Wilmington Trust to Lay off More than 700

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110209/BUSINESS/110209029

The company buying Wilmington Trust is informing
hundreds of the Delaware bank’s employees that
they will lose their jobs after the two companies
combine later this year, a spokesman confirmed this
morning.

Last year, Wilmington Trust, a legendary Delaware-
based business, burdened with troubled loans to
real estate developers, sold itself to Buffalo, N.Y.-
based M&TBank.

M&T Bank President Mark Czarnecki said the bank
would lay off 721 employees after the merger and
rebranding is complete. All but three of those would
be in Delaware, largely at the two offices in
downtown Wilmington, he said in a phone interview
this afternoon.

"This is primarily a Delaware event," Czarnecki said.

The areas within the bank where the cuts will be
taking place was not immediately evident.

Mike Zabel, a spokesman for M&T, said less than 30
percent of Wilmington Trust’s 2,800 employees
would be laid off.

“We're going through a process this week of
notifying employees of their status,” he said, adding
that additional information would be available later
today.

The two banks are expected to become one this
summer, he said.

“The vast majority will be affected at conversion or
after,” he said, referring to when the two banks
combine. There will be “a number of employees that
we'll want and need to keep on for months and
months after conversion.”

The company had been planning a public
announcement later this week, but responded to an
inquiry from The News Journal, which had received
a tip about reductions in force.