, up from $60.1 billion at the end of 2011.

Jones noted that M&T’s credit quality remains strong

The provision for loan losses during the quarter was $49 million, down from $74 million a year earlier. Net charge-offs totaled $44 million, down from $74 million a year earlier.

Nonaccruing loans totaled $1.01 billion at the end of the period, down from $1.1 billion a year earlier.

M&T has more than 700 branch offices in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The bank has total assets of $83 billion.

M&T is the leading bank in the Syracuse metro area deposit market with 30 branches, more than $2.5 billion in deposits, and a market share of 23.4 percent, according to the latest statistics from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The bank is second in the Utica–Rome area with 12 branches, $627.5 million in deposits, and a market share of about 17 percent.

M&T also leads the Binghamton–area market with 16 branches, more than $1.3 billion in deposits, and a market share of more than 50 percent.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com