Bank of Montreal 2012 Annual Report Download - page 29

MD&A
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Enterprise-Wide Strategy
Our Vision
To be the bank that defines great customer experience.
Our Guiding Principle
We aim to deliver top-tier total shareholder return and balance our commitments to financial performance, our customers, our employees, the envi-
ronment and the communities where we live and work.
Our Strategy in Context
Changes in the economic environment, and their effects on our customers, are ongoing. Our focus on helping our customers succeed and giving them
the confidence they are making the right financial choices – Making Money Make Sense – serves as a compass for us in all economic environments. It
also drives our employees to deliver their best, every day.
Our strategy has proven robust despite continued market uncertainty and global regulatory change. We believe that the strength of our business
model, balance sheet, risk management framework and leadership team, along with the benefits we expect from our expanded North American
platform, will continue to generate sustainable growth and help us deliver on our brand promise of bringing clarity to customers’ financial decisions.
Our commitment to our customers and our shareholders is evidenced in our focus on delivering an industry-leading customer experience,
managing our revenue and expenses to achieve our productivity goals, and continuing our prudent approach to risk management. We are making
good progress on our enterprise strategic priorities, with select accomplishments outlined below, as well as on our group strategies, detailed in the
sections that follow.
Our Priorities and Progress
1. Achieve industry-leading customer loyalty by delivering on our
brand promise.
‰Developed innovative new capabilities that provide our customers
with guidance and advice, with an emphasis on digital banking and
investing, to help bring clarity to their financial decisions:
oBMO InvestorLine launched in Canada adviceDirect, an innovative
and personal service that provides investing advice to online
investors, a first in Canada.
oIntroduced BMO Harris Mobile Banking in the United States,
allowing retail and small business customers to use their mobile
phones for account transactions, and deposit cheques remotely
through image capture using Mobile Deposit. This same service had
been available for many years to our M&I customers. Since its
introduction in July, and with our converted M&I customers, more
than 144,000 users have embraced this service, representing
almost 25% of our active online banking customers.
oIntroduced innovative new mobile capabilities in Canada, including
account alerts to help customers monitor account activity in real
time, and Mobile PayPass Tag to allow customers to pay for pur-
chases by tapping their mobile phones.
oIntroduced online booking of appointments with our Canadian
branch staff. Customers booked more than 14,000 appointments
within six months of launch.
oEnhanced our BMO Capital Markets client experience by moving to
a more unified coverage model across product areas, deepening
expertise within core sectors and continuing to provide top-ranked
research.
‰Continued our focus on instilling a customer-first mindset in our
people and culture:
oEmbedded customer experience as a core element of our learning,
recruiting and talent programs.
oRolled out and enhanced customer loyalty measurement systems
across most of our businesses.
‰Recognized externally with awards across our groups, including Best
Private Bank in Canada (Global Banking and Finance Review), Best
Investment Bank in Canada (World Finance magazine), Best Trade
Bank in Canada (Trade Finance magazine), and Excellence in Tele-
phone Banking (Synovate/IPSOS).
2. Enhance productivity to drive performance and shareholder
value.
‰Continued the redesign of our core processes to achieve a high-
quality customer experience, create capacity for customer-facing
employees and reduce costs:
oIntroduced eStatements, with over one million accounts in Canada
and the United States moving to online statements instead of
paper, reducing printing and postage costs, while helping the
environment.
oLaunched lean mortgage redesign to process applications faster,
with higher quality, lower cost and improved customer experience;
and are rolling out similar lean redesign changes to other core
processes, including commercial lending.
oIn BMO Capital Markets, launched a new high-performance trading
platform that delivers world-class execution (including time to
quote) and enhanced risk management.
‰Reviewed our cost structure to find pathways to greater efficiency:
oAdjusted our organizational structure to rationalize management
spans and layers, increasing nimbleness and lowering costs.
oIntroduced new branch formats offering smaller, more flexible and
cost-effective points of distribution across our network.
oOptimized our U.S. branch network, closing 49 branches to mini-
mize overlapping coverage.
oImplemented new office space standards to increase real estate
efficiency.
‰Grew our distribution capacity:
oBuilt sales capacity in our Canadian branch network with a focus on
attractive growth locations, opening or upgrading 51 branches and
significantly expanding our automated banking machine (ABM)
network.
oRolled out technology to identify and respond to customer needs in
real time, delivering tailored sales leads for branches and contact
centres.
3. Leverage our consolidated North American platform to deliver
quality earnings growth.
‰Integrated our acquired M&I businesses, and continued to develop
consolidated North American capabilities and platforms in priority
areas:
oCompleted the core U.S. banking systems conversion and
integrated all businesses.
oAdvanced our agenda to build consolidated north-south platforms
to leverage scale and transfer best practices, including our contact
centres, payments and commercial businesses.
‰Continued to expand our businesses and capabilities in the United States:
oLaunched Premier Services, offering a unique planning-focused
wealth management and banking client experience, with strong
results to date.
oOpened more than 15,000 savings accounts through Helpful Steps
for Parents, which helps parents teach children to manage money
responsibly.
oBroadened our commercial capabilities by creating a franchise
finance specialty and opening new offices to drive growth in
dealership finance, equipment finance, food & consumer, and
corporate banking.
26 BMO Financial Group 195th Annual Report 2012