M&T's botched People's United conversion locked customers out of their money

M&T Bank closed its $7.6 billion acquisition of People's United in April 2022 and converted customer accounts over Labor Day weekend. The cutover failed for enough customers that Connecticut Attorney General William Tong accused the bank of a 'serious lack of preparation', writing that 'M&T's poor planning cost Connecticut customers timely access to their banking records, their bill pay systems, and their money.'

Customers waited hours on hold and at branches; the delays hit real estate closings and automatic payments. Senator Richard Blumenthal asked the heads of the Federal Reserve and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to review the conversion process and 'take any necessary enforcement action against M&T Bank'. M&T added branch staff, extended call hours and activated digital upgrades, saying the 'vast majority' of customers had onboarded successfully.

It was the second integration clash with Tong in a month: he had already written to the bank over its notice to Connecticut's labor department of 747 anticipated layoffs, and the bank committed to keeping 1,959 Connecticut-based workers — 72% of People's United's workforce in the state.

Customers waited hours for access to records, bill pay and funds; real estate closings and autopayments disrupted; AG threatened enforcement

M&T scheduled the cutover for a holiday weekend, exactly when branch staffing and support capacity are thinnest.

Customers lost timely access to records, bill pay and money — the core services a conversion is supposed to preserve.

The bank's reassurance that the 'vast majority' were fine left the affected minority without a rapid remedy.

The same integration produced a 747-job layoff notice, compounding political scrutiny of how the deal was being handled.

In a bank merger, conversion weekend is the moment of truth: cutting over accounts without tested access paths turns an acquisition into a regulators' case study.

Tong demanded a dedicated high-level contact at the bank and threatened to use 'the full extent of our authority'; a meeting between bank executives and the attorney general was expected within days. Blumenthal's letter put the conversion under potential Federal Reserve and CFPB review.