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The Buffalo, N.Y., bank's chief operating officer and chief financial officer discuss how M&T is spending tens of millions of dollars toward upgrading compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and high-tech retail services. Its deal to buy Hudson City hangs in the balance.
April 22 -
Robert Wilmers, chairman and CEO of M&T Bank, told shareholders at its annual meeting that times are tough for banking and that the continued delay of its Hudson City deal, and associated high costs, are disappointing. But he insisted that the deal is still worth doing.
April 15 -
Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK) in Paramus, N.J., reported lower quarterly earnings as its planned sale to M&T Bank (MTB) still awaits regulatory approval.
April 29 -
The Paramus, N.J., thrift decided to sell itself to M&T for a relatively low price rather than keep trying to overcome its reliance on low interest rates. That was bad news for the countless small banks attempting similar reboots.
August 27 -
M&T Bank is expected to complete its purchase of Hudson City Bancorp despite unexpected regulatory issues. But an analyst had fun speculating about who might step in as the buyer if that deal collapsed.
August 23
M&T Bank (MTB) will walk away with a much lighter haul than planned when and if it completes its long-awaited purchase of Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK).
Since Hudson City in Paramus, N.J.,
Hudson City could contract even more. The deadline to complete its sale to M&T
It's a cautionary tale about the risks in bank M&A, especially for sellers, when everything doesn't go according to plan, but it's also one with a twist as some experts believe the shrinkage will spare M&T some cost-cutting work later.
Regardless, some Hudson City employees and clients aren't waiting around, turning to rival banks for stability, says Matthew Schultheis, an analyst at Boenning & Scattergood. "When you start losing customer-facing employees branch staff and loan originators customers don't like that," he says.
Total assets have dropped 9% at Hudson City since the third quarter of 2012, to $38.2 billion. Loans are down 14%, to $23.8 billion, and deposits have declined by 12%, to $21.1 billion. Its securities portfolio has dropped 32%, to $8.5 billion.
Officials at M&T, based in Buffalo, N.Y., and Hudson City declined to make executives available to comment.
Yet Hudson City's slimmer frame should serve as a positive for M&T since it is going to cut costs at Hudson City anyway, says Chris Spahr, an analyst at CLSA.
"M&T had already said they were going to reduce [Hudson City's] back office," Spahr says. "They are going to get $200 million of savings by rejiggering the deposit side as well as the asset side."
When M&T unveiled the deal, management said it would liquidate Hudson City's low-yield investment portfolio to repay about $13 billion of the seller's high-cost borrowings.
Regulators have held up the deal until M&T fixes shortcomings in its anti-money-laundering and other compliance programs. M&T's executives and numerous analysts have said they expect the acquisition to close, despite the delays. M&T is
"There are a lot of good reasons why, even in the face of challenges and disappointments, we have decided to stick with" the Hudson City acquisition,
Hudson City's pre-closing shrinkage was expected, Spahr says, adding that M&T was able to land the deal at a good price because the thrift had problems. M&T agreed to pay 80% of Hudson City's tangible book value at the time the deal was announced.
"M&T is buying them at a discount for a reason," Spahr says, adding that Hudson City is rate-sensitive because of a
Hudson City's profit fell 11% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, to $42.5 million, as net interest income compressed because of low interest rates.
Hudson City's work force has decreased by nearly 5% since August 2012, to 1,535 employees at March 31. The company is believed to be using incentives to keep employee flight in check, such as offering workers rewards for staying on board through a certain date. That's often the best way to retain highly valued employees, Schultheis says.
"You've got to give them a reason to stay," Schultheis says. "If people know they're going to be severed, you have to make the severance attractive enough for them to stick around through the transition."
M&T has tried to free Hudson City up to make more loans. The banks amended their merger agreement in December to let Hudson City introduce new products as they await regulatory approval. M&T also agreed to let Hudson City focus on secondary mortgages and expand in commercial real estate lending.
Still, Hudson City has probably been an awkward place to work for some time and will remain so until the deal closes, and there is little management can do about the work environment, Schultheis says. "I don't want to say you put [the bank] on auto-pilot, because you can't," he says.
"You don't totally check out, but anything that's really strategic in focus is gone," Schultheis adds. "Hudson City is no longer the company that M&T [agreed to buy], but it's the company that M&T is going to buy."
