News Releases

NEW YORK, NEW YORK--(Marketwire - May 13, 2011) - BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group (NYSE:BMO)(TSX:BMO), is expanding its global fixed income business with the addition of several key new hires.

Kathy Evers has been appointed Managing Director and Head of Municipal Credit Analytics in New York. Roy Hingston has been hired as Director, Senior Balance Sheet Strategist in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Also joining the Fixed Income Group in institutional sales is Milton McNichol, Jr., who joins as U.S. Government Securities Sales Director in London, and David Blinder as U.S. Government Securities Sales Director in the Houston office.

The U.S. Fixed Income group has also opened sales locations in Midland, MI and Pittsburgh, PA. The Midland location will be staffed by Tamara McGovern, Director Institutional Sales. The Pittsburgh sales team includes Ed Twomey, Director Institutional Sales, and Ron Mitchell, Vice President Institutional Sales.

"Increasingly our clients are looking to us to provide them with services, strategies and products on a global basis," said Charlie Piermarini, Executive Managing Director and Head of Debt Products, BMO Capital Markets. "These new hires will be integral to helping us expand our U.S. fixed income platform globally."

Kathy Evers brings more than 20 years of credit experience, with a particular emphasis on revenue-backed municipal bonds and high-profile issuers such as U.S. states. Trained at Moody's Investors Service, her subsequent experience across the municipal marketplace includes positions at Financial Guaranty Insurance Company, where she led the Utilities and Transportation Group and co-headed the Public Finance team; and Assured Guaranty, where she managed the Public Finance group during the firm's transition to a primary market bond insurance platform. At Merrill Lynch, she worked in Fixed Income Research and with the firm's Private Wealth advisors, helping them manage municipal bond holdings for ultra-high-net-worth clients. Most recently, Kathy supervised surveillance and risk management of the U.S. municipal portfolio at the New York branch of Dexia Credit Local.

Roy Hingston is responsible for reviewing bank, thrift, and credit union balance sheets and for developing investment strategies within the context of the highly regulated banking industry. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Hingston spent 35 years working with community-based financial institutions to develop successful asset-liability management strategies. He is the author of "Creating the Perfect Portfolio for your Financial Institution" and has published an extensive series of articles for America's Community Banker Magazine.

Milton McNichol will focus on expanding BMO's distribution with banks, hedge funds and central banks across Europe. He joins BMO Capital Markets from Arbor Research and Trading in London where he was SVP of fixed income sales. Milton has more than 15 years of experience in sales and trading, having served in various roles at Nomura, Credit Suisse First Boston and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

David Blinder will cover bank portfolios as well as a number of state and local government entities across the Southeast United States. He joins BMO from Cantor Fitzgerald where he was a Director in fixed income sales. For the past 25 years, he has worked in sales throughout the Southeast with a focus on fixed income and U.S. government securities. His previous experience includes roles with Bear Stearns & Company, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

About BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American financial services provider, with more than 2,000 employees operating in 26 offices worldwide, including 14 in North American, offering corporate, institutional and government clients access to a complete range of investment and corporate banking products and services. BMO Capital Markets is a member of BMO Financial Group (NYSE:BMO)(TSX:BMO), one of the largest diversified financial services providers in North America with US$413 billion total assets and 38,000 employees as at January 31, 2011.