M&T Insurance Expands Into Maryland

　　M&T Bank Corporation (Buffalo, NY) has 650 bank branches up and down the Mid-Atlantic Coast, from Virginia to New York. It would like to have property and casualty insurance agencies throughout its footprint.

　　Toward that end, the $55 billion (assets) bank recently announced that it had acquired Hess Egan Hagerty & L'Hommedieu, Inc., a commercial insurance and surety brokerage agency based in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

　　Established in 1967, Hess Egan has 38 employees. It will become a division of M&T Insurance Agency, a subsidiary of M&T Bank.

　　M&T Corp. reported insurance brokerage revenues of $13.72 million in the first nine months of 2005, positioning it 38th among bank holding companies, according to the Bank Insurance Market Research Group. In 2004, it was 37th  and was rated an “Up and Comer” by Who's Who in Bank Insurance (2005 Edition).