State works to preserve People’s Bank jobs

BRIDGEPORT — It took New York-based M&T Bank over a year to acquire Bridgeport-headquartered People’s United Bank.

With that process having formally concluded at the start of the month, it remains to be seen what that means in terms of services for People’s customers and whether there will be a net gain or loss of jobs at the bank’s headquarters within the city and in its branches across Connecticut.

But state and local officials who met Friday with M&T representatives at People’s tower in downtown Bridgeport spoke optimistically about the future. It was a follow-up to a similar gathering Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration organized last August in the wake of the news of 747 possible layoffs.

“I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised at how much of a community and state partner they want to be,” Paul Mounds, Lamont’s chief of staff, said in a subsequent interview

Friday. “Once they get past this whole issue in terms of how to deal with the jobs and such and get themselves placed here, they’re going to make sure they want to be well-known in the state.”

“I walked away from the conversation in a good place. I felt heard,” said City Council President Aidee Nieves, who participated in the gathering with Lamont’s aides, Bridgeport state representatives and staff from Mayor Joe Ganim’s office.

Buffalo-based M&T announced April 2 that, after 14 months, its $8.3 billion purchase of People’s, founded in Bridgeport and one of Connecticut’s largest home-grown financial institutions, was finalized.

M&T this week, in response to several questions posed by Hearst Connecticut Media about what comes next, indicated changes will not happen overnight.

“While People’s United is now part of M&T Bank, its former branches and most services offered will operate as ‘People’s United, a division of M&T Bank’ until we complete the integration of our systems in the third quarter of 2022,” the company said.

M&T also advised that, “People’s United customers should continue to bank as they normally would. That includes using their current People’s United checks, debit cards and credit cards. All accounts will move to M&T branded material after systems conversion.”

M&T will notify customers “well in advance” of changes to their accounts or other services via mail adorned with the M&T logo.

The bank has also recently hired a well-connected public relations firm — Intersect, co-founded by Lamont predecessor Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s former chief of staff, Brian Durand — to assist with communications as it seeks to establish its Connecticut presence.

As for the takeover’s impact on jobs, the situation is murky, with M&T at this point giving few details.

The bank said it was “thrilled to welcome nearly 4,500 new colleagues” — a figure that represents a former People’s workforce spread out between over 400

branches in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Maine.

M&T did not provide Hearst Connecticut Media with current People’s personnel figures specific to Connecticut or to Bridgeport, where the bank pledged to maintain its New England regional headquarters and employ “at least 1,000 people ... within 12 months after system conversion.”

Pre-pandemic around 1,350 People’s staffers went to work within the Bridgeport tower, and the news last year of the takeover and potential layoffs shocked downtown businesses who rely on their staff’s patronage.

It was revealed last summer that the purchase would result in 747 layoffs. But M&T this week also told Hearst Connecticut Media that “People’s United employees will be given priority when applying to the over 1,000 job openings across all M&T communities.”

Meanwhile the state banking department on Friday said, “M&T has given written assurances that these employees will be given priority consideration for the roughly 1,500 open positions at M&T, which include approximately 1,000 positions that are remote work opportunities.”

M&T did not respond to a question about when the layoffs and hiring will begin. The company is pledging “to keep 100 percent of the customer-facing employees currently working at People’s United branches” and also to honor People’s previously announced commitment to retain 27 in-store Stop & Shop supermarket branches and all of those staffers.

Asked whether Bridgeport and Connecticut would see a net job gain, losses or break even, Mounds Friday responded, “The (Lamont) administration’s focus has always been to retain as many jobs as possible throughout this process. We have received commitments from M&T ... that while there are displacements, there will be jobs posted and available that can be within Connecticut that will lessen the amount of job losses.”

“We will continuously work with M&T, the city and state legislators to focus on that mission,” Mounds said.

Mounds said M&T has made it clear to state and city officials that it is committed to community investments and partnerships, particularly in Bridgeport.

“That was important for me to hear and everyone to hear,” he said.

According to the state banking department, some of those efforts as of Friday will include: Making annual contributions of $25 million in their market area; investing over $42 billion across all its markets for home lending, small business lending, investments in the environment, community development, affordable housing and philanthropic contributions; providing banking services and products to lowand moderate-income areas and supporting small businesses; offering a first-time home buyers program; and increasing the use of local small business services and products, with emphasis on women and minority-owned establishments.