BMO and ICBC Cooperate to Expand Product Offerings and Distribution Opportunities

BEIJING and TORONTO, Jan. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - BMO Financial Group (BMO) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) have signed a broad ranging memorandum of understanding (MOU), with the goal of leveraging their complementary geographic footprints and capabilities, to the benefit of customers of both institutions.

The agreement covers many areas including Asset Management, Corporate and Project Financing, Trade Finance, Cross-Border RMB cooperation and best practice sharing of fraud reduction techniques. The signing of the memorandum was witnessed by BMO Vice Chair David Jacobson and ICBC Senior Executive Vice President Dr. Hu Hao.

"This arrangement creates a special opportunity for our two institutions to build on a historic partnership and work together to explore unique synergies, such as combining BMO's award-winning global suite of investment products with the reach of ICBC – the world's largest bank – in China, Canada and beyond," said Gilles Ouellette, Group Head, BMO Asset Management, and Vice-Chair, International, BMO Financial Group. "We look forward to leveraging the MOU to build on a number of opportunities, including our asset management capabilities and other areas."

About BMO in Asia
BMO has a long history of doing business in Asia, especially in China. BMO is currently the only Canadian and one of five North American banks with an established subsidiary bank in Mainland China. BMO's offices in Asia allow the bank the flexibility to expand its product and service offerings for North American and Asian clients.

About BMO Financial Group
Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider – the 8^th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $710 billion as of October 31, 2017, and more than 45,000 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, Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

SOURCE BMO Financial Group