Bank of Montreal 2003 Annual Report Download - page 13

BMO Financial Group 186th Annual Report 2003 9
Understanding community banking needs
In the United States, through Harris Bank, we’re delivering
value – and it’s being recognized. The exceptional service
delivered by our people in the Chicago Southeast Region
prompted a number-one rating from our customers polled by
a local newspaper for the third year in a row. Employees in
our Harris Buffalo Grove call centre, on their own initiative,
surveyed their collective language skills and now deliver
service in 13 languages.
Our goal is to expand our existing branch network by
50 branches in the Chicagoland area, which has eight million
people and a gross domestic product more than one third the
size of Canada’s. This year we opened nine new branches, bring-
ing the total to 153, and we will continue to aggressively pursue
acquisitions and expansion. We’re growing so that we can offer
our customers more choices, convenience and service.
Delivering solutions that fit
Our Private Client Group is focused on helping our clients
protect and grow their financial resources. Regardless of how
our wealth management clients want to do business – in per-
son, online or both – we’re adding new products and services.
In Canada, for our direct investing clients we continue to
add features such as the ability to conduct foreign exchange
transactions online, as well as detailed information on options.
This higher level of customer service was recognized as both
The Globe and Mail and Gómez Canada again ranked BMO
InvestorLine as the number-one online investing service,
noting specifically the breadth of our investment tools and
services. Through BMO Harris Private Banking, we have
augmented our offering of financial planning, investment
management and estate services with philanthropic planning
for wealthy families and individuals.
In the United States, we have added to our well-established
Harris Private Bank with the acquisition of Washington, D.C.’s
Sullivan, Bruyette, Speros & Blayney. Additionally, through
myCFO donor advised funds, we are able to offer a convenient
vehicle for philanthropic giving.
Learning by listening
The best way to improve our service is by listening to our
customers. We redesigned our web sites this year to make it
easier to do business with us. Most of the improvements were
in response to feedback from our customers. We believe in
adjusting to our customers’ behaviour and needs, rather than
expecting them to adjust to ours. We also believe in asking our
clients to tell us how we’re doing. A recent survey of BMO
Nesbitt Burns clients indicated very high levels of client satis-
faction and highlighted additional ways we can provide even
better service.
Innovative thinking works
Our Investment Banking Group serves corporate, institutional
and government clients. In Canada, operating under the BMO
Nesbitt Burns brand, our client base is large corporations
and institutions across a broad range of industry sectors. In
the United States, under the Harris Nesbitt brand, we serve
middle-market and institutional clients in selected sectors.
We also serve institutional and government clients in the
United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.
Our commitment to service begins with knowing what
our clients need and understanding intimately the business
sectors in which they operate. The research we provide to
our clients is widely recognized as the best. For the 23rd year
in a row, Brendan Wood International has given our Canadian
equity research a number-one ranking. This research helps
our clients understand their options and opportunities.
In the United States, we are focused on serving middle-
market public and private companies. In 2003, we acquired
New York-based Gerard Klauer Mattison, now operating as
Harris Nesbitt Gerard. As a result, we expanded our U.S.
middle-market client base in sectors such as Business Ser-
vices, Consumer, Media and Entertainment, Technology
and Telecom, and Health Care. We also expanded our U.S.
product offering to clients to include equity sales and trading
and tripled our research coverage of U.S.-based companies to
300 from 100 companies. The acquisition of Gerard Klauer
Mattison adds key products and services for investment and
corporate banking clients.
Whether our customers are large, small, individual or cor-
porate, our goal is to provide the best personalized service
and customized financial solutions possible, and we’re doing
it through a team of highly motivated and knowledgeable
financial professionals.
“Each time we have contact with a customer it is an opportunity
to demonstrate the best of BMO and Harris. Our staff are
knowledgeable and incredibly motivated to deliver personal
attention and relevant solutions. We want to be the financial
resource that our clients can count on.”
William A. Downe
Deputy Chair, BMO Financial Group
and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Nesbitt Burns