(December 2 – 09:50 ET) – The Bank of Montreal has closed its acquisition of Chicago-based brokerage firm Burke, Christensen & Lewis Securities Inc.
The firm will be rolled into BMO’s little-known Chicago-based discount brokerage, Harris Investors Direct, a subsidiary of its Harris Bank arm. The integration is scheduled to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2000. The combined firm will be known as Harris InvestorLine and will have US$4.2 billion under adminsitration. Initially BMO proposed to call the firm Harris-BCL Investors Direct, but that clumsy moniker has been dropped.
The addition of BCL gives BMO a platform to particularly expand its online brokerage services in the U.S. which were previously almost non-existent. “We are excited that we will be able to offer brokerage services in the U.S. under the Harris InvestorLine name,” said William Downe, vice-chair of BMO and head of the Private Client Group. “The acquisition of BCL is an important part of Bank of Montreal’s North American growth strategy.”
-IE Staff
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