M&T still dominates in Buffalo Niagara region’s deposits [The Buffalo News, N.Y.]

Oct. 02--M&T Bank Corp. and First Niagara Financial Group remain the heavyweights among banks in the Buffalo Niagara market as measured by their share of deposits, according to the latest figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The FDIC annually provides a one-day snapshot of banks' deposit market share for metro areas around the country, including the Buffalo Niagara region. Based on data from June 30, M&T easily maintained the highest market share in the region at 47.2 percent, up from 42.75 percent a year ago. It reported deposits in the region of $15.6 billion, out of $33 billion for the entire region.

First Niagara's share also improved, to 27.6 percent from 26.2 percent a year ago. It had deposits of $9.1 billion.

This year's rankings reflected the results of HSBC Bank USA's decision to sell its upstate banking network. While HSBC reported a regional market share of 8.76 percent in 2012, good enough for third place, it sold off its branches and disappeared from the rankings this year, leaving other banks to absorb its market share.

KeyBank moved up to No. 3 from No. 4 a year ago, with a market share of 10.7 percent, up from 8.26 percent.

Combined, the top three banks on the list accounted for more than 85 percent of Western New York's deposit market share. The region's amount of deposits increased about 2.2 percent from 2012.

Darren King, executive vice president for retail banking at M&T, said the bank was pleased to see its deposit total and percentage grow from last year, but he said M&T prefers to look at the statistics over multiple years to spot trends, rather than an individual year, when the numbers might fluctuate. "We try not to get too excited about any particular year."

First Niagara finished acquiring HSBC branches in May 2012 and has retained more than 97 percent of the converted balances. Scott Fisher, First Niagara's managing director of retail channels, said he believes the "market disruption" stemming from HSBC's sale of its upstate branches came to an end in the fourth quarter of 2012.

First Niagara's deposit growth of 7.6 percent from a year ago exceeded the bank's goal, Fisher said. "The big message is, we've got money to lend. We're actively working that each and every day."

KeyBank also benefited greatly from HSBC's decision to sell its upstate branches: It acquired 26 Buffalo area HSBC branches from First Niagara as part of the complex transaction.

King said M&T also gained customers from HSBC's upstate branch network sale, but he agreed that the ripple effect from HSBC's branch sale has settled down at this point.

Citizens Bank was No. 4 in the market-share rankings, followed by Bank of America, Evans Bank and Northwest Savings Bank. Those four banks had a combined market share of less than 12 percent.

While the rankings provide an annual glimpse of how the banks stack up against each other in deposits, the figures they report for their headquarters branches can bulk up their respective numbers. Banks often hold deposits from large corporate or institutional customers in their central offices. The FDIC statistics do not break out which deposits came from inside the area and outside the area.

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