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TORONTO, ONTARIO and CHICAGO, ILLINOIS--(Marketwired - March 24, 2015) -

Editors note: There are two photos associated with this press release.

BMO Financial Group today initiated the first-ever trade through the new RMB Hub for the Americas, which launched this week. The trade took place at BMO's Toronto headquarters, in the presence of Toronto Mayor John Tory, BMO Chief Executive Officer Bill Downe, BMO Capital Markets Chief Executive Officer and Group Head Darryl White, Chairman, BMO Nesbitt Burns and President, BMO Financial Group, Quebec L. Jacques Ménard and Dave McKinnon, Managing Director, Treasury Trading for Manulife Financial.

The hub – a first for North and South America – allows financial institutions to purchase the Chinese RMB currency through Canada on the open market, on behalf of their clients.

"This historic first trade represents an important step toward ensuring companies across the Americas are on a level playing field with their global competitors when doing business with China," said C.J. Gavsie, Global Head of FX Products & China Capital Markets, BMO Capital Markets, who initiated the trade.

"As we've seen in other jurisdictions with RMB hubs, the cost savings will lead to more trade. This, in turn, will create more jobs in North and South America. For our U.S. clients in particular, the hub will deliver the price transparency the open market provides when trading for RMB."

About BMO in Asia

BMO has had a long history of doing business in Asia, especially in China. BMO is currently the only Canadian and one of only three North American banks with an established subsidiary bank in Mainland China. BMO's offices in Asia allow the bank the flexibility to expand its product and service offerings for North American and Asian clients.

BMO's presence in Asia includes:

• BMO's subsidiary bank in Mainland China - Bank of Montreal (China) Co. Ltd. (BMO ChinaCo), with branches in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou;
• BMO branch in Hong Kong;
• BMO branch in Singapore;
• BMO Capital Markets representative office in Beijing;
• BMO Capital Markets representative office in Taipei;
• BMO Global Asset Management Asia in Hong Kong;
• A 28 per cent equity stake in Fullgoal Fund Management Co. Ltd., based in Shanghai; and
• A 19.99 per cent equity stake in COFCO Trust Co. Ltd., based in Beijing.

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified financial services organization based in North America. The bank offers a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers. BMO Financial Group had total assets of approximately $672 billion and more than 47,000 employees at January 31, 2015.

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