Commercial Closing Specialist

Overview:     

The Commercial Closing Officer is responsible for ensuring completion and delivery of the Bank’s full commercial loan closing capabilities for all assigned transactions. This position serves as the first line of defense (1LoD), adhering to required internal controls to mitigate regulatory, operational, and financial risk. Officers work as part of the account relationship/deal team and hold primary responsibility for arranging, validating, and finalizing each loan closing to ensure documentation reflects the correct borrowing parties, collateral, covenants, and credit‑approved terms with a high degree of accuracy.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Validate that loan closing documentation and pre‑closing due diligence requirements are complete, , and aligned with credit approval terms and regulatory requirements.

• Review, interpret, and validate loan documentation for each transaction, ensuring key provisions reflect M&T Legal guidance and the Outside Counsel Manual.

• Complete the Commercial Closing Checklist, ensuring all required documentation, controls, and data elements are captured, accurate, and ready for Senior Closing Officer review and “Clear to Close.”

• Confirm alignment of credit approvals, legal documentation, collateral requirements, covenants, settlement terms, and system inputs across all supported platforms.

• Coordinate with approved Bank counsel and internal partners to ensure documentation, funding, booking, and compliance requirements are executed accurately and in accordance with Bank policy.

• Exercise heightened risk management by identifying documentation gaps, mitigating compliance issues, and ensuring adherence to regulatory and policy standards.

• Independently evaluate and validate risk‑sensitive information, including collateral, legal structure, exceptions, covenants, and regulatory requirements.

• Prevent financial, operational, and regulatory exposure by ensuring accuracy in documentation, closing structure, and downstream system impact.

• Maintain strong awareness of applicable regulations, legal requirements, workflow controls, and escalation procedures.

• Responsible for complex, multi‑party commercial transactions requiring advanced judgment, issue resolution, and coordinated communication among borrowers, attorneys, internal stakeholders, and relationship teams.

• Apply advanced loan comprehension skills to understand lending structures, exceptions, downstream implications, and impacts of closing errors.

• Work independently on most transactions with limited oversight, demonstrating deeper experience in commercial lending, loan closing processes, and structural documentation requirements.

• Partner effectively with internal and external stakeholders, including Relationship Managers, Underwriters, Credit, Treasury, Legal, and external counsel.

• Communicate proactively to address discrepancies, escalate risks, resolve documentation issues, and support efficient workflow execution.

• Assist peers by providing backup support and contributing to a positive, collaborative team environment.

• Manage multiple simultaneous closing requests, including last‑minute modifications, while meeting established deadlines and quality expectations.

• Understand and adhere to the Company’s risk and regulatory standards, policies and controls in accordance with the Company’s Risk Appetite.  Identify risk-related issues needing escalation to management.

• Promote an environment that supports a culture of belonging and reflects the M&T Bank brand.

• Maintain M&T internal control standards, including timely implementation of internal and external audit points together with any issues raised by external regulators as applicable.

• Complete other related duties as assigned.

Scope of Responsibilities:

Responsible for Commercial loan closing execution, end-to-end ownership due diligence and completeness.

Education and Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of three (3) years’ commercial loan closing, commercial loan documentation, commercial loan operations, and/or commercial loan administration experience or in lieu of a degree, a combined minimum of seven (7) years’ higher education and/or relevant work experience, with a minimum of three (3) years’ related commercial loan closing, commercial loan documentation, commercial loan operations, and/or commercial loan administration experience.

• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate commercial closing requirements,  identify exceptions and escalate appropriately prior to funding.

• Manage assigned commercial closing transactions from approval through funding.

• Heighten focus on data quality and data integrity.

• Ability to manage multiple closings simultaneously.

• Strong interpersonal and effective communication skills with external and internal cross-functional teams.

• Prior experience with and demonstrated command of commercial loan products and origination platforms (e.g., nCino).

Education and Experience Preferred:

• Familiarity with approvals required for closing, including loan approvals and escalation and/or exception requirements

• Knowledge of unit and/or department policies and procedures.

• Knowledge of applicable products, systems, and workflows.

• Prior experience as a paralegal or related work in lending operations, underwriting,  and/or customer service

M&T Bank is committed to fair, competitive, and market-informed pay for our employees. The pay range for this position is $29.90 - $49.84 Hourly (USD). The successful candidate’s particular combination of knowledge, skills, and experience will inform their specific compensation.

Location

Buffalo, New York, United States of America