Matthew Petrula and Tim Gallagher

At M&T Bank, Matt Petrula and Tim Gallagher have always relied on the tried and true techniques used by bankers since the days of Alexander Hamilton: relationships, execution and, most importantly, listening.  

“Honestly, it’s relationship banking at its best — tailored underwriting, fast response — but it really just starts with listening to the customer’s needs,” said Petrula. “And it’s about trying to tailor a solution that’s most attractive and doing what we say we’re going to do.”

M&T did well in 2024. The Baltimore-based bank originated $11 billion in loans and a firm record $5.4 billion placed through M&T Realty Capital, its agency and mortgage correspondent arm that securitizes loans to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and various life insurance companies.  

“It’s just been on fire,” said Petrula, speaking about M&T Realty Capital. “They’ve had a tremendous year — over $5 billion was huge — and really all the areas of our institutional real estate business, including lending to [real estate investment trusts] have seen some great growth.”  

The bank focused mainly on multi-family finance, and some of its biggest loans included a $418 million Freddie Mac placement on a 51-story, 858-unit apartment building in Brooklyn, and a $205 million Fannie Mae placement on a 584-unit apartment building in Long Island City, Queens.

In Petrula’s mind, M&T is complementing the agencies’ mission of providing housing for all Americans, regardless of income level, and the bank is ready to do its part during a once-in-a-generation housing crunch. 

“Their mission is to help drive affordable housing — it’s their core mission — so they’ve increased the requirements for the properties they finance to have increasing levels of affordability, and that’s what we do,” he said. “We do a ton of mixed-income, whether it’s 80 [percent market] and 20 [percent affordable] or 75 [percent market] and 25 [percent affordable], it’s a big part of our business.”  

If anything, the business built by Petrula and Gallagher has been tailor-made for the highly specified waters of agency finance, where certainty of execution is paramount. 

“When something is ready to convert from construction loan to permanent placement with the agencies, it’s a seamless process,” explained Petrula. “We all sit together and it’s pretty seamless for our customers, as we try to be everything on the customer front.”