Bank of Montreal 2000 Annual Report Download - page 9

Bank of Montreal Group of Companies Annual Review 2000 ■5
If the editors of the respected Global Finance magazine are correct, we have moved
considerably closer to becoming the best North American financial institution.
In last October’s issue they chose Bank of Montreal as “Canada’s best bank.”
when it comes to small business loans —the arrival of
Small Business Banking substantially increases our
ability to provide more customized service to valued
customers. It also improves our capacity for tapping
into credit relationships in order to cross-sell innova-
tive non-lending products and services.
A new division for Commercial Banking takes on
responsibility for ensuring a deeper focus on busi-
nesses with annual revenues of $100-to-$300 million,
another priority market where we are building
from strength. In fact, since we first started targeting
upper-end commercial businesses in Canada just
over three years ago, we have boosted lending authori-
zations by 74%, establishing us as the leader in this
largely underserved Canadian market.
Emphasizing Emfisys
The other critical move we announced in the last
week of fiscal 2000 was that Emfisys (the brand name
for our technology and operations group) would
be assuming responsibility for emerging e-businesses
that have the potential to extend across multiple
customer segments. What this means is that most of
our e-businesses are now folded into a new entity
called Emfisys and E-Business.
Bank of Montreal has a decades-old legacy of
being first and being great at technological innovation
—up to and beyond being the first bank in North
America to offer wireless banking and brokerage to
customers. Our new alignment is designed to con-
tinue that legacy. With an enterprise-wide perspective
on all our technology investments, we will maximize
the potential of our existing leadership in selected
e-businesses, and provide more focus and pace to the
incubation of new e-businesses.
Getting It Right
Whatever we accomplished in 2000, and whatever
future accomplishments we set in motion, we also got
better at getting it right, both with our customers and
among ourselves.
When I call this the key to our success —especially
our success in maximizing shareholder value —I feel
I’m just stating the obvious. The more self-interested
and engaged and happy we are as a workforce, the
more likely we are to capture the hearts and minds of
customers, who in turn will reward us with more of
their business plus referrals.
So getting it right with customers, with each
other and with our many communities is not just one
of those nice ideas at Bank of Montreal. It is the rock
upon which our strategy is built.
My Bank is Best
I cannot leave my review of the last year of the
20th century or the first year of the 21st without a few
words on how well we’re progressing in turning our-
selves back into “my bank” —the place where, among
other important things, customer needs are so well
understood, and indeed anticipated, that we are there
with solutions before these needs are even articulated.
As I hope that I have demonstrated, every move
that we made last year was made with this end
front-and-centre in mind. The closer we get to “my
bank” —the kind of organization this was decades
ago when I first signed on —the closer we get to our
goal of becoming not just a top-tier North American
financial services organization, but the best North
American financial institution.
If the editors of the respected Global Finance
magazine are correct (and I certainly have every reason
to believe they are), we have moved considerably closer
to that goal. In last October’s issue they chose Bank of
Montreal as “Canada’s best bank.” And, I cannot resist
adding, a bank that’s getting better all the time.
Tony Comper (signed)
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer