M&T Cites Productive Loan Figures

Editor's note: This information is intended to follow up on the story that ran on page 3 of the February issue of The Business Monthly that concerned bank loans.

Despite today's challenging economic environment and the difficulty many businesses have experience in securing loans, M&T Bank has continued to actively lend money to businesses in Maryland.
Management at the bank pointed to the latest Small Business Administration (SBA) fiscal year-end data, which indicates that M&T is ranked number one in the SBA's Baltimore District (which encompasses all of Maryland, except Montgomery and Prince George's counties), having granted 162 loans worth $17.1 million. This represented a 30% increase from the previous year's total of 114 loans for $11.3 million - when M&T, the 16th largest among commercial banks headquartered in the U.S., also finished first in the SBA rankings.
M&T Market Manager for Business Banking Joe Durham said that the institution concentrates heavily on assisting small businesses. "We've been adding personnel since before the recession started and are still looking to do so in Howard and Anne Arundel counties," he said. "Though the economy was struggling, we identified sources of federal and state assistance so we could continue to expand traditional lending to small businesses in the communities we serve.
"The intent of the government stimulus programs and TARP was to have banks continue making loans to bolster the economy, and I think we have demonstrated that we have done that," Durham said. "At M&T, our average total loans in 2009 were up 4.5% from the previous year."
While many financial organizations have altered loan standards during the last year or two, there have not been any major changes at M&T, he said.
"We take a consistent, prudent approach to lending and, because of that, our lending criteria have not changed much," Durham said. "We have made minor modifications due to altered real estate values in our market, but we are still very much actively making loans."