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PROGRESS REPORT: Defining great customer experience

We understand that financial performance is linked to our ability to deliver what customers want – less complexity and easier access to the help they need to make their financial decisions.

Multiple images of BMO customers with word the “customer” superimposed

Customers told us they want less complexity and more help in making financial decisions – and that banks can do better. At BMO, we saw an opportunity: to remove that complexity and help people make sense of their finances. Our commitment – to make money make sense – is our response to the fundamental reason customers walk through our doors: to realize their ambitions, to build their financial futures and to manage risk.

Today more than ever, people bank and invest with us for the experience and insights we bring to the table. Making sense of financial challenges and opportunities means that when customers walk out our doors, they have a sense of confidence. They are confident in their financial futures and they are confident they have chosen the right bank. This is critical to BMO’s long-term growth and competitiveness.

Focusing on our customers

When we launched the first phase of our customer commitment two years ago, all employees, from head office to the front line, sharpened their focus on the customer. We introduced Net Promoter Score (NPS) – a measure of customer loyalty – to many more of our businesses. Today, NPS helps us gauge how we are doing with customers across most of the enterprise and points of contact. In 2008, we introduced a program that defines service fundamentals and promotes the consistent delivery of the service our customers expect.

From small and large businesses to investors and institutions, we’re working across BMO to raise every customer’s expectations. This is why our advertising campaigns in Canada and the United States now carry simple but provocative statements that directly address customer concerns.

These programs have played a critical role in preparing us to be the bank that defines great customer experience.

Everyone’s on board

BMO’s vision is a point of pride for our employees. It puts the energy, strength and intelligence of the entire organization squarely behind our customers. And we’re signalling this commitment with performance measures that link all employees’ compensation at BMO to our success with customers.

Expanding our branch network

At the same time, we have been enhancing our community presence with a campaign to add or redevelop branches in prime locations across Canada. The redesign will increase the street-level visibility of BMO’s distinctive blue – one of the most recognizable corporate colours in Canada. And to provide a wider range of customers with a more comprehensive offering, we’re placing a full complement of retail and commercial bankers, as well as wealth management professionals, in more of our locations. Similarly, at Harris we are primarily growing our branch network through acquisitions. Under the Harris banner, we have grown 44% over the past three years and now operate over 280 branches in three states in the U.S. Midwest.

Products that meet customers’ needs

Our commitment to the customer is more than a promise: it’s a deliverable. It’s backed with compelling offerings that deliver what customers want, and we are going to keep on raising this bar.

Multiple images of BMO customers
2008 COMPELLING OFFERS

Homeowner ReadiLine®

Customers told us they want more control over their financial affairs. In Canada, we responded with “the only loan you will ever need” – a combination of a mortgage and a secured line of credit. As the customer pays down the mortgage, the line of credit increases. It’s a big reason why personal loans grew 18.7% in 2008 and our market share was up 89 basis points.

BMO LifeStage Plus Funds

In response to customers’ desire for investment options that combine growth potential with a principal guarantee, these funds were launched in June 2007 and reached $1 billion in net contributions in September 2008. In a year of volatility in economies and markets around the world, this product has delivered on a core need of our customers – reducing their worry by protecting their investments.

Online Account Application

In June, Harris launched an online account application that takes about eight minutes to complete. As a result, online account openings at Harris increased 160% in 2008. Next project: shorten the time for online applications for commercial deposits and business accounts. As of October 2008, Canadian customers can also apply online to BMO Bank of Montreal for a personal banking account.

Financial Planning Software Tool

We have invested in an industry-leading enterprise-wide financial planning tool to bring unparalleled clarity to our clients’ financial pictures. This new software will be used by all financial planning professionals across BMO Financial Group. Regardless of customer location or point of contact, the financial planning software will help ensure consistency and portability in clients’ plans.

Tax-Free Savings Account

In 2008, the Government of Canada announced the creation of the new Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSA). Canadians can now invest up to $5,000 a year for life by opening a TFSA at BMO, and save money without paying any tax on investment earnings or withdrawals. TFSAs are a great, flexible option for our customers to help them achieve their financial goals.

Business Coach Podcast Series

We introduced additional topics in our award-winning Business Coach podcast series, which features audio information segments with external experts offering timely advice for small business owners.

Push to Talk

We’ve added Push to Talk links to more key pages of our Harris web site to engage online visitors who may be considering Harris’ services and solutions, applying for an account or a loan online, or using Harris’ online banking services. With one click, visitors can quickly connect with our call centre and speak to a customer service representative. In 2008, Harris conducted almost 77,000 Push to Talk conversations.

Equity Research

By merging our award-winning Canadian and U.S. equity research teams into a single operating group, we have around 60 analysts covering nearly 800 public companies – and we’re in a position to offer sector-specific equity strategies to money managers who are increasingly taking a global approach to their business.

BMO Mosaik® MasterCard®1

We launched a new Shell®2 Mosaik MasterCard, which delivers superior customer loyalty rewards. Our customers can also choose the BMO Gold AIR MILES®3 MasterCard and get an exclusive 20% discount on the number of AIR MILES reward miles required for all flights worldwide to over 500 destinations and with no blackout periods. These offers are part of the reason our card balances are up 13.8% in 2008.

Global Treasury Management Solutions

We’re offering our business customers access to markets across the United States, Canada and Europe, and helping them navigate an array of options and requirements through one banking relationship and a single point of contact.
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