Fitch Ratings affirmed M&T Bank Corporation's (MTB) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'A' and Short-Term IDR at 'F1'.
Fitch also affirmed the IDRs of MTB's subsidiaries, Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company, Wilmington Trust Company, and Wilmington Trust, N.A.
The Rating Outlook is Stable.
Key Rating Drivers
Ratings Affirmed, Stable Rating Outlook: The ratings affirmation reflects MTB's strong earnings power, conservative risk profile, and solid liquidity and capital levels. Fitch also views MTB's less volatile performance and conservative balance sheet management as key drivers of its higher ratings than those of similarly sized peers.
Strong Northeast Presence: MTB maintains leading deposit market shares across 12 core Northeast states, with a stable, consumer-heavy deposit base. The company's fee mix is diversified, spanning capital markets, mortgage banking, and trust and wealth management through Wilmington Trust. MTB's long-tenured client relationships, underpinned by a deliberate, slower growth strategy, have supported relative credit outperformance in its commercial and retail banking businesses.
Conservative Risk Profile: Fitch views MTB's credit underwriting, conservative loan classifications, and interest rate management as credit strengths that have supported greater through-the-cycle capital stability than peers. MTB has also significantly reduced its commercial real estate (CRE) concentration, which had previously exceeded peer levels. Measured as a percentage of risk-based capital, CRE concentration declined to 134% at 2Q26 from 208% at 4Q22. The bank's interest rate risk appetite is also lower than that of its peers, as reflected in its relatively low unrealized losses on available-for-sale (AFS) securities during the 2022 rate-hike cycle.
Improved CRE performance: MTB's 1H26 net charge-offs (NCOs) were 27 bps, down from 41 bps in fiscal 2025 and below both Fitch's expectations and the peer median. The improvement reflected lower charge-offs in CRE and improved commercial and industrial (C&I) performance. MTB's impaired loan ratio was 1.43% at 2Q26, above the peer average of 1.22% but down from 1.93% a year earlier. Fitch considers the elevated ratio partly attributable to MTB's more conservative risk grading. MTB's loan loss coverage of non-performing loans (NPLs) was the lowest among peers, although lower expected loss severity in its loan book partly offset this weakness.
Strong Earnings: MTB has the highest operating profit-to-risk-weighted assets (RWA) ratio in the peer group at 2.31% at 1H26. Its peer-leading earnings performance in 2025 and 1H26 was partly attributable to faster repricing of its lower-duration investment portfolio and above-peer levels of non-interest-bearing deposits, which supported higher net interest income (NII).
Conservative Capital Management: With nominal/negligible levels of accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) at June 30, 2026, MTB's AOCI-adjusted common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio equals its regulatory CET1 at 10.2%, roughly 80 bps above the peer median. Fitch expects MTB's CET1 to remain at or above its longer-term 10% target. Conservative capital management supports MTB's above-peer capital score. MTB paused share repurchases in 2Q23 and retained capital above peer levels as CRE pressures increased. MTB's dividend payout ratio is the lowest among Category III and IV banks, providing additional capital flexibility.
Deep Deposit Franchise: MTB's 2Q26 loans-to-deposits (LTD) ratio of 84.9% was above the peer median of 82.6%. Although the ratio has risen over the past year, Fitch believes the bank will sustainably operate below its pre-pandemic range of the mid- to high-90s. The 2022 acquisition of deposit-rich People's United Bank, together with a gradual shift from CRE lending toward deposit-generating C&I relationships, supports the stronger funding profile. However, MTB's footprint in slower-growing New England and its focus on managing deposit costs should constrain deposit growth to a level below peers over the rating horizon.
Holding Company Notching: MTB's holding company Viability Rating (VR) is equalized with Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company's VR due to adequate liquidity management. MTB's common equity double leverage is below 120%, and it maintains a liquidity buffer at the holding company to cover upcoming cash outflows.
Rating Sensitivities
Factors that Could, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Negative Rating Action/Downgrade
Negative rating pressure could occur if share buybacks result in a decline in CET1 (inclusive of AOCI) below 9% without a credible plan to rebuild above that level;
NCOs increasing materially beyond those of similarly rated peers or NCOs exceeding 75 bps over four quarters could pressure the rating;
Material deterioration in MTB's funding profile, evidenced by an increase in LTD above 90% and/or a significant increase in brokered deposits, could pressure the rating.
Factors that Could, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Positive Rating Action/Upgrade
Significant outperformance in earnings supported by fee income diversification, excluding deposit service charges, accompanied by below-peer through-the-cycle NCOs, could lead to positive rating momentum.
OTHER DEBT AND ISSUER RATINGS: KEY RATING DRIVERS
Long-Term and Short-Term Deposit Ratings: Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company's and Wilmington Trust, National Association's long-term and short-term uninsured deposit ratings are two notch higher than their respective VRs because U.S. uninsured deposits benefit from depositor preference. U.S. depositor preference gives deposit liabilities superior recovery prospects in default. The banks' long-term deposit rating are affirmed at 'AA-?'?.
Short-term deposit ratings are linked to long-term deposit ratings using the Rating Correspondence Table in Fitch's Bank Rating Criteria. Accordingly, Fitch affirmed the bank's short-term deposit rating at 'F1+'.
Long-Term Senior Unsecured Debt: MTB's and Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company's long-term senior debt ratings are equalized with the respective entities' VRs.
Subordinated Debt and Other Hybrid Securities: The subordinated debt for Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company is notched one level below MTB's VR for loss severity. In accordance with Fitch's Bank Rating Criteria, this reflects alternative notching to the base case of two notches due to Fitch's view of early intervention options available to banking regulators under U.S. law.
MTB's preferred stock rating of 'BBB-?' is notched four levels below MTB's VR, encompassing two notches for loss severity and two notches for nonperformance. MTB's trust preferred securities - Provident (MD) Capital Trust I - are rated 'BBB-?'?. The rating is notched twice from the VR for loss severity and twice for nonperformance.
Government Support: MTB's and its operating companies' Government Support Ratings (GSRs) of 'ns' reflect Fitch's view that government support is unlikely.
OTHER DEBT AND ISSUER RATINGS: RATING SENSITIVITIES
Long-Term and Short-Term Deposit Ratings: The long- and short-term deposit ratings are sensitive to any change to Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company's and Wilmington Trust, National Association's VRs. Their short-term deposit ratings are also sensitive to Fitch's assessment of MTB's funding and liquidity profile.
Long-Term Senior Unsecured Debt: MTB and its operating companies' long-term senior unsecured debt ratings are sensitive to any change to respective issuing entities' VRs. Fitch may also notch down the senior unsecured rating of MTB as it approaches or crosses over to Category III, as this would represent the application of baseline notching per Fitch's rating criteria.
The short-term senior unsecured debt rating is also sensitive to Fitch's assessment of MTB's funding and liquidity profile.
Subordinated Debt and Other Hybrid Securities: The ratings for MTB and its operating companies' subordinated debt and preferred stock are sensitive to any change to the VR. Fitch may also notch down the subordinated debt of MTB as it approaches or crosses over to Category III, as this would represent the application of baseline notching per Fitch's rating criteria.
Government Support: MTB's and its operating companies' GSR would be sensitive to any change in Fitch's view of U.S. sovereign support, which Fitch views as unlikely.
VR ADJUSTMENTS
There are no adjustments.
REFERENCES FOR SUBSTANTIALLY MATERIAL SOURCE CITED AS KEY DRIVER OF RATING
The principal sources of information used in the analysis are described in the Applicable Criteria.
ESG Considerations
The highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of '3', unless otherwise disclosed in this section. A score of '3' means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or the way in which they are being managed by the entity. Fitch's ESG Relevance Scores are not inputs in the rating process; they are an observation on the relevance and materiality of ESG factors in the rating decision. For more information on Fitch's ESG Relevance Scores, visit https://www.fitchratings.com/topics/esg/products#esg-relevance-scores.
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