|
Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group (TSX, NYSE: BMO) is a highly diversified financial services organization. With total assets of $367 billion as of October 31, 2007 and almost 36,000 employees, BMO provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and solutions.
We serve Canadian clients through BMO Bank of Montreal®, our personal and commercial banking business, BMO Nesbitt Burns®*, one of Canada’s leading wealth management firms, and BMO Capital MarketsTM, our North American investment and corporate banking division.
In the United States, clients are served through Harris, a major U.S. Midwest financial services organization with a network of community banks in the Chicago area and wealth management offices across the United States, as well as BMO Capital MarketsTM, our North American investment and corporate banking division.
We help our customers manage their financial affairs by delivering the broadest range of financial services through a single point of contact. Our financial service professionals provide access to any services our customers require across the entire enterprise.
The BMO Financial Group is made up of three client groups:
The History of Bank of Montreal
Bank of Montreal, Canada's first bank, opened for business on November 3, 1817. It provided Canada's first sound and plentiful currency and has played a major and continuing role in the development of the country, taking part in the financing of the first transcontinental railway in the 1880s. The Bank took part in the creation of Canadian Confederation in 1867, and served as Canada's central bank until 1935. The first Canadian bank to open branches abroad, it has long been active in markets in Europe, Latin America, and East Asia as well as in the United States. Today it continues as one of Canada's pre-eminent financial institutions and a significant presence in United States and world markets.
 |
On November 3, 2002, BMO Financial Group celebrated its 185th Anniversary. To view a photo collage from the first 185 years, click here. |
History of Harris Bankcorp, Inc.
The Harris organization began in 1882 as N.W. Harris & Co., which was formed by Norman Wait Harris as an investment-banking firm. Harris Trust and Savings Bank was formed in 1907 and, in 1960, Harris merged with Chicago National Bank. In l972, it was restructured as Harris Bankcorp, Inc. Harris Bankcorp acquired its first community bank in 1982 and, in September of 1984, Bank of Montreal acquired Harris Bankcorp Inc. In 1994, Harris Bankcorp and Suburban Bancorp, with its 13 banks, combined under the Harris name. In 1996, 54 Chicagoland branches were acquired from Household Bank bringing 250,000 new customers to Harris. In 2001, the First National Bank of Joliet was acquired, adding 18 branches and 65,000 clients, and giving Harris a presence in Will County, the fastest-growing county in Illinois.
www.harrisbank.com
About BMO Capital Markets
BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American financial services provider offering equity and debt underwriting, corporate lending and project financing, merger and acquisitions advisory services, merchant banking, securitization, treasury and market risk management, debt and equity research and institutional sales and trading. BMO Capital Markets has offices in 26 locations around the world, including 14 in North America.
www.bmocm.com
|
