BUFFALO — M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE:MTB) and Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) today announced that they expect their proposed merger will require additional time.
The extra time is necessary to obtain a regulatory determination on the applications necessary to complete the planned combination, the banking companies said in a joint news release.
As a result, M&T and Hudson City have agreed to extend from Jan. 31 to Dec. 31, 2014 the date after which either bank may decide to terminate the merger agreement if it’s not complete, according to M&T.
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The Federal Reserve had previously identified “certain” regulatory concerns with M&T’s procedures, systems, and processes relating to M&T’s compliance program for the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering, the banking company said.
Buffalo–based M&T said it started addressing the Federal Reserve’s concerns earlier this year. M&T is devoting “substantial” resources to the effort and believes it is making “significant” progress, according to its news release.
Based upon discussions with the Federal Reserve, M&T said it expects that the central bank will need additional time to act on the merger application. The Federal Reserve may not make a final decision until the “latter part of 2014,” M&T said.
The banking company acknowledges it has no “assurances” that the Federal Reserve will complete the regulatory approval and that it and Hudson City can complete the merger by the end of 2014.
“We continue to believe strongly that a merger with Hudson City is beneficial to both institutions, their shareholders and the communities we serve. We could not have asked for a better partner than Hudson City as we continue to work towards a successful outcome,” Rene Jones, executive vice president and CFO of M&T, said in the release.
M&T and Hudson City intend to close the merger as soon as possible following the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals and satisfaction of all other conditions to closing, M&T added.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com