BMO Financial Group Proposes Change of Investment Objectives for BMO Canadian
Government Bond Index ETF*

TORONTO, March 24 /CNW/ - BMO Financial Group announced today that a special meeting of unitholders of the BMO Canadian Government Bond Index ETF (BMO ETF) (the Meeting) has been called to consider changing the investment objectives as a result of a change to the underlying index of the BMO ETF. The Meeting is scheduled to take place on May 12, 2010.

At the Meeting, unitholders of the BMO ETF will be asked to consider revising the investment objectives of the BMO ETF by replacing the current underlying index - the Citigroup Canadian Government Bond Index - with the DEX Mid Term Federal Bond Index. The DEX Mid Term Federal Bond Index consists of semi-annual pay fixed rate bonds denominated in Canadian dollars with an effective term to maturity between 5 and 10 years, a credit rating of AAA and minimum size requirement of $50 million per issue. The federal sector consists of bonds issued by the Government of Canada (including both non-agency and agency/crown corporations) and supra-national entities. Each security in the index is weighted by its relative market capitalization and rebalanced on a daily basis. The holdings of the BMO ETF would be adjusted proportionately to the holdings of the DEX Mid Term Federal Bond Index.

By changing to the DEX Mid Term Federal Bond Index, investors will now have the ability to focus their investment on the mid-term section of the federal bond market. DEX is the market leader and most widely-referenced Canadian fixed income index provider. DEX rebalances its indices daily and uses inputs from 11 fixed income brokers and dealers in Canada to calculate their indices.

In addition, the index change will allow the BMO ETF to be more efficiently managed resulting in the maximum annual management fee being reduced to 0.20%. The index change is subject to obtaining all required regulatory approvals.

Further information about BMO ETFs can be found at www.bmo.com/etfs.

* BMO Canadian Government Bond Index ETF is managed and administered by Jones Heward Investment Counsel Inc., a wholly-owned, indirect subsidiary of Bank of Montreal.

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 $399 billion as at January 31, 2010, and more than 36,000 employees, BMO Financial Group provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and solutions.

For further information: Media Contacts: Kasia Lech, Toronto, [email protected], [phone]; Ronald Monet, Montréal, [email protected], [phone]; Internet: www.bmo.com