When the $4.1 billion acquisition of Marshall & Ilsley Corp. by Toronto-based BMO Financial Group closes, Wisconsin’s financial landscape will be the forever changed.
The combination of Harris Bank and M&I Bank, the largest bank in Wisconsin, into BMO Harris will create the 15th-largest commercial bank by assets in the United States. The transaction is expected to close before July 31.
BMO Harris Bank will retain some of M&I’s executives, including Mark Furlong, president, chairman and chief executive officer of M&I, who will become president and CEO of BMO Harris Bank. He will work from the bank’s Chicago headquarters.
Several high-level executives from M&I will continue to report directly to Furlong at BMO Harris.
Ann Benschoter, executive vice president and head of corporate banking at M&I, will become executive vice president with BMO Harris and will report directly to Furlong. Brad Chapin, executive vice president and head of consumer banking, U.S., will become executive vice president of personal banking.
The Marshall & Ilsley Trust Company and M&I Wealth Management will be rolled into BMO Harris’ Private Client Group, which is overseen by Gilles Ouellette, president and CEO.
Several other high-level executives from M&I will be retained.
Kenneth Krei, who serves as chairman, president and CEO of M&I Trust Company and chairman and CEO of M&I Investment Management Corp., will become executive vice president of global private banking. James Duca, senior vice president and managing director of M&I Private Wealth Management, will report to Krei as executive vice president of private banking, U.S.
James Cahn, senior vice president and managing director of institutional trust services at M&I, will become president of international trust services at BMO Harris. Tommy Huie, president and chief investment officer of M&I Investment Management Corp., will become president and chief investment officer of BMO Asset Management, U.S.
Through the economic downturn and the nine consecutive quarters in which M&I posted losses, its wealth management and investment services continued to perform well. The retention of some of M&I’s leaders from those areas is a reflection of that high performance, Oullette said.
“Having M&I Wealth Management join the Private Client Group is an exciting story of growth, opportunity and rejuvenation,” he said. “The North American wealth management market is highly attractive to BMO, and by expanding our U.S. private banking and asset management businesses, we can offer our clients the fullest breadth of wealth products and services, diversify our earnings, and maximize future growth.”
On Thursday, May 17, M&I will hold a special shareholder’s meeting to vote on the proposed merger.
Historically, M&I’s annual shareholder meetings have been held in Milwaukee. However, this year’s annual meeting will be held at the Marriott Marquis in New York.
Many M&I shareholders contend this year’s meeting was shifted to New York to minimize the disruption and disapproval by shareholders from Wisconsin.
According to M&I spokeswoman Sara Schmitz, New York was picked because of the business nature of the vote.
“This is not an annual shareholder meeting,” she said in an email. “We picked a location commonly used for ‘business-only’ meetings.”
New name
After Toronto-based BMO Financial Group completes its acquisition of Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. the M&I corporate name will be eliminated, after more than 160 years as a prominent part of Milwaukee’s business community. BMO Financial Group has decided to rename its U.S. banking operations BMO Harris Bank. BMO Financial Group currently owns and operates Harris Bank, a Chicago-based financial institution.
“Let me acknowledge that a name change for both M&I and Harris is an important change — names and logos are representations of brand, and symbolic reminders of the things for which we stand,” BMO chief executive officer Bill Downe said in an SEC filing. “The M&I and Harris logos have long histories and great value.”
