Bank of Montreal 1999 Annual Report Download - page 17

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Bank of Montreal Group of Companies 1999 Annual Report 15
Today in banking, clients have many choices. They
can transact with or without advice or face-to-
face
encounters and they can do it anytime, anywhere.
PCG’s strategy is to ensure that clients receive
the most appropriate products and services through
the access channels they find most convenient.
We have aligned our services and access channels
throughout the Bank to provide for the seamless
delivery to clients of products and services ranging
from traditional deposit-taking to mutual funds
and securities and the wide array of wealth manage-
ment products and services we offer.
Six Strategic Lines of Business
When Bank of Montreal reorganized by client group,
a key first step in launching the PCG strategy was
the realignment of the group’s 11 businesses into
six: retail investment products, direct brokerage, full-
service investing, Canadian Private Banking, U.S.
Private Banking and Institutional Asset Management.
The Private Client Group brings together all of the
Bank’s wealth management capabilities to service
four key North American market segments: the
main
stream, affluent, high net worth and institutional
asset
management markets. For these diverse and
demand
ing client groups, we provide a variety of value
propo
sitions that allow clients to choose the right
balance of products, advice, convenience and pricing.
To serve our clients better we have harnessed
the power of information technology and coupled it
to a commitment to hiring and training our people
to be the best in the business. Through a network
of skilled investment professionals across North
America we deliver investment, banking, insurance,
retirement, tax, estate and financial planning services.
Delivering on Promises
In1999wecontinuedtostrengthenourretail
product line while making it easier for clients to
understand and manage their investments. For
those concerned with frequent market fluctuations
we introduced the MatchMaker
®
Protection
Feature, which allows for 100% of a client’s original
investment
to be protected in a MatchMaker
Strategic Investment Portfolio over ten years.
In the area of mutual funds, we added the Monthly
Income Fund and the International RSP Index
Fund to the First Canadian
®
Funds offerings. The
International RSP Index Fund provides Canadians
with additional international exposure without
infringing on the 20% RSP foreign content limit.
A recent survey by DALBAR Inc. (an independent
research firm) concerning customer service and
communications ranked the First Canadian Funds
call centre in the first quartile for client satis-
faction among the 23 mutual fund company call
centres
surveyed during 1999.
For our retail clients, we expanded our range
of investment products with the addition of the
Variable Rate GIC, which pays a rate of interest
linked to Bank of Montreal’s prime rate, and an AIR
MILES
®3
GIC, which earns travel points along with
an investment rate of return.
To deliver effective direct brokerage, size, speed
and service matter. In 1999, the Bank acquired
the Chicago-based discount-trading firm of Burke,
Christensen and Lewis. When added to Harris
Investors Direct, the combined business serves nearly
45,000 clients with over $4.2 billion under admin-
istration. In addition, the Bank’s InvestorLine direct
brokerage grew by nearly 40% as almost 200,000
clients with a total of $6 billion in assets chose
it as their preferred value proposition and access
channel. Canadian Business magazine ranked
InvestorLine as a top provider of online trading ser-
vices. A DALBAR Inc. survey revealed that clients
ranked the statements issued to them by Investor-
Line as the clearest, most easily understood of
all Canadian brokerage firms.
The Private Client Division of Nesbitt Burns
provides a broad range of investment planning
and wealth management products and services for
clientsrequiringtheattentionofafull-service
investment advisory firm. Nesbitt Burns uses the lat-
est infor
mation technology to deliver multi-channel
client
access. The Nesbitt Burns Gateway
®1
service
allows clients to view their accounts via the Internet,
track model portfolios, check current and previous
RRSP contributions and much more. Over 16,000
clients went online with Nesbitt Burns Gateway in
A little more than a year ago, 20% of InvestorLine’s
transactions were electronic. Today, 80% of our trades are
over the Internet or by touch-tone phone trading.
InvestorLine®Web Site