BMO Bank, N.A. ( colloquially BMO; ) is an American national bank that is headquartered in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. It is the U.S. subsidiary of the multinational

investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

and

financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...

company

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...

, which owns it through the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

BMO Financial Corporation (formerly Bankmont Financial Corporation, then Harris Financial Corporation). , it was the 8th largest bank in the United States by total assets. The bank was founded in 1882 as N.W. Harris & Co. before changing its name to Harris Trust and Savings Bank in 1907, and then Harris Bank in 1972. After the Bank of Montreal acquired the company in 1984, it eventually became branded as BMO Harris Bank by 2011. Under the Bank of Montreal's ownership, the company increased its presence in the U.S. through a series of acquisitions of other banks, such as

Suburban Bancorp Suburban Bancorp, Inc. was a publicly traded multibank holding company headquartered in suburban Chicago. It was founded by Gerald F. Fitzgerald, father of former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald, and majority owned by the Fitzgerald family. Bank of ...

in 1994,

Marshall & Ilsley Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (also known as M&I Bank) was a U.S. bank and diversified financial services corporation headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that was purchased by Bank of Montreal in 2010. The bank was founded in 1847 and by 2008 ...

in 2011, and

Bank of the West Bank of the West is an American financial institution headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. It is a subsidiary of the French international banking group BNP Paribas and has more than 600 branches and offices in the Midwes ...

in 2023. Coinciding with the Bank of the West merger, BMO announced that it would retire the "BMO Harris Bank" brand in favor of the global "BMO" brand of its Canadian parent company.

History

In 1882, Norman Wait Harris established N.W. Harris & Co., a Chicago-based municipal bond broker and the forerunner of Harris Bank. Harris Trust and Savings Bank was established 1907. It merged with Chicago National Bank in 1960 and was restructured as Harris Bank, N.A. in 1972.

(later known as BMO Financial Group) acquired Harris in 1984. The bank grew rapidly through a series of acquisitions beginning with the First National Bank of Barrington in 1985, State Bank of St. Charles and First National Bank of

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

in 1988 and Libertyville Federal Savings Bank and Loan and Frankfort Bancshares in 1990. Harris Bankcorp and

combined under the Harris name in 1994 and two years later, the company acquired 54 Chicago area branches from Household Bank. In 1999, the direct brokerage firm Burke, Christensen & Lewis merged with Harris Investors Direct to form Harris InvestorLine. The company's further acquisitions include Freeman Welwood in 2000; Village Bank of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, and Century Bank (Arizona) and First National Bank of Joliet in 2001; Northwestern Trust and Investors Advisory Company (

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

) in 2002. Also in 2002, InvestorLine combined with CSFBdirect to form Harrisdirect and Harris acquired online client accounts of

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

Individual Investor Group and myCFO. The following year, it purchased Sullivan, Bruyette Speros & Blayney Incorporated, followed by Lakeland Community Bank in Round Lake, and Villa Park Trust and Savings Bank in 2005. BMO continued its acquisitions in 2007 with First National Bank & Trust, (

Kokomo, Indiana Kokomo ( ) is a city in Indiana and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard County, the Kokomo-Peru CSA, which includ ...

) followed by Ozaukee Bank, ( Cedarburg, Wisconsin) and Merchant and Manufacturers Bankcorp Inc., (

New Berlin, Wisconsin New Berlin () is a city located along the Milwaukee /Waukesha County Border in the U.S. State of Wisconsin. The population was 40,451 at the 2020 census, making it the third-largest community in Waukesha County after the cities of Waukesha and ...

) in 2008 and Amcore Bank N.A. (

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

) on April 23, 2010. On December 17, 2010, Bank of Montreal agreed to purchase

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

-based

Marshall & Ilsley Corporation Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (also known as M&I Bank) was a U.S. bank and diversified financial services corporation headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that was purchased by Bank of Montreal in 2010. The bank was founded in 1847 and by 200 ...

in an all-stock transaction valued at about US$4.1 billion. Marshall & Ilsley and Harris Bankcorp were both rebranded as BMO Harris. The company restructured as BMO Bankcorp July 5, 2011. In December 2015, the company completed its acquisition of General Electric Capital Corp.'s transportation finance business. BMO was the bank with the second-most deposits in Chicago by June 2018, with 11.5% market share. Also that month, its BMO Harris division was operating in eight states in the US. In December 2021, Bank of Montreal agreed to purchase

with the intent on merging it with BMO Harris Bank, which would at least double its U.S. presence. The acquisition of Bank of the West was completed in February 2023, and the Bank of the West brand is planned to be absorbed into the global BMO brand by September 2023. Coinciding with this merger, BMO Harris Bank announced that it will retire the combined "BMO Harris" brand and will start to use the global BMO brand of its Canadian parent company. The company will then begin to primarily do business as "BMO Bank N.A." in September 2023 once the integration with Bank of the West is completed. File:Harris Tust Building in Chicago (1911).png, Harris Trust Building in Chicago File:Norman Wait Harris.png,

Norman Wait Harris Norman Wait Harris (August 15, 1846 – July 15, 1916) was an American banker. He founded Chicago-based N.W. Harris & Co., the predecessor of Harris Bank as well as its affiliate Harris, Forbes & Co. and later Harris, Hall & Co. Biography Ha ...

(c. 1911), founder of N.W. Harris & Co., later Harris Trust & Savings Bank

Operations

BMO is one of the largest banks in the Midwest with over 600 branches and approximately 1,300 ATMs in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Arizona, Florida and California. It is the second-largest Chicago-area bank based on market share, behind

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

, and the second largest US subsidiary of a Canadian bank after

TD Bank, N.A. TD Bank, N.A. is an American National Association (Banking)#United States, national bank and the United States subsidiary of the multinational TD Bank Group (Canada), TD Bank Group. It operates primarily across the East Coast of the United State ...

(owned by the Toronto-Dominion Bank). BMO is the issuer of the

Diners Club A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a comb ...

cards in United States.

Headquarters

BMO is headquartered in a complex of three buildings in Chicago's

Loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

neighborhood. The original 21-story building was constructed in 1910 at 119 West Monroe Street. The entrance to the building is flanked by two

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

sculptures of lions, which inspired various iterations of the bank's logo until 2011, along with the bank's

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

character, Hubert the Lion. In 1960, a 23-story structure was added to the east with the address of 111 West Monroe. In 1974, a second 38-story tower was added to the west with the address of 115 South LaSalle Street. Both additions were designed by the firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and are in the

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

style. The bank uses the address of the 1960 building. In December 2018, the bank announced it would move its headquarters to 14 floors of a 50-story office tower adjacent to Chicago Union Station. The bank expects the new BMO Tower to be ready in 2022. Additionally, notable BMO buildings are located in

( BMO Harris Financial Center), at 770 North Water Street, and

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

(

BMO Plaza BMO Plaza, formerly the M&I Plaza, is a high-rise office building located at 135 North Pennsylvania Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was completed in 1988 and is currently the sixth-tallest building in the city, at with 28 stories. It is pri ...

). In 2017, the bank began construction of a 25-story BMO Tower at North Water and East Wells, adjacent to its current Milwaukee headquarters. The bank expects to occupy of the building beginning in December 2019. In August 2017, BMO sold the 20-story structure it currently occupies to real estate firm Irgens, which plans to remodel and lease it.

Naming rights and sponsorships

BMO owns corporate

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

to the following: *

BMO Stadium BMO Stadium, formerly Banc of California Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC and the National Women's Soccer League's Ang ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

* BMO Center in

* BMO Pavilion at Summerfest in

– Official Sponsor of Summerfest. BMO Bank is a sponsor of: *

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

– Official bank of the Chicago Blackhawks. * Chicago Bulls – Official bank of the Chicago Bulls. *

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

– Official partner of the Chicago White Sox. *

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

– Official bank of the Milwaukee Bucks. *

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

– Official partner of the Minnesota Wild. *

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

of the AHL, the

affiliate – Official bank of the Rockford IceHogs. * Wisconsin Badgers Athletics – Official partner of the UW-Madison Badgers.

References

External links

* {{Bank of Montreal Banks based in Illinois

Harris Bank BMO Harris Bank, N.A. is an American bank based in Chicago, Illinois. It is a member of the Federal Reserve System and operates branches in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Florida, Wisconsin, and California ...