M&T Bank is offering a leadership development program to customers.
M&T Bank is known for cultivating leaders through its training programs, including its chairman and CEO, Rene Jones.
The Buffalo-based bank is sharing that expertise with some of its customers through a free leadership accelerator program called Next Up.
“It is a service to our customers, because a lot of our customers probably don’t have the bandwidth to develop their talent, so they’re going to outsource that anyways,” said Joel Patrick, M&T’s leadership program manager. “Some of them may not have the budget for that, and so what we want to do is we want to help them develop their talent, basically on the bank’s dime.”
There are nearly 30 participants in the program, meeting once a month for three consecutive months. About one third of them are M&T employees, learning alongside employees of outside companies.
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Inna Martin is one of the participants. She joined AAA of Western and Central New York six months ago, as a customer service supervisor in the insurance department. She had been laid off from her previous employer after 17 years.
Inna Martin, customer service supervisor at AAA of Western and Central New York (provided photo)
“My director and my human resources director have seen some amazing things in me and reached out and said, ‘We would love if you would like to participate in the M&T leadership program,’ ” Martin said. “They would like to see me go beyond my current position, and thought this would be a great program for me to join.
“And I said yes, because that’s what I also want to do,” she said.
Martin said a program such as this one gives leaders a fresh dose of motivation, and helps them recognize their own potential.
“For me, it’s always been a struggle to take a risk, to move to the next position,” she said. “I’ve had people in my corner that have supported me, who’ve wanted me to go beyond what I’m currently doing, and so this program is a way for me to go back and say, take a risk, develop myself, so that I am ready for the next position from what I’m currently doing.”
Participants in Next Up come from different job backgrounds, depending on the size of the employer. For instance, two of them are preparing to take over a business from their father, as part of a succession plan.
Larger companies might send middle managers to get trained. Smaller companies and charitable foundations might send the CEO, to broaden that person’s skills.
Patrick said the participants tend to be identified by their own employers as high performers who deliver results.
“As high performers, those skills that you’re executing your current job with aren’t the same skills that you’re going to need to lead people,” he said. The program teaches them things like how to communicate, and learning tailor their message to employees who respond differently from each other.
There is also an emphasis on networking among the program participants. And they will come away with individual development plans, based on a vision of where they see themselves in the next two to three years. It is a way to carry the lessons forward, beyond the end of the training sessions.
“We provide their managers with a guide so that the managers know what they’re going through, and the managers and the participants can have a meeting based off of the information,” Patrick said.
After the training sessions are complete, M&T will hold a graduation dinner. The participants’ managers and others integral to their growth are invited to attend.
M&T has been offering Next Up in its markets in different states, and expects to hold the program again in the Buffalo area, Patrick said.
Canal Bank branch nears debut
Canal Bank is about to debut its Williamsville branch.
The newly formed Western New York division of Elmira-based Chemung Canal Trust is scheduled to open its first Buffalo-area branch on Oct. 11 at 5529 Main St.
Chemung Canal Trust has operated a loan production office in Clarence since 2021. The building where the branch will be located, at Main and South Cayuga, was most recently home to a Bank of America branch.
M&T still tops in deposits
For the 14th consecutive year, M&T Bank led the Buffalo market in deposit market share, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Each year, the FDIC takes a one-day snapshot of banks’ deposits – on June 30 – and releases the results.
M&T was No. 1, with 61.8%. KeyBank was No. 2, at 12.1%, followed by HSBC, with 6.2%.
Banks often hold deposits from large corporate or institutional customers at certain offices, which can bulk up their numbers. M&T is headquartered here, and HSBC has only one “wealth center” locally, apart from its back-office operations.
The rankings were the same from a year ago, but M&T’s share dropped from 68.4% in 2023.
“Market-level numbers in our footprint have some variance as we refine our internal categorizations,” the bank said in a statement. “Deposits are an important part of our offering to communities, and we are committed to helping our customers meet their financial needs.”
The local rankings are headed for a change next year, with NBT Bank planning to acquire Evans Bank in early 2025. NBT presently has no local branches, while Evans had deposit market share of 2.63%, ranking seventh.
Key moved up from 10% a year ago, and HSBC’s share improved from 4.9%.
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Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com.
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