Banker & Tradesman file photo
Speaking at an event in Boston, M&T Bank CEO René Jones predicted more M&A activity in the Northeast – including some driven by his own institution.
Jones credited a friendlier regulatory environment for a potential uptick in merger activity in a “fireside chat” with Eastern Bank Executive Chair Bob Rivers at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza hosted by the Boston College Chief Executives Club Wednesday afternoon.
“I do think you’re going to see a lot of transactions,” he said. “Sometimes, a lot of those transactions lead to another transaction down the road, if they’re reasonable.”
While the regulatory environment might open up merger activity, Jones noted that for M&T Bank, that isn’t the primary reason it enters into these type of deals.
“For us, there aren’t a ton of partners,” he said. “We’ve got to be like-minded, because the integration has to go well. People’s United – just think about it this way, we had 17,000 employees and we added 5000. If those 5000 employees don’t have some semblance of the same goal of what you’re trying to do, this is not going to go well.”
M&T Bank made its entry into the Massachusetts market in 2022 when it bought Connecticut-based regional lender People’s United Bank.
Jones added that M&T Bank doesn’t have aspirations of becoming a national institution, which can impact how it views potential M&A deals. Still, the bank is looking to grow deeper in the communities where it already exists.
The Massachusetts banking landscape has seen at least nine bank mergers proposed or completed in the last 12 months, including three landmark deals.
Eastern Bank acquired Cambridge Trust in 2024 and suddenly announced a merger with HarborOne in April, giving it access to the Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts markets. Rockland Trust also completed its merger with Enterprise Bank in this summer, opening up New Hampshire and the Merrimack Valley to its brand. And Brookline Bank and Berkshire Bank completed their merger Sept. 1, creating a new multi-state Northeast regional bank with a presence from Boston to the New York City suburbs.
