M&T Bank Sees Broad 2026 Loan Growth as AI and Fee Businesses Gain Traction

M&T Bank expects broad-based loan growth in 2026, with year-over-year growth estimated at about 6% as middle-market and large corporate customers increase spending. Auto lending is showing modest softness, while other loan categories are strengthening. The bank is expanding fee-generating businesses by reducing commercial real estate held on its balance sheet and increasing capital-markets, wealth-management and mortgage-placement activity. Technology and AI investments are accelerating : roughly 16,000 of M&T’s 22,000 employees have AI proficiency, and the bank is applying AI to underwriting, fraud and cybersecurity while exploring broader operational efficiencies.

M& T Bank NYSE: MTB Chairman and CEO René Jones said the lender is seeing broad-based loan demand in 2026, supported by what he characterized as one of the strongest operating environments of his career. He also outlined continued investment in technology, process modernization and fee-based businesses as the bank seeks to maintain its competitive position. Speaking at an investor conference, Jones said M&T's longstanding approach centers on patient decision-making, disciplined underwriting and relationship-based banking. He said the company works to preserve that culture through talent development, including programs that teach banking fundamentals to employees who may not enter the company with financial-services backgrounds.

“The fundamentals of an intermediary, I don't think really change,” Jones said, citing the importance of credit and liquidity management even as technology changes the industry.

Jones said 2026 has differed sharply from 2025, when M&T remained cautious on commercial real estate and saw lower utilization in commercial-and-industrial lending. He said much of the C&I growth reported across the industry in 2025 was concentrated in non-depository financial institutions, data centers and other areas in which M&T was not active.

Now, however, “everything you look at is growing in concert,” he said. Jones estimated that year-over-year loan growth was likely around 6%, adding that middle-market businesses as well as large corporations are spending money. He cited only modest softness in auto lending while describing other areas as moving higher. On deposits, Jones said consumer checking-account growth remains an important long-term foundation for the franchise, while current balance growth is more heavily driven by commercial customers and is somewhat rate-sensitive. Strong loan growth has led the bank to pay somewhat more for deposits outside of demand deposit accounts, he said, but he said such pricing is appropriate when relationships generate attractive returns across multiple services. Asked about net interest margin expectations, Jones did not provide a new figure, saying that “whatever Daryl says is what is the truth,” referring to another company executive. He said M&T has historically had a relatively high margin but also a higher expense base because of its investment in technology and process improvements.

Jones said M&T's efforts over the past five years to reduce balance-sheet exposure to commercial real estate while expanding customer capabilities have contributed to stronger fee income. He said the bank's real estate-related businesses have enabled it to continue serving customers without retaining all related loans on its own balance sheet. Capital-mark...