M&T Bank again faces a backlash in Connecticut

One yr after M&T Financial institution navigated the fallout from layoffs tied to its acquisition of Individuals’s United Monetary, the Buffalo, New York-based firm is once more dealing with a backlash in Connecticut.

The reemergence of tensions within the Nutmeg State stems partially from issues that M&T encountered over Labor Day weekend, when the financial institution was changing Individuals’s United programs onto the M&T platform. The job cuts in Connecticut, first introduced final yr, are additionally drawing renewed scrutiny.

In a letter Wednesday to M&T, Connecticut Lawyer Basic William Tong described numerous complaints that his workplace has obtained from each customers and financial institution workers in reference to the latest programs conversion.

“Prospects have been blocked from on-line accounts and cellphone apps, wait occasions in branches and on the cellphone have been unacceptably lengthy, actual property closings might have been delayed and in any other case difficult, computerized funds have been disrupted, amongst different complaints,” Tong wrote.

“We’ve got heard complaints from workers and former workers that skilled Individuals’s United employees most educated with the banking programs have been sidelined in the course of the conversion.”

Whereas Tong acknowledged that programs conversions sometimes encounter challenges, he additionally wrote: “I share your prospects’ outrage on the severe lack of preparation for this conversion.”

Different Connecticut politicians have been extra subdued of their feedback in regards to the programs conversion. M&T closed on its $7.6 billion acquisition of Bridgeport, Connecticut-based Individuals’s United in April. 

Christopher Rosario, a Democratic state consultant who represents Bridgeport, mentioned that whereas many people reported a seamless switch, a “fairly regular stream of shoppers” are nonetheless having hassle logging into their on-line accounts.

“Different folks have had points with enterprise banking,” Rosario mentioned in an interview. “That is to be anticipated with massive company mergers.”

A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont mentioned that M&T has stayed in touch with the governor’s workplace and the state Division of Banking in the course of the merger.

“The administration is intently monitoring M&T’s progress as they convert digital programs,” the governor’s spokesperson mentioned in an e-mail. 

Greater than 90% of Individuals’s United prospects who’ve tried to log in to M&T’s cellular banking platform have been profitable, in keeping with Michael Keegan, govt vice chairman and head of neighborhood markets at M&T.

“The overwhelming majority of individuals had an excellent expertise by way of the conversion,” Keegan mentioned in an interview. “However we’re nonetheless centered on the ten% that have not. That is the place we’re focusing our time now, ensuring these persons are efficiently on board.”

Conversions of digital programs following financial institution mergers usually encounter snags, sparking buyer frustration.

After Truist Monetary accomplished a expertise integration in February, some prospects confronted delays in accessing money and utilizing new debit playing cards, and encountered lengthy waits for customer support.

Complaints towards the Charlotte, North Carolina, financial institution have been up 81% in March in contrast with January, in keeping with Shopper Monetary Safety Bureau information.

Tong, a Democrat elected as legal professional normal in 2018, wrote to M&T in August 2021 expressing concern in regards to the financial institution’s plans at the moment for 747 layoffs in Connecticut.

Later, M&T made sure commitments in regards to the dimension of the workforce that it deliberate to take care of in Connecticut. The financial institution mentioned that it could preserve 1,959 Connecticut-based employees, together with 1,000 workers in Bridgeport.

In his letter Wednesday, Tong said that his workplace has heard about Individuals’s United workers who’re being retained, however in positions that pay considerably much less. He additionally wrote that his workplace has been instructed about jobs being relocated from elsewhere in Connecticut to Bridgeport with a view to fulfill the financial institution’s dedication to make use of 1,000 folks in the neighborhood.

Moreover, Tong mentioned that his workplace has obtained complaints from laid-off workers who say they haven’t gotten well timed details about severance funds, trip payouts and extra.

Keegan mentioned Friday that M&T’s pledge to take care of 1,959 Connecticut-based workers, together with 1,000 based mostly in Bridgeport, “stays our dedication.”

“We need to proceed to develop and wish gifted workers to do it,” Keegan mentioned.

Of the 747 Individuals’s United workers notified about layoffs final yr, a “small proportion” misplaced their jobs after the deal closed in April, whereas others left on the conversion and “some will stay” for the subsequent three months, Keegan added.

In his letter to the $204 billion-asset M&T, Tong posed a sequence of questions on each job cuts and the programs conversion, and he requested a gathering with M&T officers to debate the considerations. A gathering is anticipated to be held within the coming days.