The Move to Main Street: BMO Introduces Dedicated Business Banking Team Focused on Canada's Small and Emerging Businesses

TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2020 /CNW/ - Canada's main street businesses employ a majority of Canadians but have traditionally been underserved. As the country turns the corner on the COVID-19 pandemic, their rebound will influence Canada's overall recovery. To ensure these critical businesses have the support they need, BMO has created a dedicated banking team to provide guidance and advice to help promote their growth.

This team will support businesses from coast to coast, with relationship managers focused on helping clients in both major urban centres as well as rural locations; it will continue to invest in and develop technology and solutions built specifically for the segment. This includes continued enhancement to digital solutions such as BMO Business Xpress – a leading small business onboarding platform – and a simpler and more streamlined approach to serving the segment while tailoring industry specific solutions for several key industries.

"As Canada's bank for business, it has never been more important to stand behind Canadian businesses – we need to ensure their economic success to ensure Canada's success," said Mike Bonner, Head Canadian Business Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal. "The challenge that we noticed is that this segment has been underserved. We're looking to change that. We now have a team focused solely on this segment to help them make real financial progress. This is the beginning of a true partnership with Canada's main street businesses across the country."

The group will also work closely with partners in Retail, Wealth, and Canadian Commercial Banking to support businesses in this segment, with a full range of wealth and banking products and services.

Broader Support for Small Businesses and Women Entrepreneurs
As Canada's bank for business, BMO has been advocating for additional measures to help keep the small business environment favourable for those operating in the sector. A key part of the effort is hyper-targeting support to help businesses operating in sectors that have been more negatively affected by the shutdown recover, like hospitality and professional services.

As well, BMO recognizes that women entrepreneurs have been particularly affected and require broader support to help them come out stronger from the pandemic. As one measure to help, BMO Celebrating Women has pledged $100,000 in grants to Canadian entrepreneurs. This new grant program will award ten women-owned businesses with $10,000 to put towards their business.

BMO is also committed to building an inclusive society with zero barriers and helping all small business owners achieve economic success. The bank recently participated in an announcement with the federal government, alongside other organizations, to partner on the new Black Entrepreneurship Program. BMO also continues to support the economic self-sufficiency and growth of Canada's Indigenous communities and has committed to double the size of its Indigenous commercial loans, deposits, and investments by 2025.

To find out more about how BMO is supporting small businesses, visit: https://www.bmo.com/main/business/.

To access BMO's resource hub, visit: https://www.bmo.com/main/business/small-business-resource-hub/.

About BMO Financial Group 
Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider - the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $974 billion as of July 31, 2020, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

SOURCE BMO Financial Group

Media Contact: James DeCosimo, Toronto, [email protected] | [phone]; Internet: www.bmo.com, Twitter: @BMOmedia