The Canadian parent of BMO Harris Bank is planning to cut 5% of its workforce in a cost-savings move.
During an earnings call Tuesday, Toronto-based BMO Financial Group announced a restructuring charge of $357 million Canadian dollars (about $270 million U.S.), which executives said was related primarily to severance. The initiatives are expected to save the company $200 million in Canadian dollars next year, executives said.
"Initiatives underway are focused on digitization, organizational redesign and simplification of the way we do business," Thomas Flynn, chief financial officer of BMO Financial, said during an earnings conference call.
BMO Harris has about 7,700 employees in Illinois, most of whom work in the Chicago area, bank spokeswoman Laura Micheli said Tuesday. Based on those figures, a 5% reduction in force could mean upwards of 300 layoffs in Chicago.
Micheli declined to comment on the scope or timing of any potential layoffs.
During the call, Flynn said BMO was "not expecting" at the start of 2019 to take the fourth quarter restructuring charge, but cited lower projected growth in the U.S. next year and "pockets of pressure" as driving the decision to cut costs.
In 2016, BMO Financial cut 4% of its total workforce in a similar cost-savings move.
BMO Harris has over 500 branches in Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Florida and Wisconsin, with over 13,000 employees across its U.S. footprint.
Bank of Montreal, now known as BMO Financial Group, acquired Chicago-based Harris Bank in 1984. Chicago is the largest U.S. market for the Canadian banking giant.
