Toronto-based BMO Financial Bank will retire the “Harris Bank” name later this year for its Chicago-based U.S. operations following the acquisition of San Francisco-based Bank of the West.
BMO’s U.S. CEO Dave Casper told Crain’s Chicago Business that the change reflects the bank’s expansion. The $16 billion acquisition, which closed Feb. 1, increased BMO’s size to the 13th-largest bank in the United States. The bank will be known as BMO Bank North America once BMO and Bank of the West integrate their systems this fall.
The Harris name reflected Norman Wait Harris, who in 1882 established Chicago-based municipal bond broker N.W. Harris & Co., the forerunner of Harris Bank. Established in 1907, Harris Trust and Savings was acquired by BMO in 1984.
BMO’s U.S. operation had been named BMO Harris Bank since 2011.