News Releases

NEW YORK, NEW YORK--(Marketwired - Oct. 30, 2013) - BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group (NYSE:BMO)(TSX:BMO), and KIPP, a national network of public charter schools, are pleased to announce a renewable, annual scholarship that will help students from underserved communities afford college.

The BMO Capital Markets Scholarship will be administered by the KIPP Through College Program, which is designed to help eliminate the opportunity gap in college attendance and the incompletion rate between students from high- and low-income communities.

The scholarship will be funded through BMO's well-established Equity Through Education charitable program, which currently funds eight other North American charities. Two scholarships will be awarded to the KIPP Class of 2014. BMO Capital Markets will collaborate in the selection process, potentially tapping successful applicants for future internship and recruitment opportunities.

Since it was launched eight years ago, BMO's Equity Through Education program has raised US$12.8 million and has assisted more than 2,500 individuals.

"We want to do things that are tangible," said Alan Tannenbaum, Co-Head of U.S. Equities, BMO Capital Markets and a champion of the Equity Through Education program. "Helping students further their education makes a difference in a manner that can be measured, so we take tangible action and follow it up with observable results."

KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, is a national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public charter schools with a track record of preparing students in underserved communities for success in college and in life. Nationwide, KIPP serves over 50,000 students in 141 schools, in 20 states and the District of Columbia. In Newark, KIPP operates as TEAM Charter Schools, with 6 schools serving over 2,000 students in grades K-12.

"On behalf of our KIPP students and families, we are excited to be part of BMO's Equity through Education partnership," said Eric Fisher, Managing Director of the KIPP Through College program for TEAM Schools. "The scholarships offered to our college-bound students will help them attend top schools, find the colleges that best fit their needs, and step onto college campuses across the country with confidence that they can afford a college degree."

The scholarship is renewable annually and will be available to students enrolled in four-year college programs and who maintain a Grade Point Average of at least 3.5, with preference given to students studying finance, business, mathematics or engineering.

BMO's Equity Through Education program is a charitable initiative aimed at creating a more diverse workplace by offering support to help people realize their educational ambitions by giving them opportunities they might not otherwise have.

Other charities supported by Equity Through Education include:

- Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation

- The Financial Women's Association

- The Jackie Robinson Foundation

- Foundation for the Advancement of Aboriginal Youth

- Indspire

- Lime Connect

- Pathways to Education Canada

- Women in Capital Markets

To learn more about Equity Through Education visit: www.bmocm.com/equitythrougheducation.

About BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American financial services provider, with more than 2,200 employees operating in 16 North American offices and 29 worldwide, 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$535 billion total assets and more than 46,000 employees as at July 31, 2013.