About Rene Jones
René Jones, chairman and CEO of M&T Bank, said during the bank's 2024 annual shareholder meeting that the bank's strategy focuses on stability and low volatility, which he said produces growth. He noted that in the first quarter of 2024, loans grew year-over-year by 1%, with 8% growth in commercial and industrial loans to middle-market companies and a 7% decline in commercial real estate, which he described as part of a multi-year effort to reduce the bank's commercial real estate exposure. Jones stated that the bank's net interest margin began to stabilize, and that tangible book value per share grew 12% year-over-year, allowing the bank to cross an 11% capital threshold. He characterized the approach as "really boring" but necessary to prepare for unpredictable events.
Jones also discussed the bank's community engagement, saying he had not needed to campaign internally about the importance of community work because it is "who we are." He described the bank's role as being about economic development, which he said requires multiple tools working together. In earlier appearances, Jones spoke about the bank's profitability during the pandemic, its acquisition strategy focused on local market density, and the importance of treating regulators as part of the bank's constituency. He also shared motivational stories on social media, using analogies about time and self-worth.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Rene Jones's recent appearances.
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Transcript (2 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
So even in tumultuous times, chaotic times, we are consistent and we provide record-breaking outcomes despite economic variables. So let's pivot a bit to 2024. You really have crystallized some of the challenges and certainly some of the strengths that we have displayed in 2023, and 2024 were sort of on the same path, I would say. Even though the Fed is poised to cut rates towards the end of the year, in Q1 we just released our results. So talk to me about that, codifying 2023, but what does it look like for us in 2024?
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Rene Jones0:44
Oh great. I think I'll start where you started, which is that the way I think about it is our job is to keep the firm structured and built in a way to provide products and services that result in low volatility. A change isn't that great. You have a lot of institutions that talk a lot about growth and are you going to grow. We tend to focus on stability and low volatility, and that ends up producing growth. So first quarter will be a really good example. We grew the loans year-over-year a whopping 1%, and we had about 8% growth in C&I loans, which are mostly loans to middle market companies and small businesses. And then we had a decline of 7% in CRE. That's part of our long-term journey. I think 2024 will be our fifth year on that journey to actually lower our balance sheet in terms of commercial real estate. It tends to produce modest results, but from a risk management perspective, it becomes a real positive. So you saw that our margin started to be down a little bit but started to stabilize this quarter. We had pretty strong growth in fee income, we had exceptional expense management, and as a result, we actually got year-over-year another 12% growth in tangible book value per share, which allowed us to cross the 11% threshold in terms of capital. I think we have the highest capital in our peer group. So all of that stuff is really boring, but it's the formula that is really necessary to prepare yourself for the things that you can't predict, which when times are really difficult.
