By ALLISSA KLINE
akline@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1612

The Buffalo workforce is getting a boost following M&T Bank Corp.'s May 16 acquisition of Wilmington Trust Corp.

About 130 new jobs are being created in Buffalo to handle "increased volume" from the acquisition, bank spokesperson Phil Hosmer said this week. Those positions will involve several departments, including credit, accounting, central operations, call centers and technology.

The $351 million transaction, first announced in the fall, adds several dozen bank branches to M&T Bank's operations in Delaware. It also bumps up the bank's offerings in wealth-management services and trust operations.

M&T Bank Chairman and CEO Robert Wilmers said the transition has so far "gone smoothly" as the bank takes over Wilmington Trust's facilities and operations.

"I'm very excited about it," he said. "It's good for the bank, it's good for our shareholders and it's good for our clients."

M&T Bank will now employ 2,500 workers in Delaware, up significantly from the 450 people it previously employed there. It originally thought it would lay off 721 Wilmington Trust employees as part of the acquisition, but it has been able to re-assign some employees to new jobs at M&T, as well as help others find new jobs outside the bank, Hosmer said.

In total, it now expects to lay off 630 workers.

A full-time career center will be established for affected employees, a move that will hopefully push that number down even lower, he said.

"We feel like it'll ratchet down even more in the weeks and the months ahead with internal redeployment and outplacement," he said.

For now, Wilmington Bank branches and ATMs will carry the Wilmington Trust logo until a systems conversion takes place this summer, M&T said. Meanwhile, Wilmington Trust Wealth Advisory Services and Corporate Client Services businesses will continue using the Wilmington Trust brand.

M&T, based in Buffalo, operates in nine states and Toronto. Its assets total about $78 million.