BMO told investors at Investor Day it is focusing on existing clients with no wealth ties as it builds out its wealth strategy
BMO has identified about $110bn in deposits from existing clients who have no wealth relationship with the bank, and it is building much of its wealth strategy around turning more of that cash into mandates.
According to Reuters, BMO Financial Group is aiming for a return on equity above 15 percent by 2028, and management sees wealth as a key part of getting there.
CEO Darryl White told investors the bank has “a clear line of sight to 15 percent ROE” and intends to accelerate growth across its businesses, including wealth.
Deland Kamanga, group head of BMO Wealth Management, told investors at BMO’s Investor Day last Thursday that the wealth unit serves more than 1m of the bank’s roughly 13m customers and oversees over $700bn in assets, generating about $5.4bn in annual revenue.
About 65 percent of that revenue is fee‑based, which BMO presents as reducing its reliance on spread income.
Kamanga said changes to how the unit is organised, how it works with the rest of the bank and how it uses technology have coincided with about a 2,200‑basis‑point improvement in wealth ROE over the past five years.
Management is aiming for more than 40 percent organic ROE in wealth by growing assets, lifting productivity and keeping cost growth below revenue growth.
BMO told investors it sees its biggest opportunity in existing clients who have yet to sign on to its wealth services.
On the personal side, Kamanga said about 4.7m retail customers have deposits and accounts with the bank but no wealth relationship.
Those households hold about $110bn in deposits that are not currently invested through BMO’s wealth platform.
On the business side, BMO has identified about 600,000 commercial and capital markets entities linked to the bank, with roughly 900,000 associated “role players” – owners, executives and other decision‑makers – who do not have a wealth relationship with BMO.
The bank is treating that group as a pipeline for private wealth, planning, and insurance.
BMO told investors it has found clients with a wealth relationship show higher loyalty and a larger share of wallet than those without.
The bank said Net Promoter Scores are about 30 points higher when a client also uses wealth services, and that planning‑led advice helps link deposits, lending, and investments across the relationship.
For front‑line advisors, BMO is using both digital and full‑service channels as feeders into deeper relationships.
On the direct side, BMO InvestorLine is being used as an entry point for self‑directed investors.
The bank said that when a retail client adds an InvestorLine account, assets grow by about 90 percent in the first year. If that same client later moves into private wealth, first‑year asset growth can reach roughly 110 percent.
On the full‑service side, the private wealth business serves about 450,000 clients through roughly 1,500 professionals in Canada and the United States.
BMO says financial planning is a core part of that model.
Households with a formal plan show higher satisfaction scores and a larger share of wallet than those without, and the bank is adding planners, estate and insurance specialists to deepen coverage.
BMO says its acquisition of Burgundy Asset Management is intended to broaden its coverage of higher‑wealth clients.
Kamanga said the unit is targeting several specific segments: next‑generation family members, business owners working through succession, women investors and younger clients.
Private wealth already has a next‑generation connection with more than half its client households.
BMO has completed more than 1,200 succession plans for business owners, and said that when commercial banking and private wealth work a relationship together, private wealth revenue is about 2.5 times higher.
The bank also highlighted women investors as a focus segment across its private wealth, “BMO for Women” and Burgundy channels, and said clients under 35 are now among its fastest‑growing and most satisfied groups, both in private wealth and at InvestorLine.
A significant part of the Investor Day update focused on how BMO is using AI and other technology inside the wealth unit.
BMO said AI tools across wealth are already delivering more than 400,000 “assisted hours” per year.
For advisors at BMO Nesbitt Burns, that equates to roughly one extra working day per month, as tasks such as information retrieval, document handling and basic process steps are automated.
Tools such as Nexa and Rover give advisors and insurance agents real‑time access to policy, process and underwriting information.
The bank said these tools are shortening turnaround times and making it easier for advisors to prepare for client conversations.
Rover, an AI‑based assistant built in‑house for insurance advisors, has already handled more than 10,000 queries and is available to all of BMO’s insurance advisors.
At the infrastructure level, BMO is replacing more than 40 legacy systems with a single, cloud‑based wealth platform.
BMO says the new platform is designed to reduce manual work, make advice processes more consistent and add capacity without comparable cost increases.
The bank’s global asset management and insurance businesses supply many of the products used in its wealth offering.
In asset management, BMO said about 84 percent of assets are now in the top two performance quartiles, up from 66 percent earlier in the cycle. Since fiscal 2022, total AUM has grown at about 18 percent annually.
Net flows in fiscal 2025 were about 12 percent of beginning AUM. BMO described that level as ahead of domestic peers and above global norms.
The bank is leaning on areas such as alternatives and ETFs, and said it is roughly tied for top ETF revenue despite competitors with larger ETF asset bases.
In insurance, BMO is using a digital‑first distribution approach that includes an online marketplace and products such as pet insurance.
Management pointed to intermediated channels and loyalty platforms like Blue Rewards as another source of fee‑based income, which it says is less capital‑intensive than traditional banking.
According to Reuters, BMO reported a 12.1 percent ROE in the first quarter and is targeting more than 15 percent by 2028 against a backdrop of geopolitical tension, higher oil prices and ongoing inflation risk.
Reuters said investors are watching how effectively the bank delivers cost savings and revenue synergies, especially as it scales in the US.
