People’s United, a major bank in Vermont that accounts for more deposits than any other bank in the state, has been bought by a regional competitor.
Announced Monday, the $7.6 billion buyout of People’s United Financial Inc. by M&T Bank Corp. brings the asset value of the combined companies to more than $200 billion, Bloomberg News reported. The merged companies will have more than 1,000 locations in 12 states, from Virginia to Vermont.
“M&T is a like-minded partner that shares our culture of supporting communities by focusing on building meaningful relationships and providing personalized products, services and local market expertise to customers,” said Jack Barnes, CEO of People’s United, in a press release. Barnes lives in Charlotte and graduated from the University of Vermont.
Peoples United, headquartered in Bridgeport, Connecticut, has 20 Vermont branches in towns from Swanton to Middlebury, plus many ATM locations around the state. It employs more than 1,000 Vermonters, including 200 at a Brattleboro processing center, according to Mike Pieciak, commissioner of the state’s Department of Financial Regulation.
People’s United has been one of the most prominent institutions in Vermont banking since it acquired the Chittenden Corporation in 2007. Twenty-six percent of all of Vermont bank deposits happen at People’s United branches, Pieciak said.
“Whether it’s from a banking access standpoint or a business loan standpoint or an employment standpoint, they have this really broad footprint in our state,” the commissioner said.
It’s too early to tell whether that Vermont footprint — including the number of jobs at People’s United branches, and the number of in-state branches itself — could change when the bank rebrands under M&T, Pieciak said. The rebranding process after a bank merger can often take months, and it is still too early to tell what effect the merger could ultimately have on depositors and businesses.
But the state has already heard from M&T’s leadership, Pieciak said, which makes him optimistic about the relationship between the company and Vermont going forward.
Vermont Bankers Association President Chris D’Elia shares that optimism.
“M&T is a very strong, community-oriented financial institution with a solid reputation in the market that they serve,” D’Elia said. “My guess is that they’re going to bring that reputation here to Vermont.”
Another positive sign about the merger, Pieciak said, is that Barnes will have a seat on M&T’s board of directors.
“It’s always nice to have someone at the top who knows the marketplace, knows the businesses in the state,” Pieciak said. “I think that filters down through the organization.”
While the buyout’s impact on existing jobs at People’s United is not yet clear, M&T CEO René F. Jones touted both companies’ commitment to small-community values as positive aspects of the deal.
“Combining our common legacies and our complementary footprints will strengthen our ability to serve our communities and customers, and provide solutions that make a difference in people’s lives,” Jones said in the press release.
M&T’s purchase of People’s United follows a pattern of similar-sized, regionally strong banks consolidating in the face of competition from larger companies. M&T has locations throughout New England, upstate New York and across the Mid-Atlantic region, though it did not have any Vermont locations before buying People’s United.
Barnes could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and People’s United Vermont Region President Michael Seaver did not immediately reply to VTDigger’s requests for comment, either.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the location of the Peoples United processing center. It is in Brattleboro.
