About Corporate Areas

	Canada	United States
Group Name	Corporate Areas
Known to customers as…	BMO Financial Group®	Harris®*
Number of employees	Approx. 2000 combined
Principal Locations	Toronto; smaller groups in Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal and other urban centres	Chicago
What do we do?	We are comprised of a number of groups that provide the strategic and operational support necessary for the operation of our customer-facing businesses. The Corporate Areas have functions across several disciplines and work collaboratively across the entire organization. We provide professional services in strategic management, marketing, risk management, finance, legal, communications, audit and human resources.
What makes this group a great place to work?	We help drive BMO’s® culture and results. Working in Corporate Areas puts you at the centre of delivering BMO’s business strategies, financial results and reporting, Human Resources policies and programs and other important drivers of our Vision to be the bank that defines great customer experience. We enjoy great working relationships. We collaborate closely with colleagues throughout the organization, and enjoy the satisfaction of building strong internal relationships. We are personally and professionally diverse. Our colleagues come from around the world, with a wide variety of personal and professional backgrounds, varied academic credentials and diverse work histories. We often work in multi-disciplinary teams that allow us to interact with and learn from individuals from across the organization.

Learn more about:

• Groups within Corporate Areas
• Common roles
• Sample intake and training programs
• What it's like to work here
• Opportunities for students and recent graduates

Groups within Corporate Areas

Corporate Areas is comprised of Enterprise Risk & Portfolio Management, Corporate Communications, General Legal Counsel & Taxation, Finance, Investor Relations, Finance & Treasurer, Office of Strategic Management, Human Resources, Corporate Audit, Corporate Marketing and Community Affairs (U.S.).  

Enterprise Risk & Portfolio Management is a group of approximately 800 risk professionals who ensure that BMO is an industry leader in risk management. They are responsible for policy setting, reporting, risk oversight, transactional management, portfolio management and education.

Corporate Communications sets overall communications strategy and provides strategic advice and counsel for internal clients; sets guidelines and standards for communications across the organization; and manages the timing of all corporate announcements.

General Legal Counsel & Taxation manages legal risk and provision of legal services, oversight of domestic and international tax, corporate secretarial functions, corporate security and corporate compliance.  

Finance prepares, analyses and disseminates information on financial performance.

Investor Relations acts as relationship managers to the investor community.

Finance and Treasurer is responsible for mergers and acquisitions, financial strategy, asset liability management, balance sheet funding and liquidity and capital management.

The Office of Strategic Management (OSM)’s primary function is to drive the development of winning strategies. To catalyze strategy development at both the enterprise and group levels, the OSM closely collaborates with colleagues across BMO. Together we define the goals, draw up the blue prints, and determine the measurable outcomes that will produce competitive advantage for BMO Financial Group, wherever we do business.

Human Resources (HR)'s role is to forge the link between strategy, people and performance, enabling BMO to execute our customer-focused business strategies.

• The HR Standards and Services Teams are centralized HR groups, developing overall HR architecture and providing strategies and frameworks that ensure BMO meets its people management objectives.
• The HR Business Partners perform HR functions within each Business Group, providing strategic human resources insight in areas such as performance management, organization design, leadership, HR planning and staffing and workplace equity.

Corporate Audit conducts independent, periodic, objective audits of the effectiveness of internal control of all branches, departments, units, strategies and initiatives. This group also reviews the results of independent audits of equity investees, joint ventures and material outsourcing arrangements.

Corporate Marketing is responsible for developing and managing a coordinated brand strategy including BMO’s advertising, corporate sponsorships and special events strategies. It is also responsible for market research, as well as the governance and coordination of our e-business and merchandising functions. Corporate Marketing works with our other Business Groups to increase our share of wallet, and continue to build equity in the BMO brand in Canada and the Harris brand in the United States.

Community Affairs (U.S.) provides Harris employees with the means and knowledge they need to engage in endeavours that make a difference in the community. We do this through programs such as Matching Gifts (Harris will match employee contributions to qualifying not-for-profit organizations), corporate partnerships with local cultural institutions and our support of United Way. This group’s mission is to enhance Harris’ image and strengthen our communities through building relationships that focus primarily on financial education and community development.

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Common Roles

• Analyst
• Manager
• Senior Manager
• Director

To search our database of current vacancies, please visit our job search page.

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Sample Intake & Training Programs

We offer a wide variety of opportunities for our employees to learn and grow. Check out our Commitment to Learning section to see how we’re investing in our employees’ development.

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What it's like to work here

• Culture
• Corporate Areas represents a diverse collection of corporate professionals who are united in providing strategic and operational support in the various professional disciplines. Across all groups the culture is supportive and high performing, and inspires success and commitment.
• We take our commitment to professional learning and development very seriously, whether it is supporting Finance and Audit professionals in designation-required training hours, assisting Human Resources Professionals to complete an HR designation (e.g. CHRP) or supporting an employee pursuing further education such as an MBA.


• Work Norms
• Formality/Informality: Corporate Areas maintains a professional office environment, with some groups being more formal than others.   
• Hours: Work hours are generally normal office hours, however hours and volumes vary based primarily on our partner demands and where we are within the annual business cycle.


• Employee Recognition Programs*
• Encore: A reward and recognition program that provides employees with an easy way to recognize their colleagues and provides managers with a formal way to say thank you, especially when people have demonstrated behaviours such as working collaboratively, making things happen, leading us higher and delivering results.  
• MVP Awards: Recognition for employees who show their commitment to excellence by doing that “little bit extra” to make BMO a better place for customers and colleagues. MVPs may be awarded for behaviours related to financial performance, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, community image or specific behaviours that promote a high-performance culture. Can be awarded by any employee to any colleague.

* may not apply in all sub-groups

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® Registered trademark of Harris N.A., used by Harris N.A. and its affiliates. Harris is a member of BMO Financial Group