A group-level AI programme run by a Chief AI & Quantum Officer and a new institute, with 95%-plus employee use, a Copilot-wide workforce rollout, a C$1 billion-a-year benefit target by 2030 and an explicit rule that every AI initiative must earn at least one basis point.
How is BMO Financial Group using AI?
Bank of Montreal runs AI as a group-wide programme from Toronto: on April 9, 2026 it created the BMO Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence & Quantum under Chief AI & Quantum Officer Kristin Milchanowski, and it reports AI adoption above 96% of employees, with 95% of teams using AI daily by August 2026 and more than 90% of its 53,000 staff using Microsoft Copilot. Disclosed projects include Aura, a generative-AI agent that drafts commercial credit assessments as the first step toward cutting underwriting time by roughly 50% by fiscal 2028; Lumi Assistant, which lifted productivity of new employees by 17%; SmartDecision, a BMO Insurance tool that decides life applications up to $5 million in seconds; and an Anthropic-built FIS financial-crimes agent that BMO is among the first to deploy. Management targets about C$1 billion a year of pre-provision, pre-tax income from AI initiatives by 2030 and funds a project only if it is expected to add at least one basis point. Milchanowski also says layoffs blamed on AI are 'lazy'. The group had C$1,538.7 billion of total assets at July 31, 2026; its US bank is covered separately at /banks/bmo-us.
Lead bank
Bank of Montreal
Total assets (group, as reported, Jul 31, 2026)
C$1,538.7bn total assets (reported in Canadian dollars)[7]
Charter
Canadian chartered bank; OSFI is the lead supervisor, and US operations are held through BMO Bank N.A. (covered at /banks/bmo-us)
Headquarters
Toronto, Canada (head office: Montreal)
Flagship platform
BMO Institute for Applied AI & Quantum, Lumi and Aura
AI leadership
Kristin Milchanowski · Darryl White · Steve Tennyson · Brent Reston · Piyush Agrawal · Rahul Nalgirkar · Sharon Haward-Laird · Matt Mehrotra · Aron Levine · Lori Bieda · Larissa Chaikowsky
- Structure: the BMO Institute for Applied AI & Quantum (April 9, 2026) is an enterprise centre of excellence; Kristin Milchanowski is Chief AI & Quantum Officer and founding director, and BMO also named an inaugural chief digital officer, Brent Reston, in August 2026.
- Scale of use: adoption above 96% (April 2026), 95% of teams using AI daily (August 2026) and more than 90% of 53,000 employees on Microsoft Copilot (February 2026); AI is a core skill expected of new hires.
- Credit: Aura drafts commercial credit-assessment commentary for underwriters; the stated goal is roughly 50% less underwriting time and 70% of commercial processes powered by AI by fiscal 2028, with underwriters still accountable for decisions.
- Financial crime: the chief risk officer said at Investor Day that AI cut false AML alerts by about 10% and adverse-media searches from about 180 minutes to 20; FIS names BMO among the first deployers of its Anthropic-built Financial Crimes AI Agent.
- Money: management targets about C$1 billion a year of pre-provision, pre-tax income from AI initiatives by 2030, and Milchanowski says no initiative starts without an expected one-basis-point improvement.
- Governance: an AI risk directive, a cross-functional Responsible AI Forum, board oversight of AI strategy, and a code of conduct that allows only BMO-approved AI tools (including Microsoft Copilot).
- Labour stance: BMO says it hopes to grow revenue while keeping headcount roughly level, and its AI chief rejects AI-attributed layoffs as 'lazy'.
- The US bank's AI work is covered separately at /banks/bmo-us.
What is BMO Institute for Applied AI & Quantum, Lumi and Aura?
BMO's AI work is organised under the BMO Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence & Quantum, an enterprise-wide centre of excellence established on April 9, 2026 under Chief AI & Quantum Officer Kristin Milchanowski. Products sit beneath it: Lumi Assistant, a generative-AI tool over more than 8,000 Canadian personal and business banking policies and procedures in English and French (extended in 2026 to support client conversations, starting with mortgage renewals); Aura, the first agent in a commercial-credit programme that aims to cut underwriting time by roughly 50% by fiscal 2028, drafting credit-assessment commentary that underwriters review and own; and Microsoft Copilot, which more than 90% of the 53,000 employees use. Governance runs through an AI risk directive and a Responsible AI Forum that reviews significant initiatives.[1][4][3][10][19][6]
What has BMO Financial Group done on AI, and when?
- Sep 22, 2026
C$1 billion a year from AI by 2030[12]
The CFO reiterates the target for pre-provision, pre-tax income from AI initiatives; benefits are weighted to efficiency.
- Sep 15, 2026
Investment in Radical Ventures' Breakouts Fund[20]
BMO backs a venture strategy for late-stage AI companies and says it plans to mobilize up to $70 billion over 10 years for sectors critical to economic security, including AI computing.
- Aug 25, 2026
Q3 2026: Lumi extended to client conversations[10][7]
The CEO says AI is 'already creating significant value'; Lumi lifted new-employee productivity by 17% and is being extended to client conversations starting with mortgage renewals; the results release lists investing in 'AI-powered capabilities' among capital priorities.
- Aug 21, 2026
Brent Reston named inaugural chief digital officer[16]
American Banker's weekly roundup reports the appointment.
- Aug 6, 2026
Aura: roughly 50% faster underwriting by fiscal 2028[3]
The first agent in the commercial-credit transformation has moved from targeted testing into use in selected Commercial Banking underwriting workflows; underwriters remain accountable.
- Jul 9, 2026
SmartDecision AI-enhanced life-insurance underwriting[18]
BMO Insurance launches real-time decisions on eligible applications up to $5 million using analytics, predictive modelling and AI-enhanced capabilities.
- Jun 17, 2026
'It's lazy': AI-attributed layoffs rejected[14]
Milchanowski says BMO hopes to keep employment stable while revenues grow, and that it is still hiring engineers, developers, bankers and quantum developers.
- May 4, 2026
FIS names BMO among first deployers of an Anthropic-built AML agent[17]
BMO and Amalgamated Bank are in development with FIS's Financial Crimes AI Agent, built with Anthropic's Claude; general availability is planned for the second half of 2026.
- May 4, 2026
Codat machine learning for business-client recommendations[15]
BMO uses Codat to pull clients' payables data via APIs and generate next-product recommendations for salespeople; a Canadian pilot was due within months, with rollout by end-2026.
- Apr 24, 2026
'Return on Intelligence' podcast; adoption above 96%[2]
BMO says AI adoption exceeds 96% across employees, with intelligent agents supporting frontline and operations teams.
- Apr 9, 2026
BMO Institute for Applied AI & Quantum established[1]
An enterprise-wide centre of excellence; Milchanowski is appointed Chief AI & Quantum Officer effective April 6. BMO also cites its membership of the IBM Quantum Network and an Evident AI top-10 ranking.
- Mar 26, 2026
Investor Day: AI in the plan to lift returns[11]
BMO targets ROE above 15% by 2028 with more AI; the CEO calls the AI strategy 'ambitious'; the CRO says AI cut false AML alerts about 10% and adverse-media searches from 180 to 20 minutes.
- Mar 13, 2026
Code of Conduct: approved AI tools only[9]
Employees must follow the AI Risk Directive and use only BMO-approved AI tools, including Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chat; unapproved external chatbots and generative-AI platforms may not be used for work tasks.
- Mar 11, 2026
Proxy circular: board oversight of AI[8]
The board oversees strategic planning for AI, and the Risk Review and Audit and Conduct Review committees receive regular reporting on technology and cybersecurity risks, including AI.
- Feb 17, 2026
More than 90% of 53,000 employees use Microsoft Copilot[19]
BMO's chief learning officer says AI is now a core skill for anyone BMO hires and that the bank is investing in an AI learning curriculum.
- Dec 4, 2025
2025 annual report: AI risk directive and first in-house agentic app[6]
An AI risk directive sets life-cycle standards, significant AI initiatives are reviewed by the Responsible AI Forum, and Capital Markets launched its first in-house agentic AI application, analysing historical underwritten loans for bankers.
- Jun 24, 2025
BMO joins FINOS effort on common AI controls[21]
With Citi, Morgan Stanley and RBC, working with AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud on open-source common controls for AI services.
- Jun 24, 2025
Lumi Assistant introduced[4]
A generative-AI tool giving frontline staff instant access to more than 8,000 Canadian personal and business banking policies and procedures, in English and French; it has no access to client information.
- Oct 1, 2024
Milchanowski becomes chief AI and data officer[13]
American Banker says she has held the role since October 2024, responsible for enterprise-wide AI, data, analytics and robotics strategy; in her first year BMO launched 'AI for All', an enterprise-wide upskilling initiative.
Where does BMO Financial Group use AI today?
| System | What it does | Status | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aura commercial credit agent[3] | Generative-AI assistant that drafts commentary for key sections of commercial credit submissions from approved internal systems; underwriters review and decide. | Rolling out | Credit scoring & underwriting |
| Lumi Assistant[4][10] | Employee chatbot over 8,000-plus Canadian P&BB policies and procedures; new-employee productivity up 17%; being extended to client conversations, starting with mortgage renewals. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chat[19][9] | Workforce-wide generative AI, used by more than 90% of 53,000 employees and governed by approved-tools rules in the Code of Conduct. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| FIS Financial Crimes AI Agent (Claude)[17] | AML alert and case investigation agent in development with FIS and Anthropic; BMO is among the first institutions to deploy it. | Announced | AML / KYC |
| AI alert triage and adverse-media search[11] | False AML alerts down about 10%; adverse-media searches cut from about 180 minutes to 20. | In production | AML / KYC |
| Capital Markets agentic loan-analysis application[6] | BMO's first in-house agentic AI application analyses historical underwritten loan transactions for bankers. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Codat next-product recommendations for business clients[15] | Machine learning on payments and payables data from more than 20 accounting and ERP systems, shared with treasury and payments salespeople. | Pilot | Third-party & vendor AI |
| SmartDecision life-insurance underwriting[18][10] | Real-time decisions on eligible Term, Universal and Whole Life applications up to $5 million; the CEO cites decisions in as little as 10 seconds against an industry average of 28 business days or more. | In production | Credit scoring & underwriting |
| Rovr AI advisor assistant[6] | An advisor-facing generative-AI assistant in individual insurance, enhanced in fiscal 2025 as groundwork for an agentic framework. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| AI risk directive, Responsible AI Forum and model validation[6] | Life-cycle standards for every AI initiative, pre-implementation review of significant ones by a cross-functional forum, and validation and monitoring of all models that use AI. | In production | Model risk management |
| Board oversight and approved-tools rule[8][9] | The board oversees AI strategy; committees receive reporting on AI-related technology risk; employees may use only BMO-approved AI tools. | In production | AI governance (general) |
Use-case links open the tracker's rules-by-use-case matrix: which documents govern each system type.
What has BMO Financial Group disclosed in numbers?
| Metric | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Employee AI adoption | Above 96%[2] | Apr 24, 2026 |
| Teams using AI daily | 95%[3] | Aug 6, 2026 |
| Employees using Microsoft Copilot | More than 90% of 53,000[19] | Feb 17, 2026 |
| Commercial underwriting time target | Roughly 50% lower by fiscal 2028, with 70% of commercial processes powered by AI[3] | Aug 6, 2026 |
| Target annual benefit from AI initiatives | About C$1 billion of pre-provision, pre-tax income by 2030[12] | Sep 22, 2026 |
| Lumi: productivity of new employees | +17%[10] | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Policies and procedures covered by Lumi | More than 8,000[4] | Jun 24, 2025 |
| AML false alerts / adverse-media search time | About -10% / about 180 to 20 minutes[11] | Mar 26, 2026 |
| SmartDecision life-insurance decision time | As little as 10 seconds vs 28 business days or more industry average[10] | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Minimum return for an AI initiative | At least one basis point (revenue or cost)[14] | Jun 17, 2026 |
| Total assets | C$1,538.7bn (Canadian dollars)[7] | Jul 31, 2026 |
“BMO has been applying AI across the bank for decades to personalize client experiences, augment our teams and automate our business.”[1]
Kristin Milchanowski · Chief AI & Quantum Officer · Apr 9, 2026
“With some of the layoffs that we're seeing, I think it's quite frankly lazy”[14]
Kristin Milchanowski · Chief AI and Data Officer · Jun 17, 2026
“At BMO, we're not to start an initiative without knowing that it's going to create one basis point of an improvement, whether by revenue or cost reduction”[14]
Kristin Milchanowski · Chief AI and Data Officer · Jun 17, 2026
“BMO is committed to building AI and Quantum capabilities that are innovative, trusted and centred on our clients.”[1]
Steve Tennyson · Chief Technology & Operations Officer · Apr 9, 2026
“At our Investor Day, we highlighted the many ways that AI is already creating significant value”[10]
Darryl White · Chief Executive Officer · Aug 25, 2026
“We get lots of alerts through our algorithm; AI has been able to take down the number of false alerts already by about 10 per cent”[11]
Piyush Agrawal · Chief Risk Officer · Mar 26, 2026
“AI is now a core skill for anyone we are bringing into the institution”[19]
Larissa Chaikowsky · Chief Learning Officer and Head of Talent · Feb 17, 2026
Who runs AI at BMO Financial Group?
Kristin Milchanowski
Chief AI & Quantum Officer; Founding Director, BMO Institute for Applied AI & Quantum[1][13]
Brent Reston
Chief Digital Officer (inaugural; named August 2026)[16]
Sharon Haward-Laird
Group Head, Canadian Commercial Banking & North American Integrated Solutions (Aura programme)[5][3]
Matt Mehrotra
Group Head, Canadian Personal and Business Banking[10]
Aron Levine
Group Head, U.S. Banking[10]
Lori Bieda
Chief Data & Analytics Officer, North American Personal and Business Banking (June 2025; Lumi)[4]
Larissa Chaikowsky
Chief Learning Officer and Head of Talent (AI training)[19]
Which regulators govern BMO Financial Group's AI?
| Authority | Why it matters here | Documents |
|---|---|---|
| OSFI | BMO's lead federal supervisor; OSFI Guideline E-23 on model risk management, effective May 1, 2027, extends model-governance expectations to AI models used in underwriting agents like Aura and in AML and insurance decisioning. | |
| Financial Consumer Agency of Canada | Market-conduct obligations apply to AI-assisted sales and servicing in Canadian personal and business banking, such as Lumi's extension to client conversations and Codat-driven product recommendations. | |
| Federal Reserve | BMO Financial Corp. is the US intermediate holding company; third-party and model-risk guidance frames group AI platforms used by US staff. The US bank is covered at /banks/bmo-us. | SR 23-4 SR 26-2 |
| OCC | BMO Bank N.A. is a national bank supervised by the OCC, which governs US use of group credit-assessment agents; US-only detail is on /banks/bmo-us. | OCC Bulletin 2026-13 |
| Basel Committee | Group-wide data and third-party arrangements for AI platforms, including a vendor-built AML agent and cloud and Copilot dependencies, engage BCBS 239 data-aggregation principles and the Basel third-party risk principles. | BCBS 239 BCBS Third-Party Risk Principles (Dec 2025) |
What does the public record suggest about BMO Financial Group's AI strategy?
Analysis by BankingNewsAI from the sources cited on this page. Observations, not advice.
01
A stated return rule turns AI into a measurable commitment
BMO ties each initiative to at least one basis point of benefit and publishes a C$1 billion-a-year target for 2030 and a 50% underwriting-time goal for fiscal 2028. Those numbers can be checked quarter by quarter, which few banks invite.
02
Adoption is broad because the tools are standard
The 90%-plus Copilot figure and the approved-tools rule suggest BMO reached high use by licensing and governing a mainstream assistant for everyone, and building custom agents (Lumi, Aura) only where a workflow justified it.
03
Vendor agents inside the AML programme
FIS naming BMO among the first deployers of an Anthropic-built financial-crimes agent places a third-party agent inside a core control. The release says investigators keep every decision and the data stays in FIS-controlled infrastructure, which is the governance detail supervisors are likely to test.
04
Headcount stance is a public promise
Hoping to grow revenue 'with the same volume of people', while hiring engineers and bankers, sets a testable benchmark against peers that cite AI in restructuring. The record gives intent, not a headcount figure.
Who runs AI at BMO?
Dr. Kristin Milchanowski is BMO's Chief AI & Quantum Officer and founding director of the BMO Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence & Quantum, established in April 2026; she had been chief AI and data officer since October 2024. Chief Technology & Operations Officer Steve Tennyson fronted the Institute's launch, and Brent Reston was named the bank's first chief digital officer in August 2026.
What AI tools does BMO use?
Disclosed tools include Lumi Assistant for employees, Aura for commercial credit drafting, Microsoft Copilot (used by more than 90% of employees), the SmartDecision insurance underwriting tool, Codat-based recommendations for business clients, and an FIS financial-crimes agent built on Anthropic's Claude that BMO is among the first to deploy.
How much does BMO expect to gain from AI?
BMO's CFO reiterated in September 2026 a target of about C$1 billion a year of pre-provision, pre-tax income from AI initiatives by 2030, and the bank aims to cut commercial underwriting time by roughly 50% by fiscal 2028. Management says each AI initiative must be expected to add at least one basis point.
Is BMO's US bank covered separately?
Yes. BMO Bank N.A. and BMO's US AI activity are covered at /banks/bmo-us; this page covers the group (Canadian banking, capital markets, wealth and group-level AI governance).
- BMO Establishes Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence & Quantum
- BMO Launches Return on Intelligence Podcast - AI, Quantum, and the New Rules of Decision-Making
- Aura: Helping power BMO's goal of 50% faster underwriting by 2028 - BMO Ai Hub
- Meet Lumi Assistant: BMO’s award-winning AI tool empowering Team BMO
- Sharon Haward-Laird (undated page, retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Bank of Montreal Form 40-F for fiscal 2025, Exhibit 99.2: 208th Annual Report 2025, Management's Discussion and Analysis
- BMO Financial Group Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results: Report to Shareholders (Form 6-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders and Management Proxy Circular 2026 (Form 6-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- BMO's Code of Conduct (Form 6-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- BMO (BMO) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
- BMO aims to increase business in the U.S., return on equity to more than 15% by 2028
- BMO Sees Loan Demand Surge as Returns Rise Toward 2027 Targets
- #39 Kristin Milchanowski's AI for All initiative is based on an "innovation without empathy is empty" premise
- 'It's lazy:' BMO's Milchanowski on AI-related layoffs
- How BMO uses AI to get more of business clients' business
- BMO Financial names Brent Reston chief digital officer
- FIS Brings Agentic AI to Banking with Anthropic, Starting with Financial Crimes – Company Announcement
- BMO Insurance launches AI-enhanced SmartDecision tool delivering a faster and more seamless path to coverage for clients and advisors
- Major employers in tech and finance expect new hires to be ‘AI literate’
- BMO Invests in Radical Ventures' Breakouts Fund to Help Scale Next Generation of AI Talent and Drive Economic Growth
- Banking industry, big tech unite to forge AI adoption guidelines
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