It’s what we like about Buffalo. I’m referring to hometown banks like M&T that have withstood the financial crisis, coming out relatively unscathed and ready to do business. That’s one of the reasons that Forbes has profiled the bank – as Forbes staff writer puts it, “Buffalo may be miles away from New York City as a financial capital, but when it comes to putting money to work in the U.S. banking sector John Fox prefers the former to the latter.
“Fox, who co-manages Fenimore Asset Management’s $700 million Value Fund, owns regional banks as a play on improving U.S. growth without the headaches that come along with the “Too Big To Fail” crowd. Among the names he likes is Buffalo-based M&T Bank.
“With $78 billion in assets — a far cry from the $1 trillion-plus controlled by the likes of Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo — M&T is a solid size but hardly a giant in the industry. That puts it in something of a sweet spot for both organic growth and acquisitions.”
Since M&T is looking like the hometown hero here, I think that it should celebrate a bit… the perfect way to do that is by funding a significant project in need. This might be wishful thinking, and I’m sure that we all have our wish lists for projects that we would like to see move forward.
If I were to pick the project that I believe would benefit most from M&T backing, it would be Horsefeathers Community Market – a high profile market that would boost West Side properties, offer super healthy food to Greater Buffalonians, reinvigorate a prime historic building, and help to grow a number of start-up businesses.
Remember what the owner of K9 Connection said about the importance of local banks lending to host communities? M&T has already proved its worth in the eyes of Forbes. M&T has also been a major, longstanding building block of Buffalo. Now it’s time to roll up the sleeves and protect local community assets by continuing to invest in businesses and developers with proven track records. After all, M&T is Buffalo’s Main Street (not Wall Street) bank.