Strong loan underwriting and historically lower loan losses than peers' Strong market positions in less-volatile U.S. regions Successful acquisition history Growing exposure to higher-risk loan categories such as investor real estate (IRE) and construction loans Funding and liquidity profile marginally weaker than peers' though improved over the years S&P Global Ratings' negative outlook on M&T Bank Corp. (M&T) reflects the company's relatively large portfolio of investor real estate (IRE) and construction loans that may eventually lead to a higher level of losses, which, in turn, could close the favorable gap with peers with respect to net charge-offs (NCOs). The negative outlook also reflects challenges to leverage recently acquired Hudson City Bancorp's presence in New Jersey in a thoughtful manner with
