News Releases

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 14, 2012) - For the fourth consecutive year, BMO has been named one of Canada's Best Employers for New Canadians by Mediacorp Inc., the publishers of Canada's Top 100 Employers. The award recognizes the nation's best employers for recent immigrants and the programs employers offer to help immigrants transition to a new workplace and life in Canada.

"A real competitive strength for BMO is the diversity of its workforce, which includes newcomers to Canada," said Bill Downe, President and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group.

"Embracing diversity is core to BMO's culture because we believe it is important that our employees mirror the communities in which we do business. This helps us better understand our customers and their needs, and deliver relevant financial products. Our investment in new Canadians means that both BMO and newcomers succeed," said Lynn Roger, Senior Vice-President, Talent Strategies & Executive Resourcing, BMO Financial Group.

BMO was recognized for its efforts in the following areas:

• Dissolving barriers: Despite often impressive credentials, skills and experience, immigrants may be faced with additional challenges such as lacking a professional network. As a lead sponsor and participant in ACCES Employment's Speed Mentoring program, BMO provides newcomers with opportunities to meet and network with professionals in their field, and through speed mentoring has recruited many talented new Canadians into its workforce.

• Community Partnerships: BMO partners with vocational agencies such as ACCES, and JVS to help newcomers find employment. It also partners with ethnic and cultural organizations to understand immigrants' unique financial needs, and welcome them to the bank as both customers and prospective employees. One of these organizations is The Chinese Professionals Association of Canada (CPAC), which has 27,000 members. Over the past five years, BMO has been a key supporter of CPAC and has helped host its Government Information Fair, which provides workshops, seminars and information to help recent immigrants return to their profession, start a business, or explore job opportunities in the financial services industry.

• Employee Involvement: BMO supports employee volunteerism and encourages employees to give back to the communities in which they live and work. Hirantha Nandasena, a reporting analyst at BMO, gives back by conducting free seminars and presentations in his community where he shares his personal experience as an immigrant and offers practical advice about getting established in a new country. Mr. Nandasena recently published a book, Success in Toronto: A Guide for New Immigrants. He says he wrote the book "to make life easier for new immigrants, and to show them how to succeed here, and become proud Canadians."

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 personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and solutions.

Diversity and Inclusion at BMO

Diversity has been a focus at BMO for more than two decades, ever since it commissioned ground-breaking task forces on Women, Persons with Disabilities, Aboriginal Peoples and Visible Minorities in the early 1990s.