The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) has fined Bank of Montreal (BMO) $4 million for violating consumer provisions in the Bank Act, impacting 101,091 customers, the regulator announced Monday.
In 2010, BMO offered discounted banking programs to newcomers to Canada, medical and dental students, Indigenous people and home financing participants. Branches gave these customers written confirmation with an incorrect start date for the fee waiver.
From 2010 to 2024, the inaccurate disclosures led to BMO charging monthly plan fees when they should have been waived or discounted, according to a FCAC summary of proceeding. Additionally, between 2022 and 2024, the bank failed to clearly disclose when monthly plan fees would begin.
The FCAC found that BMO’s employees didn’t consistently follow procedures for applying the correct start date for fee waivers. The bank’s control measures also failed to detect the problem despite receiving over 500 customer complaints about the incorrectly charged fees.
The penalty reflected “the degree of BMO’s negligence in failing to implement adequate controls and effective monitoring measures to prevent and detect the error,” the FCAC said in a release. “For consumers to make informed financial decisions, they must be provided information that is accurate and, at a minimum, meets legal requirements.”
BMO issued refunds and redressed interest to impacted customers’ accounts of about $3 million. In addition, the bank made a $600,000 charitable donation for the amount that could not be refunded to accounts.
“We hold ourselves to the highest standards of conduct. We proactively reimbursed our customers and reported to the [FCAC]. We’re pleased to have this matter behind us,” Jeff Roman, a BMO spokesperson, said in an email.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, BMO’s Canadian personal and commercial banking business earned $752 million, up from $750 million a year ago, and raised its dividend by four cents per share to $1.67.
This story was updated with a statement from BMO.