Canada’s banking market remains as competitive as ever, but one bank stands out for the strong performance of its underlying businesses as well as for completing the standout strategic move of the period. Bank of Montreal (BMO) is Canada’s Best Bank.
Looking at the 12 months to the end of April 2023, BMO’s adjusted revenues rose 13% as the bank included for the first time the newly acquired Bank of the West, which closed in February. Adjusted pre-provision profits were up 2%.
Revenues of C$33.7 billion ($25.5 million) in the bank’s fiscal year 2022 were a record for the firm. Even stripping out a one-off gain related to the BoW purchase, the result was only slightly behind 2021’s high.
BMO’s common equity tier-1 ratio fell on completion of the acquisition, but it is still more than one percentage point over the bank’s 11% minimum. On the asset-quality front, while there have been concerns over commercial real estate (CRE) exposure in both the US and Canadian banking sectors, BMO’s well-diversified CRE exposure, at about 10% of its loan book, looks conservative.