News Releases

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 14, 2013) - BMO Financial Group has published its 2012 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report and Public Accountability Statement (PAS).

The two documents have been combined and outline how BMO manages the environmental, social and governance impacts of its business while creating value for its customers, investors, the economy and society.

BMO's Corporate Responsibility Report, which outlines further details on BMO's programs for customers and employees as well as corporate and employee contributions, will be available in late Spring, 2013.

Highlights of BMO's ESG report include:

• Involved in raising approximately $3.6 billion of equity and debt in the capital markets for companies active in renewable energy across North America.
• Contributed more than $87.6 million in donations, sponsorships and events.
• In May 2012, BMO adopted a Board Diversity Policy that includes a goal of no fewer than one third of independent directors of each gender.

"Earning the right to guide the financial interests of more than 12 million customers - from grade-schoolers managing their first savings accounts to leading corporations with global interests - is first a matter of building and sustaining their respect and trust for our record on environmental, social and governance issues," said Bill Downe, President and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group.

"Acting sustainably demands awareness and commitment from corporations and the people within them. It means fostering a corporate culture where the instincts for doing the right thing are second nature: where values and expectations are clearly stated and standards rigidly upheld. We have done just that. Our values are well-founded and universally applied. There are no gray areas at BMO," said Mr. Downe.

"This report demonstrates two more important Sustainability commitments we take seriously at BMO: innovation and transparency. New this year is BMO's ESG Scorecard, found on page 9. The Scorecard provides detail on the measures that matter most to our stakeholders, reported with corresponding year-over-year data. In future reports, we will continue to review and refine this list - keeping pace as areas of interest and relevance change," said Mr. Downe.

Reporting Framework

BMO used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting framework to prepare this report. The Bank followed version GRI G3.1 and the Financial Services Sector Supplement, and self-declared an Application Level B+. The GRI Index is found on pages 15 to 35.

KPMG provided limited assurance on selected sustainability information in the report. Their limited assurance report is found on pages 51 and 52.

BMO's 2012 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report and Public Accountability Statement (PAS) fulfills the requirements of the Canadian federal government's Public Accountability Statement regulations. Click here to download the report.

About BMO

Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified financial services provider based in North America, with total assets of $542 billion and more than 46,000 employees as at January 31, 2013. BMO provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers.

For additional information, go to: www.bmo.com/corporateresponsibility.