M&T’s new CFO is not the retiring type

Daryl Bible didn’t stay retired for long.

Last year, he retired as chief financial officer of Truist Bank. Then, along came the opportunity to become CFO of M&T Bank, and he took it. Bible’s first day was June 1.

“I’ve been in banking 40 years, a CFO for a long time, and I feel that I am at the top of my game and can still add a lot of value and really help a company like M&T become very successful,” said Bible, 62.

Developing rising leaders is something else he finds rewarding.

“I’ve done a lot of deals, a lot of acquisitions,” Bible said. “But at the end of the day, I’d much rather have somebody grow and develop and have them become the treasurer, the CFO, maybe CEO at some point.”

Bible built his career at U.S. Bank and BB&T, and then Truist, which was the product of BB&T’s 2019 merger with Sun Trust. He was credited with shepherding the $66 billion merger, creating one of the largest financial services companies in the nation.

M&T has made some changes in its senior management ranks over the past few months. Among them: Darren King moved from CFO into a new executive role. Bible arrives as M&T has grown into a vastly larger operation after completing its $8.3 billion acquisition of People’s United Bank last year.

M&T has typically promoted from within to fill the CFO’s job. Bible’s hiring is a departure from that approach. But it is also in keeping with some high-level hires M&T has made from outside its ranks.

“I tell people, I learned how to run a bank and function a bank at U.S. Bank, and what I learned at BB&T, working with (future CEO Kelly King), was how to be a leader and how to lead teams and motivate people,” he said.

While Bible is new to M&T and Buffalo, he was familiar with the bank.

“M&T was always a bank you watched, because the performance was always strong,” he said.

And his connections with Darren King and M&T chairman and CEO Rene Jones actually go back…