Bank of Montreal 2004 Annual Report Download - page 15

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BMO Financial Group Annual Report 2004 11
What’s Next?
•Become the leading Midwest
personal and business bank
through accelerated organic growth
and acquisitions.
•Consolidate 25 separate Illinois
bank charters into one national
bank charter within the next
12 months, which over time will
help us improve customer service,
streamline our business model
and lower our overhead costs.
•Achieve a total of 200 Harris
branches in the Chicago area
by 2007.
•Accelerate growth by leveraging the
integration of our U.S. investment
and corporate banking business, with
a focus on increasing the proportion
of fee-based revenue.
•Strengthen and broaden relation-
ships with target investment and
corporate banking clients across
our expanded range of capabilities.
•Sharpen our focus in wealth
management on the effectiveness
of our sales force, and fine-tune
our business models.
Investing in Wealth Management
Since 1999, we have invested $1.5 billion
in expanding our U.S. wealth manage-
ment operations through acquisitions
and organic growth. We now have a
geographic footprint that covers nine
states. We have rounded out our range of
products and services to provide a truly
integrated wealth management offering.
Over the last year, we have made
important strides in reshaping our wealth
management operations into a stream-
lined business model that can endure
downturns in market cycles. We have
repriced fees and improved client segmen
-
tation, as well as consolidating call
centres and back-office operations and
renegotiating third-party contracts.
Focus on Comprehensive Solutions
Through Harris Private Bank, we offer
comprehensive wealth management
solutions for high net worth and ultra-
high net worth clients. We continue to
expand in existing high-growth, affluent
markets in order to better serve these
clients and prospects. With the acquisi-
tion and integration of myCFO and
Sullivan, Bruyette, Speros & Blayney,
we have enhanced our product offering,
and we can now provide access to
outside investment managers for our
ultra-high net worth clients. We have
also worked with our partners at
Harris Nesbitt to expand our services
and coverage for existing business
and corporate clients in the Midwest.
An Integrated Investment
and Corporate Bank
We are building an integrated North
American investment and corporate
bank under the Harris Nesbitt brand in
the United States, targeting private
and smaller-cap public companies. Our
nationwide service offering is focused on
the following sectors: Business Services;
Commercial and Industrial; Consumer
and Leisure; Energy and Power; Finan-
cial Institutions; Financial Sponsors;
Food and Agribusiness; Healthcare;
Media, Communications and Technology;
and Real Estate and Construction.
We have expanded our U.S. offering
and improved our ability to provide
integrated solutions to our clients. Last
year, we completed the integration of
New York-based Gerard Klauer Mattison,
recognized for its mid-market U.S. equity
research, sales and trading capabilities.
We also announced senior leader-
ship appointments as part of our ongoing
effort to enhance our U.S. mergers
and acquisitions advisory and equity
underwriting business.
Thumbs Up for Free Checking
Providing high-quality products in response
to the changing needs of our clients is
part of Harris’ service commitment. In 2004,
we enhanced our Free Checking offering,
removing the direct deposit requirement.
We also introduced free online bill payment,
enabling more customers to pay bills elec-
tronically from their chequing account.
Together, these changes have made it easier
for our clients and earned us more business.
A Leader in Direct Investing
Harris
direct
continues to be an integral part
of our wealth management offering. It is a
leading provider of online brokerage services
for self-directed investors with long-term
financial goals. It also offers advisory services
for clients and third-party brokerage services
to institutional clients.
In 2004, Harris
direct
was:
#1Discount Broker for
Customer Service
SmartMoney,
July 2004
#1★★★★
Discount Broker for
Customer Service
Barron’s,
March 2004
#1
Online Broker for
Response Time
Gómez Performance Index
benchmark study