BMO continued to deliver on its digital-first agenda during its fiscal second quarter 2024 with AI, data and overall modernization at the forefront of its efforts.  

“We’re using agile practices to accelerate time to market, deploying increasingly sophisticated data and analytics, including AI, and leveraging cloud engineering to drive modernization and deliver more, faster, with greater quality and security,” Chief Executive Darryl White said during today’s earnings call for the quarter ended April 30.

The Toronto-based bank’s cloud migration efforts are enabling faster release of new tools and services, according to the bank’s earnings presentation. During the quarter, BMO launched Virtual Account Management services and its digital payments tool, BMO SplitShare. 

BIGGER PICTURE: While investing in cloud migration, the bank also saw returns on its investments in AI and advanced analytics, according to the earnings presentation.  

The bank reported the following AI results: 

• BMO Assist has yielded 2 million AI-enabled customer conversations. 
• AI-powered BMO Insights has provided 80 million insights to clients to help them better manage their finances. 

“At the heart of BMO’s culture is our commitment to ethical business practices, including a responsible approach to AI development that guides the execution of our strategy to strengthen and grow our bank,” White said. 

BY THE NUMBERS: As the bank prioritizes its technology modernization efforts, its clients, too, are adopting digital channels, according to the earnings presentation. 

The bank serves 13 million customers within personal and commercial banking, global markets and investment banking services, according to the BMO website. 

The bank reported in Q2: 

• Active digital users in retail banking climbed 2% quarter over quarter to 4.6 million. 
• Active digital users in commercial banking increased 2% QoQ to 325,000. 

NOTEWORTHY: According to the May 16 “Evident AI Dispatch” report from AI company Evident, BMO ranked 16th among the top 50 global banks on the AI readiness index, with JPMorgan Chase topping the charts. 

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