As much as you want to wish it, hope it, pray it and think it, nothing’s forever. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve has approved the $7.6 billion M&T Bank Corporation purchase of People’s United Bank, Bridgeport’s number one financial institution founded in 1842 as Bridgeport Savings Bank in the Downtown store of iron merchants George and Sherwood Sterling on Water Street. On Christmas Eve of that year the first account was opened by the Fayerweather lighthouse keeper for his daughter Helen Moore.
For historical background on the bank see here.
No further regulatory hurdles are required. The current People’s building, according to officials, will serve as the New England regional headquarters for M&T. The deal could officially close within weeks.
This merger, announced a year ago, is expected to lift M&T to $200 billion in assets, roughly 1,100 branches and 2,000 ATMs covering 12 states from Maine to Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Rene Jones, M&T’s chief executive officer and chairman, recently wrote to shareholders:
“Ours may not be the markets that garner attention for their high growth and new migrants from other U.S. regions. But, nonetheless, they comprise 22 percent of the U.S. population and an even greater share (25 percent) of GDP. We both understand that the Northeast remains a vital region, marked not only by places that have lagged, but also by areas of exceptional affluence, from Fairfield County, Connecticut to Bethesda and Boston.”
