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M&T BankHeadcount growth

How M&T Bank Built A Technology Powerhouse In Buffalo

What happened

M&T Bank has hired 1,000 technologists as part of its eight-year transformation.

Source

forbes.comAug 28, 2026By Peter High, Contributor

How M&T Bank Built A Technology Powerhouse In Buffalo

Article excerpt

By Peter High, Contributor. M&T Bank, under Michael Wisler, transformed its technology from a supporting function into a strategic asset over eight years. Initially plagued by over 100 annual outages and contractor dependence, the bank invested over $1 billion annually, hired 1,000 technologists, and reduced outages by 90%. This involved focusing on talent, agility, and engineering practices, shifting to 84% in-house engineers. The transformation prioritized changing beliefs about competition and fostering continuous learning. Wisler's mandate expanded to include operations, recognizing their increasing interdependence. M&T also built a strong data foundation, enabling dozens of generative AI use cases across enterprise fluency, existing applications, and proprietary development, adopting a "slow to go fast" approach to ensure readiness in a regulated environment. This positions M&T for future innovation. When Michael Wisler joined M&T Bank in 2018, technology was not central to the bank’s competitive strategy. The institution had grown into one of the nation’s largest regional banks by emphasizing disciplined execution, customer relationships and a deep understanding of its communities. Wisler, now Senior Executive Vice President of Technology and Operations, believed preserving those strengths would require a different approach to technology and data. Working with...

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Extracted from this sentence

It has hired 1,000 technologists, established three technology hubs and sharply improved the reliability and productivity of its technology estate.

Extracted by Autobound

From the Signal API record
Event
Headcount growth

What this signalsFast hiring often means budgets are growing.

Headcount
1,000
Location
Buffalo, New York, United States

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The full record

From the Signal API record

Numbers

Headcount named in the story
1,000

Extraction

Confidence
90%
Detected
Aug 28, 2026
signal_type
news
signal_subtype
increases_headcount_by

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This page shows a preview. The full news record in the Signal API and MCP can also have these 8 fields. Some fields are empty for some signals.

Company

  • linkedin_urlValue in the API
  • industriesValue in the API
  • employee_count_lowValue in the API
  • employee_count_highValue in the API
  • revenueValue in the API
  • descriptionValue in the API

Signal

  • signal_nameValue in the API
  • associationValue in the API
Show the full JSONThe record on this page and the API request

GET /v1/signals/736e5da4-ff67-5844-3c5d-0647dea82902 returns this record as JSON. POST /v1/companies/enrich returns every signal for mtb.com.

{
  "signal_id": "736e5da4-ff67-5844-3c5d-0647dea82902",
  "signal_type": "news",
  "signal_subtype": "increases_headcount_by",
  "detected_at": "2026-08-28T13:00:00+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "M&T Bank",
    "domain": "mtb.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "url": "https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhigh/2026/08/28/how-mt-bank-built-a-technology-powerhouse-in-buffalo/",
    "title": "How M&T Bank Built A Technology Powerhouse In Buffalo",
    "author": "Peter High, Contributor",
    "excerpt": "By Peter High , Contributor. M&T Bank, under Michael Wisler, transformed its technology from a supporting function into a strategic asset over eight years. Initially plagued by over 100 annual outages and contractor dependence, the bank invested over $1 billion annually, hired 1,000 technologists, and reduced outages by 90%. This involved focusing on talent, agility, and engineering practices, shifting to 84% in-house engineers. The transformation prioritized changing beliefs about competition and fostering continuous learning. Wisler's mandate expanded to include operations, recognizing their increasing interdependence. M&T also built a strong data foundation, enabling dozens of generative AI use cases across enterprise fluency, existing applications, and proprietary development, adopting a \"slow to go fast\" approach to ensure readiness in a regulated environment. This positions M&T for future innovation. When Michael Wisler joined M&T Bank in 2018, technology was not central to the bank’s competitive strategy. The institution had grown into one of the nation’s largest regional banks by emphasizing disciplined execution, customer relationships and a deep understanding of its communities. Wisler, now Senior Executive Vice President of Technology and Operations, believed preserving those strengths would require a different approach to technology and data. Working with Chairman...",
    "summary": "M&T Bank has hired 1,000 technologists as part of its eight-year transformation.",
    "location": "Buffalo, New York, USA",
    "planning": false,
    "headcount": 1000,
    "image_url": "https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/6a90edebf45a9ac0b0e82029/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&height=900&width=1600&fit=bounds",
    "confidence": 0.9,
    "published_at": "2026-08-28T13:00:00Z",
    "location_data": [
      {
        "city": "Buffalo",
        "state": "New York",
        "region": "Northern America",
        "country": "United States",
        "continent": "Americas",
        "fuzzy_match": false
      }
    ],
    "article_sentence": "It has hired 1,000 technologists, established three technology hubs and sharply improved the reliability and productivity of its technology estate."
  }
}

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