BMO taps another ex-Fifth Third executive to serve as CFO

• Key insight: BMO Financial Group has tapped a new CFO who will start in January.
• Expert quote: The bank's incoming CFO is a "dynamic, strategic finance leader," BMO CEO Darryl White said.
• Supporting data: BMO is trying to achieve a return on equity of 12% in the U.S.

BMO Financial Group in Toronto named a new chief financial officer ahead of the anticipated retirement of Tayfun Tuzun, who's played a key role in the bank's efforts to expand stateside.

Rahul Nalgirkar, who has been the finance chief of BMO's U.S. operations for more than three years, will become CFO of the entire company on Jan. 1, 2026, BMO announced Wednesday in a press release. Between now and then, he will serve as BMO's deputy CFO, the bank said.

Nalgirkar, 51, joined BMO in 2022 from Fifth Third Bancorp, where he was group CFO for all lines of business, including commercial and consumer banking and wealth management. His impending promotion will be the second time BMO has named a CFO who previously worked at Cincinnati-based Fifth Third. Tuzun was the bank's finance chief from November 2013 until November 2020.

In his new role, Nalgirkar will report to BMO CEO Darryl White, and he will join BMO's executive  management team, the bank said. He will split his time between Toronto and Chicago, where BMO's U.S. business is headquartered, a company spokesperson told American Banker.

BMO Financial Group

"Rahul is a dynamic, strategic finance leader with a deep understanding of the financial services industry in North America and a proven collaborator and catalyst for performance," White said.

Tuzun is expected to retire in early 2026, according to the press release. The bank did not offer more details about the exact timing of his exit or say who will replace Nalgirkar in his current job.

Tuzun, 61, will keep his seat on the board of BMO's U.S. subsidiary, BMO Financial Corp.

Tuzun's time at BMO overlapped with the bank's acquisition and integration of Bank of the West, the San Francisco-based subsidiary of France's BNP Paribas. The $16.3 billion deal was announced in late 2021, a year after Tuzun came to BMO, and closed in February of 2023.

BMO has struggled to capture revenue synergies from that deal in the time frame that it initially expected. In an effort to increase profitability, the bank set a goal in January to achieve a U.S. return on equity of 12%. 

As of late July, that metric came in at 8%.

Read more about BMO here: https://www.americanbanker.com/organization/bank-of-montreal

In the release, White noted that Tuzun "joined BMO during one of the most dynamic periods" in BMO's history and helped "digitize and streamline operations, and acquire and integrate Bank of the West." Tuzun helped with "effective management of capital, liquidity and funding," he said.

The changing of CFOs is the latest executive shuffling at BMO. In June, the Canadian bank announced several leadership switches, including the hiring of Aron Levine, a longtime Bank of America executive. As the newly named group head and president of BMO U.S., Levine oversees the company's three U.S. businesses: personal and business banking, commercial banking and wealth management.

Last month, Levine told analysts that BMO is investing in talent, technology and its U.S. branch footprint as a way to "deliver sustainable, profitable loan and deposit growth." The company has not shared information about how it may add to its 1,000-branch network in the U.S.

The United States is a substantial market for BMO, which has operations across the Midwest and in California. The company generates about 40% of its earnings south of the border.