OTTAWA: After more than a decade at the helm, the Bank of Montreal’s Bill Downe has announced plans to retire as CEO on Oct. 31. He will be succeeded by Darryl White, who is currently the bank’s chief operating officer. In a statement issued Friday, BMO chairman Robert Prichard highlighted Downe’s efforts to transform the bank through investments in technology, as well as by improving the representation of women in senior leadership roles.
“Thanks to his leadership, the bank is in its strongest financial and strategic position in our history and well-positioned for future success,” Prichard said. There has been a changing of the guard at Canada’s biggest banks over the past three and a half years, with Royal Bank, TD Bank, Scotiabank and CIBC all appointing new chief executives. With Downe set to retire, that leaves National Bank’s Louis Vachon as the last remaining big bank CEO who steered his company through the 2008 financial crisis. White — who will take over as CEO on Nov. 1, the start of the bank’s next financial year — has had varied experience during more than two decades with the company. Prior to becoming chief operating officer, White was head of BMO Capital Markets. “Darryl White’s leadership has been steadfast and successful at every juncture of his banking career and he will maintain and build on our positive momentum,” Prichard said. “He is a natural and authentic leader and the right person to lead the bank in a time of change in the wider economy.”
Barclays analyst John Aiken said he isn’t expecting a change in the bank’s strategy in the near term. “Although Mr. White’s appointment is not terribly surprising given BMO’s reorganization of its executive committee last fall, his promotion breaks the trend of Canadian banks’ boards shying away from capital markets backgrounds for the corner office,” Aiken said in a note to clients.
