Bank of Montreal

The Bank of Montreal (French: Banque de Montréal) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank. Their head office remains in Montreal. They also have operational headquarters and executive offices in Toronto, Ontario, since 1977. One of the Big Five banks in Canada,^{[note 2]} as well as one of the ten largest banks in North America. It is commonly known by its acronym BMO. BMO is also its stock symbol on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.^[4]

Bank of Montreal
Banque de Montréal

Trade name	BMO Financial Group (US) BMO Bank of Montreal (Canada)
Formerly	Montreal Bank (1817-1822)
Company type	Public
Traded as	TSX: BMO NYSE: BMO
Industry	Financial services
Founded	As Montreal Bank: 23 June 1817; 208 years ago (1817-06-23) in Montreal, Lower Canada As Bank of Montreal: 1822; 203 years ago (1822) in Montreal, Lower Canada
Headquarters	Montreal, Quebec, Canada Toronto, Ontario, Canada[note 1],
Key people	Patrick Cronin (CRO, BMO Financial Group) George A. Cope (Chair of the Board, BMO Financial Group) Thomas E. Flynn (CFO, BMO Financial Group) Dave Casper (CEO, BMO Harris Bank) Darryl White (CEO BMO Financial Group)
Revenue	CAD$22.8 billion (F2019)[3]
Net income	CAD$5.8 billion (F2019)[3]
Total assets	CAD$852.2 billion (F2019)[3]
Number of employees	45,513 (FTE, F2019)[3]
Subsidiaries	BMO Capital Markets BMO Harris Bank BMO Nesbitt Burns
Website	Canada: bmo.com US: bmoharris.com Capital Markets: bmocm.com

Establishment and early history

On 23 June 1817, John Richardson and eight merchants signed the Articles of Association to establish the Montreal Bank in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec. The bank officially began conducting business on 3 November 1817. This is the birth of Canada's oldest bank.^[5] It underwent a name change to its current in 1822. BMO's Institution Number (or bank number) is 001. In Canada, the bank operates as BMO Bank of Montreal and has more than 900 branches, serving over seven million customers.^[6]

Operations in the USA

In the United States, it does business as BMO Financial Group, where it has substantial operations in the Chicago area and elsewhere in the country, where it operates BMO Harris Bank. BMO Capital Markets is BMO's investment and corporate banking division, while the wealth management division is branded as BMO Nesbitt Burns. The company is ranked at number 131 on the Forbes Global 2000 list.^[7]

On December 12th, 2021 Bank of Montreal announced the strategic acquisition of Bank of the West from BNP Paribas for US$16.3 billion.^[8]

Achievements

The company has not missed a dividend payment since 1829. They paid dividends consistently through major world crises such as World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and the 2008 financial crisis; this makes the Bank of Montreal's dividend payment history one of the longest in the world.^[9]

Notes

1. The bank's formal head office is based in Montreal. However, First Canadian Place in Toronto serves as the bank's operational headquarters;^[1] although the bank refers to it as its "executive office".^[2]
2. It is the fourth-largest bank in Canada by market capitalization and assets.