Dive Brief:

• Former Truist CFO Daryl Bible will join M&T Bank in the second quarter of 2023, the Buffalo, New York-based bank said Wednesday in a press release.
• M&T’s current CFO, Darren King, will stay on with the bank in a role overseeing a portfolio that includes retail and business banking, mortgage lending and consumer lending, the bank said. King is expected to remain M&T’s CFO through a second-quarter transition.
• M&T CEO Rene Jones, in a statement, called Bible a “highly respected banking veteran” with “unsurpassed acumen.” Jones credited Bible’s leadership as crucial throughout the BB&T-SunTrust merger that created Truist in 2019.

Dive Insight:

M&T no doubt seeks to lean on Bible’s merger experience while sorting out the details of its ongoing synthesis with Bridgeport, Connecticut-based People’s United. That $7.6 billion merger received the Federal Reserve’s sign-off in March but has seen its share of bumps.

M&T began converting People’s United accounts over the Labor Day weekend, but the transition left some customers unable to access their money online — prompting complaints and a scolding from Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who accused the bank of a “serious lack of preparation.” The incident also spurred Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, to call for federal regulators to investigate M&T’s handling of the conversion.

Jones, for his part, pledged that M&T would compensate former People’s United customers for the financial troubles they encountered during conversion. The bank also said it would waive consumer checking and savings fees and not assess late fees for consumer and mortgage loan payments through October. 

Five New England senators, in response, welcomed M&T’s mea culpa but said they “will continue monitoring the situation to make sure M&T follows through with their promises.”

Bible, during his Truist days, regularly gave investors proactive updates on the changing estimates of merger-related costs.

Bible in May announced his retirement from Truist, where he served for 14 years, beginning as assistant CFO. Bible had previously worked at U.S. Bank for 24 years, starting in 1983, in roles including corporate treasurer.

Truist tapped Mike Maguire, previously its chief consumer finance and payments officer, to become CFO, effective Sept. 15. Bible was slated to stay on throughout the transition. His LinkedIn profile indicates he is a contractor for Truist as of this month.

This is not the first C-suite shuffle for M&T this year — nor is it likely the last shift. Richard Gold, the bank’s president and chief operating officer, said he would retire after the first quarter of 2023. At last glance, M&T had yet to name a successor for that post.

In another move announced Wednesday, M&T appointed Chris Kay as its head of enterprise platforms. That role will put Kay in charge of strengthening the bank's core capabilities, including digital and enterprise payments, and enhancing other core bank platforms, the bank said. Kay is set to begin that role in the second quarter of 2023.

"One of the core tenets of our operating model is having a seasoned and deep bench of executive leaders that often serve in many capacities during their tenure," Jones said in Wednesday’s press release. "This has allowed us to build on our experience and learnings for the overall benefit of the business.”

King, for one, has worn a number of hats for M&T since his arrival in 2000. Before becoming CFO in 2016, he was the retail-banking executive in charge of overseeing business-banking functions for M&T’s branch and ATM network, according to an M&T executive biography. He also oversaw the bank’s marketing and communications division.

Kay, who joined M&T in 2018, serves as a senior executive vice president, leading all aspects of consumer banking, business banking and marketing, the bank said.