Bank of Montreal 1998 Annual Report Download - page 8

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4
BANK OF MONTREAL GROUP OF COMPANIES
that our first responsibility to all our stake-
holders is to create wealth, not destroy it.
Thanks to our early start and to much intense
and detailed work by many people, planning
for value-based management is already well
advanced. We will begin to make it opera-
tional in 1999.
...
The past year saw Bank of Montreal employees
support our merger strategy by writing let-
ters to MPs, taking part in talk shows and
organizing highly successful rallies in the
streets of cities across Canada. I believe they
did these things because they knew better
than anyone that 1998 was a year when every-
thing changed, a watershed year for Canadian
banking, when the status quo ceased to be
an option. Their active participation in the
merger campaign, however, was only part of
a truly exceptional performance. In the face
of intensifying competition and widespread
market turbulence, all compounded by the
many uncertainties of the eleven-month
merger saga, our people once again achieved
record earnings for Bank of Montreal, extend-
ing
our winning streak to nine consecutive
years. They continued to build the relation-
ships with our customers on which our future
depends. Add it all together and you can see
that Bank of Montreal people are a special
breed. It is this strong, committed group of
highly skilled employees that will make a suc-
cess
of our value-based management frame-
work. My warmest thanks go to them all.
The whole merger debate, with its un-
precedented public focus on a business
decision by private-sector corporations, bore
witness to the continuing and pervasive
importance of financial services on the Cana-
dian scene. During the 181 years Bank of
Montreal has been in business, we have done
our part to shape the Canadian idea of a bank
.
Banks that are partners with Canadians in
almost all their enterprises, be they large or
small, commercial, public-sector or voluntary.
Banks that are safe, sound and trustworthy,
and at the same time, innovative and tech-
nologically advanced. Banks that may not
always be loveable, but are active and respon-
sible
supporters of countless good causes
in every community they serve. Banks that
are present everywhere in this vast country,
whether in “bricks and mortar” on the corner,
in a supermarket or wherever there is a tele-
phone. Banks that are, in a word, integral to
the Canadian way of life. As we chart a dra-
matic new course in 1999, this heritage will
be a challenge and also an inspiration, as we
continue to adapt the best of the past to the
demands of the present.
Matthew W. Barrett (signed)
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
“COMPANIES THAT SUCCEED
IN CREATING VALUE FOR THEIR
SHAREHOLDERS ARE THOSE
THAT BEST SERVE ALL THEIR
STAKEHOLDERS OVER TIME”