History

Bank of Montreal is Canada's oldest chartered bank. The bank opened in Montreal, Quebec on November 3, 1817. For the first few years of its existence, the Bank occupied a small building on Saint Paul Street. John Gray, a retired dry goods merchant, was the bank's first president and Robert Griffin worked as the first bank teller.

Bank of Montreal served as Canada's central bank until the creation of the Bank of Canada in 1935. It played a major role in the development of the country, taking part in the financing of the first transcontinental railway in the 1880s. The first Canadian bank to open a branch abroad, Bank of Montreal is today 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.

Mergers

During its history, Bank of Montreal has merged with or acquired several other Canadian banks:

Commercial Bank of Canada (1868)
Exchange Bank of Yarmouth (1903)
People's Bank of Halifax (1905)
People's Bank of New Brunswick (1907)
Bank of British North America (1918)
Merchants Bank of Canada (1922), as well as several investment banking firms.
Molson Bank(1925)

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

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, and Nancy Southern.

Headquarters

BMO still has its legal head office in Montreal, located on Saint-Jacques Street. However, the Chairman and President and all senior department 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

Bank of Montreal is the current title sponsor for the marathon race for the Vancouver International Marathon Society held each year in Vancouver in May. The current name is "BMO Bank of Montreal Vancouver International 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.

BMO has recently purchased the naming rights to the national soccer stadium (BMO Field) at Exhibition Place in Toronto, the future home of Toronto FC beginning in the 2007 season, and became the official shirt sponsors of the club.

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 the Royal Bank of Canada. 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.