Bank Of Montreal History

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Bank of Montreal
History
Nine people together established BMO which were merchants and financiers.
• John Richardson was the leader also known as “Father of Canadian Banking”. He has represented Montreal in legislature of Lower Canada and was appointed to the Executive Council and Legislative Council.
• Horatio Gates was an entrepreneur. He had many contacts with American friends and influenced them to purchase shares in his new financial institute. He twice has been a president of New Bank.
• George Moffat was the key figure of group. He got control over interest by earning partnership in firm named Gerard, Gillespie, Moffat & Co. Moffat was key in shaping the early character of the Bank in its first decade.
• Robert Armour was the publisher …show more content…

Col. James Leslie was a merchant retired army officer. He was also part of variety of legislative and executive positions in Canada.
• John Churchill Bush was a merchant and he was a part of Bank’s activities.
• Augustin Cuvillier has played a strategic role in Bank’s founding. He was a member of Legislative Assembly, a well-to-do importer and the only native born Canadian among the group. He was one of the leading political and economic figure of his time. He has provided vita legislative support for the Banks’s incorporation and charter.
Montreal Bank first started their operation on Nov 3, 1817. In 1822, the bank’s name was changed to Bank of Montreal. The bank provided its own bank notes, served as a source of commercial loans, was a safe repository for people’s funds, and became a place to purchase foreign bills of exchange and other commercial paper.
BMO has funded the building of Canada’s major canal which is Lachine from 1821-1825 and Canada’s first railway which is Champlain and St. Lawrence from 1832-1836. After that the bank became involved in construction to improve the St. Lawrence –Great Lakes navigation and provided financing in the 1850’s to build the Grand Trunk Railway from Quebec to Sarnia. The bank was key partner in other infrastructure milestones such as financing the first telegraph …show more content…

Betweem 1975 and 1980, BMO became the first Canadian institution to go online. Moreover, with the advanced technology the bank introduced innovative services such as cash management and nationwide processing of payrolls for business. In 1980, BMO was a leader in installing its first automated banking machines in Calgary, Alberta. Moreover, in 1996, BMO was the first Canadian Bank to offer full-services banking across North America on the internet, which enabled customers to conduct business

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