Bank of Montreal 2014 Annual Report Download - page 37

MD&A
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking
We help more than two million customers feel confident in the decisions they
make. Our retail and small and mid-sized business banking customers are served
through our more than 600 branches, contact centres, online and mobile banking
platforms and more than 1,300 ABMs across eight states. We offer financial
expertise to our commercial banking customers with in-depth, specific
industry knowledge and strategic capital markets solutions.
Mark Furlong
Group Head
U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking
and CEO, BMO Harris Bank N.A. Chicago
Lines of Business
Personal Banking offers a broad range of products and services to
individuals, as well as small and mid-sized business customers, including
deposits, mortgages, consumer credit, business lending, credit cards and
other banking services.
Commercial Banking provides larger businesses with a broad range
of banking products and services, including lending, deposits, treasury
management and risk management.
Strengths and Value Drivers
‰Rich heritage of more than 160 years in the U.S. Midwest, with a deep
commitment to the community and helping our customers succeed.
‰Strong, experienced leadership team that knows how to compete and
excel in our markets.
‰Enviable platform for profitable growth provided by our attractive
branch footprint and top-tier deposit market share in key U.S.
Midwest markets.
‰Large-scale, relationship-based national commercial banking business
based in the U.S. Midwest, with in-depth industry knowledge in
select sectors.
‰We actively manage risks and regulatory compliance through a
comprehensive and integrated control structure.
Strategy and Key Priorities
We aim to grow our business and be a leader in our markets by creating
a differentiated customer experience and helping our customers with a
wide range of financial topics, leveraging our brand reputation, local
presence and high-performance teams.
Deliver a great customer experience to a loyal, profitable and
growing customer base
2014 Achievements
‰Loan and deposit sales to our mass affluent customers grew by 60%
and 26%, respectively.
‰Positive customer response on our mid-market business banker per-
formance survey, with high marks for trust, confidence and
responsiveness. The number of new business banking customers was
20% higher than in the prior year.
‰In Illinois, launched BMO Harris Healthy CreditTM, an innovative service
that educates customers about their credit scores when they open a
deposit account.
‰Enhanced customer satisfaction monitoring with the introduction of
Customer Pulse U.S., which provides frequent updates on customers’
needs and enables a faster response from management.
2015 Focus
‰Maintain strong customer loyalty and increase brand awareness,
while growing our customer base in high-opportunity segments,
including the Latino community and mass affluent and earlier life
stage consumers.
Continue to improve our product and channel capabilities to better
meet our customers’ needs
2014 Achievements
‰Enhanced our mobile banking platform to enable our customers to
book appointments with branch staff. The number of customers
accessing our mobile banking platform grew by 18% and mobile
banking deposits increased by 60%.
‰Increased the total sales generated per mortgage banker by 37%
through enhanced coaching, which focused on both the realtor and
purchase business and a more effective approach to customer inter-
action during the credit approval process.
‰Increased core business banking loan balances through continual
coaching that focused on improving interactions with customers.
‰Enhanced training for our treasury sales force, resulting in a better
client experience and gains in productivity of 22% over the prior year
for commercial banking and 53% for business banking.
2015 Focus
‰Continue to build foundational capabilities in products, digital chan-
nels, our customer acquisition engine and branch format.
Improve financial performance by growing revenue and effectively
managing costs
2014 Achievements
‰Total loans grew by $2.9 billion or 5%, while the core commercial and
industrial (C&I) loan portfolio grew by $4.0 billion or 18%.
‰Deposits remained stable, while chequing account balances grew by
$2.7 billion or 9%. We maintained the number four market share
position within our primary footprint of Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri,
Kansas, Indiana and Minnesota.
‰Good momentum in the second half of the year, with 2% year-over-
year revenue growth and full-year adjusted net income growth of 3%.
‰Continued to manage expenses effectively despite higher regulatory
costs and ongoing investments in the business.
2015 Focus
‰Increase loan and deposit balances while focusing on
cost management.
48 BMO Financial Group 197th Annual Report 2014