Bank of Montreal 2000 Annual Report Download - page 56

Review of Client Groups Performance
32 ■Bank of Montreal Group of Companies Annual Report 2000
Corporate Electronic Financial Services
Corporate Electronic Financial Services (CEFS) provides working capital solutions
to corporate and commercial clients. CEFS products and services, which
enable clients to better reach their customers, trading partners and suppliers,
range from paper-based processing and electronic payment and information
services to Internet-based financial and non-financial solutions.
2000 Objectives
■Transform customer service to make it easier for clients to do business
with CEFS by using web-enabled technology to streamline processes and
improve service quality and timelines.
■Invest in competitively advantaged products that offer the greatest return
and growth potential.
■Increase penetration of cash management services in the commercial
market segment.
e-Business
The e-Business group works with lines of business across the Bank of
Montreal Group of Companies to identify, evaluate and develop enterprise-
wide electronic business strategies. The mandate of e-Business is to
implement electronic solutions to provide better, faster and more economical
service to existing customers and reach out to new markets.
2000 Objectives
■
Optimize existing technologies, capabilities and projects across the organization.
■
Develop the full spectrum of end-to-end electronic client service functionality.
Electronic Banking Services
In Canada, Electronic Banking Services provides MasterCard brand credit
card products and services to individuals. Across North America, this line of
business provides corporate card end-to-end payment solutions as well as
credit and debit card processing services to commercial and corporate clients.
2000 Objectives
■Manage profitability at the account level and expand data engineering
and analytic techniques to re-engineer marketing and sales and service
to reflect account level knowledge.
■Leverage partnerships to optimize mutual advantage.
■
Pursue Corporate Card as a strategic plank for growth in North America,
offering world-class card and electronic commerce solutions.
2000 Accomplishments
■Launched the VeevTM service in Canada, North America’s first
wireless banking service, in partnership with 724 Solutions Inc. and
Bell Mobility®
.
■Launched Harris WirelessTM1 service, the first wireless banking service
in the United States.
2000 Accomplishments
■Launched Internet-enabled access to cash management services
for corporate and commercial clients in the United States and enabled
correspondent banking clients to access account information via
the Internet.
■Launched an Internet-based platform to streamline and automate
North American implementation processes and facilitate self-service
by clients.
■Introduced a new centralized customer service model that offers
customers a single point of contact and faster service.
Cebra®*
Cebra Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Montreal, is a leading
provider of Internet-based e-business solutions.
2000 Objectives
■Launch fully operational EPOST service and establish critical mass of
senders and receivers.
■Expand MERXTM*subscriber base and leverage core operating platform.
■Implement a major hub client on TotalTradeTM*and establish sales
and marketing program.
Harris Chicagoland Banking
Harris Chicagoland Banking provides a broad range of financial services to
approximately one million individual and business clients across the Chicago
metropolitan area.
2000 Objectives
■Grow deposits, consumer loans and small business loans.
■Focus on multi-channel distribution to enhance convenience of client
access and employee productivity.
■Expand services to Chicagoland’s Hispanic community comprising
1.35 million people.
2000 Accomplishments
■Grew consumer loans by 15%, while total loans increased 12%.
■Introduced Competix service, our industry-leading automated loan
approval system, to increase small business lending by 9% and
substantially improve small business lending productivity.
■Grew retail and small business deposits by 5%.
■
Introduced Harris Wireless service, making Harris one of the first
banks to introduce wireless banking service in the United States via
mobile phones.
■Grew loans and deposits at strong double-digit rates among our
50,000 Hispanic customers who are served by 20 bilingual branches,
a bilingual call centre, a Spanish-language web site and senior
Hispanic leadership.
2000 Accomplishments
■Launched EPOST service in November 1999 with 29 founding senders
and grew the business to include 90 large-volume mailers and
125,000 recipients.
■Grew MERX subscriber base to 45,000, of which 65% are small and
medium-sized enterprises, and launched a pilot MERX service in
the Philippines.
■Introduced TotalTrade Total Invoicing and Payments solution to
specifically address the need for business-to-business electronic
invoicing and implemented large hub corporation and its trading
partners in the United States.
2000 Accomplishments
■
Continued to build retail card business, managing profitability at the
account level using data engineering and sophisticated analytic techniques.
■
Developed and launched Internet-enabled corporate card purchasing
solutions.
■
Announced the creation of a joint venture, combining the merchant
services and payment acquiring businesses of Bank of Montreal and
Royal Bank Financial Group. To be launched in December 2000, the
joint venture will rank among the top five North American merchant
payment processors.