News Releases

BMO Bank of Montreal, one of Canada’s largest agricultural lenders, has today announced that it is extending its BSE Disaster Assistance Program for its customers who continue to be impacted by the ongoing crisis.

The BMO Bank of Montreal’s BSE Disaster Assistance Program was first launched in 2003 to help the beef and agricultural sector cope with the BSE-imposed crisis.  The program is designed to help support affected agricultural businesses with their ongoing financial needs through a combination of payment deferrals, interest rate reductions and application fee waivers.  The program, which was originally slated to end this October, has now been extended until May 2005.

“BMO Bank of Montreal has a strong reputation for standing by our customers in difficult times and these are extremely difficult times for farmers and the agricultural sector,” said Ted McCarron, Senior Vice President, Prairies Division, BMO Bank of Montreal. “The BSE crisis which began last year is continuing to impact many of our customers and all indications are that the situation will not improve for some time.  Today’s announcement sends an important message to our customers that we will continue to support them throughout this crisis.”

Under the BMO Bank of Montreal BSE Disaster Assistance Program, customers who are currently in good standing may be eligible for some or all of the following financial relief measures:

1)       Deferral of principal payments on agricultural loans until May 1, 2005

2)       Interest rate relief on operating credits

3)       Waiver of new loan application fees

4)       Waiver of annual review fees

BMO Bank of Montreal customers who continue to be impacted by the ongoing BSE crisis and US border closure are advised to discuss their financial options with their BMO account manager.

BMO Bank of Montreal is a member of BMO Financial Group (TSX, NYSE: BMO), one of the largest financial services providers in North America and one of the top commercial card issuers in Canada.  BMO Financial Group serves clients across Canada and in the United States through its Canadian retail arm, BMO Bank of Montreal; BMO Nesbitt Burns, one of Canada’s leading full-service investment firms; and through Chicago-based Harris, an integrated financial services organization that provides personal, business, corporate, and institutional clients with a full range of banking, lending, investing and financial management solutions.  It is one of the largest agricultural lenders in Canada.

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