M&T Bank (MTB -0.38%) will take a little longer to absorb fellow lender Hudson City Bancorp (NASDAQ: HCBK). The companies said in a joint press release that they believe more time will be needed to address regulatory issues in order to effect the planned acquisition, first announced in Aug. 2012.

This is because M&T has discovered that the Federal Reserve has "identified certain regulatory concerns with M&T's procedures, systems and processes relating to M&T's Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering compliance program." According to the press release, M&T has retained an outside consulting firm to assist it in dealing with those concerns.

Last summer, the two firms signed an agreement under which Hudson City would be acquired by M&T for a mix of cash and stock amounting to roughly $3.7 billion.