The Most Powerful Women in Banking, No. 14, Carolyn Booth, BMO Financial Group

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Two weeks before its most recent U.S. merger closed, BMO Financial Group made a big bet: It splashed its name on a five-year-old soccer stadium near downtown Los Angeles.

For the Canadian bank, the naming-rights deal made sense on a couple of levels. Soccer was already at the center of its marketing strategy; in Toronto, BMO Field was home to the city's Major League Soccer franchise.

Perhaps more importantly, BMO needed to establish its brand in California. Though the bank had operated in the nation's most populous state for more than 160 years, it had never run a branch network there.

In January 2023, when BMO put its name on the new soccer stadium, it was on the verge of taking over more than 200 California branches that were previously operated by San Francisco-based Bank of the West.

"We put a stake in the sand proudly when we put our naming rights on the stadium in LA," said Carolyn Booth, the company's head of U.S. personal and business banking. "That did a lot of work for us to help support some of that brand awareness."

Booth, who's been at BMO for more than 30 years, moved into her current role in early 2024,  about a year after the completion of the Bank of the West acquisition. She's based in Chicago and has responsibility for the bank's entire U.S. retail business, including the branches, sales teams, products, risks and governance.

Booth told American Banker that one consideration as BMO built its brand in California was making sure that people knew how to say its three-letter name. In new markets, consumers may not be aware that the correct pronunciation is "Bee-Mo," rather than "B-M-O." (It stands for Bank of Montreal.)

"We had a little bit of humor in some of the advertising — particularly that we had either on radio or on TV — that really helped to educate on that point," Booth said. 

BMO's marketing efforts in California are benefiting from the increasing popularity of soccer.

BMO Stadium is home not only to LAFC, which is one of the most successful U.S. men's soccer franchises, but also to the city's women's soccer team. Last season, Angel City FC had the highest average attendance in the National Women's Soccer League, drawing an average of more than 19,000 fans.

"When you ask Californians, 'Do you know who BMO is?' nine of 10 today will say that they do," Booth said. "So that's been a real point of pride for us, that we've been able to make that kind of progress."