Next thing you know they’ll be paying you to keep your money in their bank

The times they must be a changing, the Bank of Montreal has seen the light and suddenly the Big Bank is going to take care of the little customer.

At a recent shareholders meeting, newly appointed CEO Tony Downie said that the bank needs to get back to treating the customers better, "The real key to growth is to provide our customers with a better experience once they walk through our doors.”

Downie came upon this revelation after spending four hours behind a one way glass listening to customers complain about service at the bank and taking note on the suggestions that the ma’s and pa’s of the banking world had to offer.

From his notebook will come some interesting changes to local banks across the nation starting with a project in Kamloops that will see a 2.6 million dollar branch open, with 50-employees featuring traditional tellers working alongside small-business bankers. Also on site will be mortgage specialists, stockbrokers and BMO private bankers who normally cater to clients with $1-million-plus portfolios.

For those in a real hurry there will be a drive-through window, and sit down for this one:

The branch's regular business hours will be extended, with doors also open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wow, a bank open when you might actually be able to get there, how novel!

He’s even gone so far as to take the advice of one particular customer, who complained about the music on the switchboard hold mechanism that was “all that awful teenage wailing about their lovers.”

The offending wailing is gone (surely not to be replaced by that hand in your pocket song) and if Mr.Downie has his way, so will be the wait times.

All part of the Banks plans to win hearts and wallets of the Canadian banking public.

Hmm, might be time to withdraw the cash from under the mattress...

Tough-love boss at BMO demands retail turnaround
Wants 'better experience' for customers
ANDREW WILLIS
BANKING REPORTER

Globe and Mail

March 3, 2007

TORONTO -- Bank of Montreal has been losing retail customers to rivals for several years. Yesterday, newly appointed chief executive officer, William Downe, used his first annual meeting to make a tough-love pitch on how to stop the bleeding.

As the new boss graciously took the baton from Tony Comper, CEO for the past seven years, the 54-year-old Mr. Downe pledged that BMO branches will win a larger share of the lucrative retail market.

His call to arms, coming on the heels of 1,000 back office job cuts announced in January, is part of a broader push to build a bigger and more profitable bank.

The simple message from Mr. Downe, who recently spent four hours behind one-way glass listening to branch customers complain, is that BMO must offer better service. "The real key to growth is to provide our customers with a better experience once they walk through our doors," he said.

The front lines of the retail banking wars are in cities such as Kamloops, B.C., where BMO will open a new $2.6-million branch next Thursday that sums up its strategy to win hearts and wallets of clients.

The 50-employee branch will feature traditional tellers working shoulder-to-shoulder with small-business bankers, mortgage specialists, stockbrokers and BMO private bankers who typically cater to clients with $1-million-plus portfolios. There will be a drive-through window, and the branch's regular business hours will be extended, with doors also open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In the past year, BMO replaced most of its 1,936 ATMs, and put new signs on many of its 963 domestic branches, with the name of both the bank and its wealth management arm, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.

The bank plans to open 15 new branches this year, and renovate 30 locations. In an internal talk last month, Mr. Downe told colleagues that banking "is a lot like hockey. "You have to hit the competition before they hit you."

While BMO's Canadian retail division posted a profit of $292-million for its fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 31, up $30-million from the comparable quarter last year, the bank continued to lose market share in areas such as personal deposits, a sector targeted by rivals such as Bank of Nova Scotia.

Over all, BMO reported a profit of $585-million in the quarter, including a $135-million restructuring charge that reflects severance costs, down 4 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

"The quarter suggests that efforts to turn the fortunes of the domestic business are still ongoing.
The trends are mixed, not getting materially worse, and management is moving to address the issue," said UBS Securities Canada Inc. analyst Jason Bilodeau.

Shareholders were quick to offer their input on services that could be fixed.

One discount brokerage client, a woman of a certain age, asked the CEO if he could do something about the music when she is put on hold, as "it's all that awful teenage wailing about their lovers."
Mr. Downe promised to both change the music and cut down the wait times.

Retail expansion does not extend to the U.S. market, where BMO forecasts an economic slowdown in the second half of this year. Mr. Downe said the bank will open fewer branches than planned in the Chicago area, where it has 234 outlets, due to weakness in the real estate market that is expected to spill over into other sectors.

Mr. Comper retired yesterday from a bank he joined in the summer of 1967, when he was "a young man with an English degree and a guitar."

During his watch as CEO, annual profit doubled to $2.66-billion, and the bank also had to bounce back from a failed 1998 merger with Royal Bank of Canada.

Looking back at the 1999 restructuring of BMO, in his first year at the helm, Mr. Comper said: "I think of the post-non-merger crisis as my finest hour professionally."

Mr. Comper is leaving the bank with $78-million in shares and stock options, and a pension that the bank calculates is worth $26.8-million.

Basic banking

Bank of Montreal's strategy to win customers, while boosting profits:

BMO will open 15 new Canadian branches and renovate 30 other locations, after opening just nine last year.

Paperwork will be slashed for basic services, such as mortgage approvals and the opening of RRSPs.

Front-line staff will be deepened, with more stockbrokers and mortgage specialists working alongside tellers.

The bank is chopping 1,000 back office jobs.

Small-business bankers will have authority to lend up to $50-million to a customer, the most in the industry.

Many new branches will have drive-through access and longer hours.