Despite the recent tariff policies and economic volatility, the Buffalo, New York bank saw its bottom line trend slightly up from the previous year. M&T's first-quarter earnings missed analyst estimates, with diluted earnings per share of $3.32, compared with analyst estimates of $3.40.

Citi Securities analyst Keith Horowitz wrote in a Monday morning note that the slightly elevated compensation and somewhat slower loan growth could be attributed to "seasonality."

The $208 billion-asset bank's earnings per share still represented a year-over-year increase of about 10%.

"M&T's start to the year reflects the consistency and strength of our diversified banking model, healthy levels of capital and liquidity as well as improved credit results," said Chief Financial Officer Daryl Bible in a prepared statement Monday. "We continue to invest in our people, technology and processes to better serve our customers."

Still, as the chances of a recession seem to be growing, the bank on Monday lowered its outlook for full-year net interest income to $7.05 billion-$7.15 billion, from $7.1 billion-$7.2 billion previously. It now expects net interest margin in the mid to high 3.60s, up from its previous forecast of mid 3.60s.

M&T's loans and leases in the quarter grew slightly from $133.8 million in the first quarter of last year to $134.8 million, representing "a lower average balance of commercial real estate loans, partially offset by modest increases in the average balances of commercial and industrial, residential real estate and consumer loans," the bank said.

It cut its 2025 target for loans to $135 billion-$137 billion, from $137 billion-$139 billion previously.

Expenses hit $1.42 million in the quarter, up about 1% from the year-ago quarter, and mostly in line with analyst estimates. The expenses reflect "seasonal salaries and employee benefits expense of $110 million and higher outside data processing and software costs, partially offset by lower other costs of operations."

M&T reeled in $584 million in net income, up from $531 million in the year-ago quarter, beating analyst estimates of $563 million according to S&P.

The company brought in net interest income of $1.7 billion, roughly flat compared with the same period a year prior of $1.68 billion, and slightly below consensus analyst estimates of $1.71 billion, in part due to two fewer calendar days in the recent quarter.

The bank has spent the last few years working to reduce its commercial real estate loan portfolio, as scrutiny from regulators and investors has increased, especially among office assets.

M&T reduced its provisions for credit losses by 35% from a year ago to $130 million.

Deposits fell 1.7% from a year ago, weighed by a drop in interest-bearing deposits at M&T banks. That drop was the result of "purchases of investment securities, loan growth, lower average balances of deposits and short-term borrowings and share repurchases," the M&T said.

The bank shrank its expectations for full-year deposits to $162 billion-$164 billion, from $164 billion-$166 billion previously. In its comments, M&T repeated it would "focus on growing consumer deposits" and added "at a reasonable cost" in its new outlook.

The bank said during its fourth-quarter earnings that one of its top priorities was growing in New England, where the bank wants to become a "dominant player," Bible said. The goal is to be as big there as it is in Baltimore, where it expanded in 2003 through a merger and is now a major presence — with naming rights to the Baltimore Ravens stadium.

"Whether it takes 20 years or whether it's something shorter, that really depends on if we have inorganic growth in those periods," Bible said at the time.

The bank's last deal was its purchase of People's United Financial in Bridgeport, Connecticut, at the start of the Biden administration, which took longer to close than had been expected.