News Releases

NEW YORK and CHICAGO, February 10, 2011 – BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO), has hired three senior fixed income professionals to continue the expansion of its Global and U.S. Fixed Income Institutional Sales and Trading groups. Nick Boulukos joins as Managing Director and will focus on hedge funds and real money accounts for Debt Products. John Valecce joins as Director of BMO's Dealer Sales Desk, specializing in Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) Debt. Craig Collins joins as Managing Director.

Nick Boulukos and John Valecce, both based in New York, report to Bill Kirby, Head of U.S. Core Rate Sales in the Debt Products Group. Mr. Boulukos brings 26 years of banking experience to BMO Capital Markets. He was previously at BNP Paribas Securities in New York, where he managed Short Term Interest Rate Sales. Prior to BNP, Mr. Boulukos held various management positions at Morgan Stanley and Barclays.

Mr. Valecce comes to BMO Capital Markets from CRT Capital where he was Senior Vice President, focusing on bonds and fixed income. His experience comprises over twenty years of financial experience at various bulge-bracket firms including Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital, Citigroup Global Markets and Goldman Sachs.

Craig Collins, based in London, reports to Scott Graham, Head of BMO's U.S. Government Bond Trading. He comes to BMO from HSBC where he was previously a US $ Rates Trader for 15 years in New York, Hong Kong, and most recently Head of US$ Government Bond Trading in London.

“BMO has an established fixed income presence in North America and London. Our new team members strengthen our existing capabilities and allow us to continue to provide a high level of expertise to our clients," said Scott Graham, Head of Government Bond Trading.

BMO Capital Markets has hired more than 450 people globally including more than 200 professionals in the United States since January 2010.

“Nick and John in New York and Craig in London, are great additions to our fixed income team and will help us build BMO's capabilities through cross-product opportunities in the U.S. and abroad,” said Bill Kirby, Head of U.S. Core Rate Sales.

BMO Capital Markets Fixed Income Group is a full service broker/dealer specializing in debt securities, including municipal bonds, U.S. Treasury debt, agencies, and mortgage-backed securities. The group provides services, strategies and products specifically targeted to financial institutions, investment managers, issuers, and high net worth individuals. The Sales, Trading and Underwriting departments provide a variety of products, investment strategies and related services specifically selected and designed to meet the needs of financial institutions, other professional portfolio managers and individual investors.

About BMO Capital Markets
BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American financial services provider offering equity and debt underwriting, corporate lending and project financing, merger and acquisitions advisory services, merchant banking, securitization, treasury management, market risk management, debt and equity research and institutional sales and trading. BMO Capital Markets has over 2,000 employees operating in 26 locations around the world, including 14 in North America.

BMO Capital Markets is a member of BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO), one of the largest diversified financial services providers in North America with US$404 billion total assets and 38,000 employees as at October 31, 2010. 

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Media Contacts:

Holly Holt, New York, holly.holt@bmo.com, (212) 885-4153
Beja Rodeck, Toronto, beja.rodeck@bmo.com, (416) 867-4924 
Patrick O'Herlihy, Chicago, patrick.o'herlihy@bmo.com, (312) 461-6970

Web site: www.bmocm.com
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