BMO New to Canada Qorus Banking Innovation Awards 2023 - Winner

Canada welcomes more than 400,000 newcomers per year and the government has set an ambitious target to welcome over 500,000 newcomers to Canada each year by 2025. To ease the transition of newcomers to Canada, BMO developed a digital capability to allow eligible newcomers from 13 countries to open a bank account and an International Student investment account (GIC) instantaneously, before arriving in Canada. For International Students specifically, proof of investment from GIC expedites the visa process, providing peace of mind and security in transitioning to Canada. For all Newcomers, opening an account within minutes and receiving digital documentation is extremely advantageous as most competitor FIs only support post arrival account opening, leading to folks carrying large amounts of cash when immigrating. For institutions that do support pre-arrival account opening, the process is slow and lengthy as it can take up to two weeks for documentation to reach source country via regular mail and impedes the customers transition to Canada. For BMO, the value lies in integrating further upstream within the Newcomer immigration journey. Creating familiarity with the BMO brand and providing guidance to customers during an unpredictable yet very important milestone for this segment positions BMO as a leader in helping customers achieve financial success and aligns strongly with BMO’s core brand promise. BMO also currently holds 8%-10% of market share today for deposits. Tapping into this growing segment is a key strategic initiative to grow market share, increase new account volume and grow share of wallet through integrated retention strategies.