BMO Named Among Canada's Best 50 Corporate Citizens

• BMO Financial Group takes top spot among major Canadian banks in 21^st edition of the Corporate Knights ranking

TORONTO, June 29, 2022 /CNW/ - BMO Financial Group has again been named to Corporate Knights' ranking of Canada's Best 50 Corporate Citizens.

Ranked first among major Canadian banks, BMO received top-quartile scores in board gender diversity, executive diversity, and sustainability pay link. It also received a top-quartile Clean Revenue score driven by its sustainable finance strategy. 

"We're honoured to be among the top corporate citizens in Canada and to have been included in the top fifty since its inception in 2002," said Sharon Haward-Laird, General Counsel and Executive Committee Sponsor for Sustainability at BMO Financial Group. "This ranking is a reflection of the progress BMO is making with our commitments for a thriving economy, sustainable future and an inclusive society."

The Best 50 Corporate Citizens honorees are selected from a pool of 332 Canadian companies with revenues over $1 billion. Each is evaluated on a set of up to 21 environmental, social and governance indicators, relative to their industry peers and using publicly available information.

Carbon neutral in its own operations since 2010, BMO announced its Net-Zero Ambition to be its clients' lead partner in the transition to a net-zero world in March 2021. It is committed to deploying $300 billion in capital to clients pursuing sustainable outcomes by 2025 and, since December 2019, has completed green and sustainability-linked loans for companies in a range of sectors, with targets including decarbonization, diversity & inclusion, and health and safety.  To support clients' pursuit of opportunities driven by the need to decarbonize, in 2021 BMO established a dedicated Energy Transition Group and the BMO Climate Institute.

BMO's leadership on sustainability has been recognized on a number of rankings, including Corporate Knights' Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations, Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index and Ethisphere Institute's list of the World's Most Ethical Companies.

For more information on BMO's commitment to a sustainable future, please visit the bank's latest Sustainability Report. To learn more about sustainable finance at BMO click here. For BMO's Net-Zero Ambition, visit its Climate webpage.

Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider - the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $1.04 trillion as of April 30, 2022, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

Internet: www.bmo.com                                Twitter: @BMOMedia

SOURCE BMO Financial Group