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Bank of Montreal expects to save $300 million a year from the acquisition of Marshall & Ilsley, $50 million more than initially forecast, CEO William Downe says.
March 20
Roughly a year after completing its acquisition of M&I Bank in Milwaukee, Bank of Montreal's BMO Harris Bank in Chicago said that it is shuttering 17 branches in Wisconsin, many in communities where the two banks' branches overlap.
The $95 billion-asset BMO Harris is also closing five branches in Indiana and one each in Illinois and Kansas, the Milwaukee Business Journal
The decision to close the branches was made after the company completed a comprehensive review of its branch network following the acquisition, which roughly doubled the assets of BMO Harris. Some of the branches are being closed due to low volume but most are a result of geographic overlap, a BMO Harris spokesman told the Milwaukee Business Journal.
Eight of the Wisconsin branches slated for closure are in and around Milwaukee, three are in Madison and the rest are in smaller communities throughout the state.
Spokesman Jim Kappel said the branches are expected to be closed in the fall, which would give affected employees ample time to find positions within the company. He noted that in prior rounds of branch closures more than 80% of employees found new jobs at BMO Harris.
Earlier this year BMO Harris announced that it was closing eight other branches in Wisconsin.
