Bank of Montreal debit card
The
Bank of Montreal (in French,
Banque de
Montréal, and commonly
BMO in either
language) is the fourth
largest bank
in Canada by deposits. The Bank of Montreal was founded in 1817,
making it Canada's oldest bank.
In Canada, the company operates as
BMO Bank of Montreal
and has more than 900 branches..
The company also has substantial
operations in the Chicago
area and
elsewhere in the United States, where it operates as Harris Bank and as BMO
Harris.
The company is ranked at number 189 on the
Forbes Global 2000 list.
History
BMO (pronounced Bee-Moe) today is a major international bank with
1,100 branches across Canada and around the world.
In 1977, BMO's
operational headquarters moved to Toronto
, while its
legal head office remained in Montreal. Today, Bank of
Montreal has assets of more than $387 billion
CAD. (Source: http://www.bmo.com)
Mergers
BMO, Edmonton
During its history, Bank of Montreal has merged with or acquired
several other Canadian banks:
Founders
The following nine merchants signed the Articles of Association for
the creation of the "Montreal Bank" on June 23, 1817:
- Robert Armour (1781-1857)
businessman, militia officer, and office holder
- John C. Bush (? - 1859)
- Austin Cuvillier (1779 -
1849)
- George Garden (c.1772-1828),
director from 1817 to 1826 and vice-president from 1818 to
1822.
- Horatio Gates
(1777-1834), merchant and banker, President of BMO 1832-1834
- James Leslie
(1786–1873); bank director
- George Moffatt
(1787-1865); bank director
- John Richardson (c. 1754 - 1831)
- Thomas A.Turner (1775 ? - 1834)
- Ezekiel Hart - Businessman and First Jewish Member of
Parliament in 1806
Presidents
- John Gray (1817 to 1820);
co-founder and first President
- Samuel Gerrard (1820 to
1826)
- Horatio Gates
(1826); co-founder and President
- John Molson (1826 to 1834)
- Peter McGill (1834 to 1860)
- Thomas Brown Anderson
(1860 to 1869)
- Edwin Henry King (1869 to
1873)
- David Torrance (1873 to
1876)
- George
Stephen (1876 to 1881)
- C. F. Smithers
(1881 to 1887)
- Donald
Smith (1887 to 1905)
- George Alexander
Drummond (1905 to 1910)
- Richard B. Angus (1910 to 1913)
- Sir Vincent Meredith (1913 to
1927)
- Sir Charles Blair Gordon
(1927 to 1939)
- Huntly Redpath Drummond
(1939 to 1942)
- George W. Spinney (1942 to 1948)
- B. C.
Gardner (1948 to 1952)
- Gordon Ball (1952 to 1959)
- G. Arnold Hart, president from 1959 to 1967 and
CEO from 1959 to 1974
- Fred McNeil, CEO from 1975 to
1979
- William D. Mulholland, CEO from 1979 to 1989
- Matthew W. Barrett (1987 to 1990)
- F. Anthony Comper (1990 to 2007)
- Bill Downe (from March 1, 2007)
Chief Executive Officer
The senior officer of Bank of Montreal is styled
President and
Chief Executive Officer. That officer often also held the
title
Chairman of the Board, until 2003 when a
non-executive chairman was appointed.
(partial list)
The second-ranking executive is the
Chief Operating
Officer.
Operations
BMO is divided into three "client groups" which serve different
markets. Each of the client groups operates under multiple brand
names.
- Personal and Commercial Client Group (retail banking), including
- BMO Bank of Montreal (retail banking in Canada),
including BMO's Mosaik
Mastercard credit cards; BMO Life, a life
insurance company; and the former virtual
bank division mbanx
- Harris Bank (retail banking in the
United States, headquartered in Chicago)
- Investment Banking Group (known as
BMO Capital
Markets)
- Private Client Group (wealth management),
including
- BMO Nesbitt Burns
(full service investing in Canada)
- BMO InvestorLine (self-service investing in
Canada)
- Harris Investor Services (advisory services in the
United States)
- BMO Harris Private Banking
In October 2008, BMO Financial Group was named one of
Greater Toronto's Top
Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which was announced by the
Toronto Star newspaper.
Corporate governance
Current members of the
board of
directors of BMO are:
Robert
Astley,
Stephen Bachand,
David Beatty,
Robert Chevrier,
Bill
Downe,
Ronald Farmer,
David A. Galloway,
Harold
Kvisle,
Eva L. Kwok,
Bruce
Mitchell,
Philip Orsino,
Robert Prichard,
Jeremy Reitman,
Guylaine Saucier,
Don M. Wilson
III, and
Nancy Southern.
Headquarters
BMO
maintains its official legal corporate head office in
Montreal, located on Saint-Jacques Street
. However, the Chairman and President and most
senior division executives work out of Toronto headquarters
at First Canadian
Place
. Under the direction of the Toronto
executive, the Montreal Place d'Armes office oversees the bank's
economic (and, to some extent, political) relation with the
province of Quebec.
This reflects the preponderant place of the
Toronto Stock Exchange and
Bay
Street
in the Canadian economy.
Sport events sponsorship
BMO is the sponsor for this season of the
Toronto Maple Leafs and the
Toronto Raptors.
BMO Bank of Montreal is the current title sponsor for the
marathon race for the Vancouver International
Marathon Society held each year in May. The current name is "BMO
Bank of Montreal
Vancouver
Marathon".
Bank of Montreal is also a major sponsor of
Skate Canada, and is the title
sponsor of the BMO Financial Group
Canadian
Championships, BMO Financial Group Skate Canada Junior
Nationals, BMO Financial Group Skate Canada Challenges, BMO
Financial Group Skate Canada Sectionals, and BMO Financial Group
Skate Canada Synchronized Championships. It is also the presenting
sponsor of the CanSkate Learn-to-Skate Program.
[40589]
BMO
purchased the naming rights to the national soccer stadium
(BMO
Field
) at Exhibition Place
in Toronto, the home of the Major League Soccer team Toronto FC, which BMO is also sponsoring.
BMO's logo is on the front of their jersey.
On July
23, 2008 it was announced that BMO signed a one-race deal with
IndyCar team Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing to
appear on the #06 car of Graham Rahal
in the first-ever IRL-sanctioned
Canadian IndyCar race at Edmonton
.
Recent mergers and merger attempts
Purchase of Harris Bankcorp (1984)
In 1984
the bank greatly expanded its operations in the United States
by purchasing Chicago's Harris Bank.
Proposed merger with RBC (1998)
In
1998 Bank of Montreal shocked the
Canadian financial community by announcing plans to merge with
RBC. The Canadian government
later blocked the proposed merger. In December
2000, the banks were successful in merging their
credit and
debit
card processing services to form
Moneris Solutions.
Purchase of GKST Inc (2008)
In 2008 Bank of Montreal bought Griffin, Kubik, Stephans, and
Thompson.
GKST was a Chicago based
employer that employs about 100 people in sales, trading, research,
public finance and underwriting, and specializes in municipal
bonds, U.S. Treasury and agency debt, and mortgage-backed
securities.
Purchase of AIG Life Insurance Company of Canada (2009)
In 2009, the Bank purchased
AIG's Canadian life
insurance business, AIG Life Insurance Company of Canada, for
approximately $330 million CAD. The transaction, including 400,000
customers and 300 employees, makes BMO the second-biggest life
insurer among Canadian banks. The company was renamed BMO Life
Assurance Company.
Purchase of Diners Club International Franchise
In November 2009, Bank of Montreal announced the purchase of
Diners Club
International's North American franchise from
Citibank. The transaction will give BMO exclusive
rights to issue Diners cards in the U.S. and Canada. The deal is
expected to close in March,
2010./www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/bmo-to-buy-diners-club-franchise/article1375250/
BMO to buy Diners Club franchise>.
Membership
BMO is a member of the
Canadian Bankers Association
(CBA) and registered member with the
Canada Deposit Insurance
Corporation (CDIC), a federal agency insuring deposits at all
of Canada's chartered banks. It is also a member of:
References
- Denison, Merrill, 1893–1975. Canada's first bank : a
history of the Bank of Montreal. Toronto: McClelland and
Stewart, c1966. 2 v. : ill., maps, ports., (some folded, some col).
; 25 cm.
- Nolin-Raynauld, Michelle, 1926–. The Bank of Montreal
building on Place d'Armes, 1845–1901 / Michelle Nolin-Raynauld
; foreword by Jean Bélisle ; translated by Judith Berman. Montreal
: Varia Press, c1999. 143 p. : facsm., ill., plans ; 23 cm.
Originally presented as the author's thesis (master—Université de
Montréal), 1984, under the title: L'architecture de la Banque de
Montréal à la Place d'Armes. Translation of: L'édifice de la Banque
de Montréal à la Place d'Armes, 1845–1901. ISBN 2922245128
- BMO Financial Group Corporate Archives, Montreal
External links
Official sites
Other sites
(1903)
(1905)
(1907)
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