By entering into dialogue with our customers, shareholders, employees and communities, we can better understand and respond to their needs and expectations – and we can more effectively convey our economic, social and environmental strategy and objectives.
Whether through one-on-one conversations, focus groups and surveys or through membership
in industry and community associations, engaging with our stakeholders creates
opportunities for making our business better. It makes sense.
"As a responsible corporation, we take the time to listen to our various stakeholders and develop an understanding of how our activities impact them."
Ula Ubani
Director
Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability
BMO Financial Group
Our Progress
2007 Priorities
2008 Progress
Seek out opportunities to engage
our stakeholders, including our customers, investors, employees and communities.
Meaningful engagement with our many stakeholders is how we do business every
day at BMO.
Partner with national and international
groups committed to furthering the cause of corporate responsibility.
On an ongoing basis, we consult with various outside agencies, including
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility.
Partner to encourage dialogue on
climate change issues.
We work with many stakeholders to advance our environmental practices and
promote sustainability. BMO is a signatory to the Carbon Disclosure Project,
the Equator Principlesand a partner in the United Nations Environment Programme – Finance
Initiative.
BMO is a member of the Environmental Bankers Association.
Our success is largely determined by how well we meet our customers’ expectations.
When our customers told us they wanted less complexity and more help in making
sense of
their finances and realizing their financial goals, we not only listened, we
acted.
Whether they are planning to purchase their first home or business or saving
for their
retirement or their children’s education, we are helping more of them
attain those goals
by enhancing customer service. We are identifying and removing costly and unnecessary
steps. And we are bringing a team approach to our customers, delivering integrated
strategies
that apply the full range of our expertise to their financial opportunities.
We continued to listen – and respond – to our customers in 2008.
Based on talks with
prospective and recent homebuyers, we introduced BMO
First Home Essentials, a step-by-step guide for entering the real estate
market. We also responded to the concerns of our small and medium-sized business
clients regarding global
economic uncertainty with a number of initiatives. These included creating
business tools, resources, market offers and educational opportunities such
as the BMO symposium for the Chinese business community, held at our Institute
for Learning in Toronto last October. After the results of a BMO-commissioned
Harris/Decima study revealed that the majority of small and medium-sized Canadian
companies lacked a succession plan, we developed a nationwide campaign of free
seminars on the topic (visit our succession
planning website for more details).
We also conducted a survey
of Canadian post-secondary students
to ensure we continue to be a leader in serving student and youth customers.
At BMO, we believe that interaction with our shareholders, both retail and
institutional, is extremely important. We foster ongoing dialogue with our
investors, including meetings with our President and CEO, as well as leaders
of our operating groups and senior management. We engage investors in one-on-one
meetings, group meetings, investor presentations,
quarterly earnings conference calls, our annual general meeting and ongoing correspondence. Regular dialogue with rating agencies and investment
analysts is also critically important.
Our Employees
To attract and retain the talented, engaged and diverse workforce we need
to best serve our customers and succeed as a business, we work hard to be an
employer of choice. We provide a workplace in which all our people are encouraged
to communicate their ideas, thoughts and concerns. Our Annual Employee Survey
(AES), one of the most important ways we capture employee feedback, enables
us to measure employee attitudes and opinions about workplace issues ranging
from our human resources practices to our business strategy. In 2008, our AES
employee engagement score remained notably high compared to other large industries
surveyed, a clear affirmation that the voices of our people are being heard
and welcomed. As part of our commitment to having a workforce that reflects
the diversity of the communities where we work and do business, in 2008 BMO
continued to actively partner with community and government agencies to recruit
talented people from groups that are under-represented in our workforce. (For
more details on our diversity initiatives, please see the Championing Employees
section of 2008 Corporate Responsibility Report and Public Accountability Statement).
Our Communities
Interacting with, and investing in our communities is a long-standing tradition
at BMO. By helping to make our communities resilient, healthy and welcoming,
we act in the best interests of our customers and our business. In 2008, we
contributed $55.9 million in donations, sponsorships and events to support
charities and not-for-profit organizations in Canada and the United States.
Our Corporate Donations Committee provides direction for our overall philanthropic
activities and approves decisions about major contributions. Representatives
from our regional offices also routinely engage with community members and
groups, ensuring we have the opportunity to be involved in grassroots events
and organizations in their communities. A great many BMO employees are also
active participants in their communities. In 2008, through the national BMO
Employee Charitable Foundation, our people raised an astonishing $8.7 million.
Through our ongoing affiliation with global environmental organizations, such as the United Nations Environmental Programme, we continue to contribute to the discussion and use the knowledge we gain to enhance our own environmental management practices while promoting environmental sustainability globally.
We collaborated with some of our Canadian peers, Environment Canada and
the informal Network on Linking Environmental Performance to Financial
Value in
the development of a research study examining the role of the financial services
sector in protecting and conserving Canada’s boreal forest. We used this
exercise to benchmark our policies and programs addressing the protection of
biodiversity, ecologically sustainable forest management and indigenous peoples’rights
against those of other financial institutions. As a result, we are working
to provide additional guidance in our policies based on the possible effects
of lending in the region.
Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)
At BMO, we make it a priority to enhance our understanding of environmental
issues. Examples of stakeholders that we engage with include:
