M&T Bank expects to see lingering effects of the People’s United Bank acquisition into the fourth quarter as the bank continues to work with customers affected by the system conversion.

“Whenever you go through a massive change like this, there’s always some things where there’s some confusion,” Darren King, M&T’s chief financial officer, said during the bank’s third quarter earnings call last week. “But overall, we feel really good about how things have gone.”

Buffalo-based M&T Bank had third quarter net income of $647 million, or diluted earnings per common share of $3.53, compared to $218 million, or diluted earnings per common share of $1.08, in the second quarter, when the bank acquired People’s United Bank on April 1. In the third quarter of 2021, the bank had net income of $495 million, or diluted earnings per common share of $3.69.

In response to an analyst’s question about the status of the People’s United acquisition, King said the bank had converted nearly 1 million customers during the early September system conversion.

While King said less than 1 percent of customers had a complaint about the conversion, he added that the bank would not be happy until all customers have “the access that they’re looking for.” The bank continues to work one-on-one with customers to solve individual issues, King said, and he added that the ongoing work with customers affected by the conversion would continue into the fourth quarter.

The bank also expects to see the merger’s effects on operating expenses, particularly a decline in salaries and benefits, during the fourth quarter. King said while some “dislocations” happened after the deal closed, more will happen now that the system conversion has taken place. He added that while the decline in salary and benefit expenses was in line with the bank’s previous expectations, some employees would remain.

“In fact, if there’s any change, some people have elected to stay when they were originally going to separate,” King said.

The bank also plans customer marketing promotions related to the merger during the fourth quarter.

During the third quarter, the bank had pre-tax merger-related expenses of $53 million. Second quarter merger-related expenses totaled $465 million.