News Releases

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 14, 2012) - BMO Financial Group announced today that its Exchange Traded Funds (ETF)* business recently surpassed $5 billion CDN in assets under management (AUM). In the first two months of 2012 alone, AUM grew by 32 per cent.

First introduced in 2009, BMO Financial Group's ETF business under BMO Asset Management Inc. (BMO AM) has grown to 44 funds.

"Our growth can be attributed to the strength of our team, a commitment to ongoing product innovation and our ability to draw on the strength and stability of the BMO brand," said Kevin Gopaul, Vice President and CIO, BMO AM. "We are delighted that the success we had in 2011 has carried over into this year as well."

Mr. Gopaul noted that the following ETF categories have played important roles in driving recent BMO ETF growth:

• Fixed Income ETFs: Including BMO Aggregate Bond Index ETF and BMO High Yield US Corporate Bond Hedged to CAD Index ETF

• Strategic, Non-indexed ETFs: Including BMO Covered Call Dow Jones Industrial Average Hedged to CAD ETF and BMO Low Volatility Canadian Equity ETF

• Yield-oriented Equity ETFs: Including BMO Equal Weight REITs Index ETF and BMO Equal Weight Utilities Index ETF

Last year BMO led the Canadian ETF industry in growth, accounting for $2.3 billion or 49 per cent of the growth of assets under management.** BMO AM also ranked number one in ETF customer loyalty in the Credo Research 'February 2012 Loyalty Ranking Survey' of 33 financial services firms.

BMO ETF Report Predicts Strong Growth for Canadian ETF Market in 2012

According to a report from BMO AM, Canadian ETF Outlook 2012, the Canadian ETF industry is set for dramatic growth in 2012. This growth will, in part, be caused by:

• The emergence of new ETF providers
• The introduction of more active and strategy-based ETFs
• More sophisticated product offerings, including the introduction of more hybrid structures such as mutual funds that invest directly in ETFs to provide long-term strategic investment exposures
• Increased price competition

For more information on BMO ETFs, please visit www.bmo.com/etfs

Get the latest BMO press releases via Twitter by following @BMOmedia.

*BMO ETFs are managed and administered by BMO Asset Management Inc., an investment fund manager and portfolio manager, and a separate legal entity from the Bank of Montreal.

Commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with investments in exchange traded funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. The funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

**Calculations based on Bloomberg data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average(SM) is a product of Dow Jones Indexes, a licensed trade-mark of CME Group Index Services LLC ("CME"), and has been licensed for use. "Dow Jones®", "Dow Jones Industrial Average(SM)", "Dow Jones Canada Titan 60" and "Titans" are service marks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings, LLC ("Dow Jones") and have been licensed for use for certain purposes. BMO ETFs based on Dow Jones indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Dow Jones, CME or their respective affiliates and none of them make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s).

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group is a highly-diversified North American financial services organization. With total assets of $538 billion as at January 31, 2012, and more than 47,000 employees, BMO Financial Group provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and solutions.