The merger between Connecticut-based People’s United Bank and Buffalo, New York-based M&T Bank Corp. is costing 256 Vermonters their jobs.
People’s United filed a notice with the Vermont Department of Labor on July 22 under Vermont’s WARN Act that it is laying off 254 people. A spokesperson for M&T says the number has grown to 256.
The company said in a press release Monday that jobs in Connecticut would also be affected.
M&T says most of the layoffs will take effect next year. In a letter July 22 to Vermont Secretary of Commerce and Community Development Lindsay Kurrle, the bank said layoffs will begin Oct. 1 and continue until next May.
In an email to VTDigger, Kyle Thweatt, communications director for the Vermont Department of Labor, said 176 jobs will be eliminated at the Williston Operations Center and an additional 51 jobs in Brattleboro.
The bank says it will retain “all customer-facing employees.”
“People’s United employees who were impacted in the merger will be given first priority for applications” for 1,800 positions currently open in the company nationwide, an M&T spokesperson told VTDigger in an email.
People’s United’s 20 Vermont branches have more deposits than any other bank in Vermont, accounting for 26% of all deposits in the state, Vermont Department of Financial Regulation Commissioner Michael Pieciak told VTDigger earlier this year. Until the layoffs, the bank employed more than 1,000 Vermonters.
M&T bought People’s United for $7.6 billion earlier this year.
