Bank of Montreal Cuts 200 Jobs in the U.S.

Canadian banks have been receiving high praise recently for being one of the few hiring bright spots on the financial services landscape. Apparently, that hiring is starting to take its toll on U.S. employees at one of those banks. Bank of Montreal says it is cutting 200 U.S. jobs as it integrates its recent takeover of Marshal & Ilsley, according to American Banker.

Canada's fourth- largest lender by assets paid $4.2 billion for its acquisition of Marshall & Ilsley. The cuts come about three months after the bank said it would close 24 U.S. branches, affecting 130 workers.

BMO's Chicago-based Harris Bank is cutting 74 Wisconsin jobs at a data center in Cedarburg and a mortgage underwriting office in Sun Prairie as part of reductions taking place in the next five months, company spokesman Jim Kappel told American Banker. He added that other positions being eliminated are mostly overlapping corporate functions.

The spokesman also said BMO Harris has added roughly 354 positions in personal banking, credit analysis and customer service and that the reductions represent mostly jobs incorporate functions that were overlapping with others resulting from integration efforts.BMO Harris, which has roughly 650 branches in nine states, said in June that it would close 17 branches in Wisconsin after reviewing its branch network. Kappel says that employees who lose their jobs can apply for other posts within the bank.

BMO bought M&I in July 2011. It was the largest acquisition in the Toronto-based lender’s history, to double its U.S. deposits and branches.