SYRACUSE — M&T Bank Corp.’s acquisition last year of Wilmington Trust Corp. (NYSE: WL) of Delaware was the second largest in M&T’s history. It brought the Buffalo–based banking company 55 new branches and $10.7 billion in new assets. The $351 million stock deal, which closed in May 2011, is paying dividends for the bank in […]
SYRACUSE — M&T Bank Corp.’s acquisition last year of Wilmington Trust Corp. (NYSE: WL) of Delaware was the second largest in M&T’s history.
It brought the Buffalo–based banking company 55 new branches and $10.7 billion in new assets. The $351 million stock deal, which closed in May 2011, is paying dividends for the bank in Central New York, executives say.
Wilmington Trust sold in the face of eroding credit quality in its loan portfolio. But it also brought with it strong corporate trust and wealth-advisory businesses, which are allowing M&T (NYSE: MTB) to serve local clients in new ways, says Allen Naples, M&T’s Central New York regional president.
“We did not have the capacity to take it to this level,” he says.
Naples notes that Central New York has a large number of multi-generation, family-owned businesses. Those companies need help with matters like succession planning, the sale of their companies, and how to distribute wealth to future generations and prepare them for it.
Planning for those events takes expertise, says Roger Hobby, president of Wilmington Trust’s Northeast region.
“Going through the planning with us and sitting with us and making sure they have someone to help them think about the if-thens and the what-ifs is valuable for every client,” he says.
Plenty of business owners take the time to manage investments properly and make sure their estate plans are in order, Hobby says. That prepares the money for the family.
“Sometimes, they don’t spend as much time preparing the family for the money,” he says.
That preparation is just as important and can start with simple education for future generations on matters of wealth and money management. It can go on to include tasks like mapping out how a family will communicate and make decisions about its wealth in the future.
It’s important for wealthy families to make sure they’re all on the same page in deploying their resources, Hobby says.
Philanthropy is often a good place to start, he adds. The subject allows families, even large ones, to come together and start talking about shared values and what they want to accomplish.
“We want to start to have that conversation with them,” Hobby says.
M&T earned $206.5 million in the first quarter, up slightly from $206.3 million a year earlier. The company earned $1.50 per share in the period, down from $1.59 per share in the first quarter of 2011.
M&T Bank has more than $79 billion in assets and branches in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Washington, D.C.
M&T is the leading bank in the Syracuse–area deposit market with 30 branch offices, more than $2.2 billion in deposits, and a market share of more than 21.2 percent. It is number two in the Utica–Rome market with 13 branches, more than $615 million in deposits, and a market share of about 16.8 percent.
M&T also leads the Binghamton–area market with a deposit market share of 48.7 percent, 16 branches, and more than $1.2 billion in deposits, according to the latest statistics from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.