I have a friend who works at BMO and they sent me this email they received this morning from their manager.
Background
Currently, customers have the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin through an online cryptocurrency exchange. Just like foreign currencies customers are able to buy and sell cryptocurrencies by setting up an account through a cryptocurrency merchant website. These merchants are set up to accept different methods of payment and once transactions are completed, cryptocurrency is stored with the merchant in a "cryptocurrency wallet"
What's new:
Due to the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies and to better protect the security of our customers and the bank, BMO has made the decision to block cryptocurrency merchant transactions effective March 1st for BMO Mastercard transactions (both debit and credit) and Interac Online transactions shortly thereafter.
This block includes transactions processed via a BMO MasterCard credit card (including Small Business credit cards), BMO Debit Mastercard and BMO Debit Card (using Interac Online Payment)
For Credit Cards and Debit Mastercards:
- Customers attempting any transactions will be blocked and presented with a message advising the transaction cannot be completed within the site or App being used to purchase the cryptocurrency. Customers signing up for the first time will not be able to use their BMO MasterCard or their BMO Debit MasterCard to register.
For Interac Online Payment Service
- BMO will debit the customer account temporarily and when the finalized transaction is being sent from BMO to the merchant, the transaction will be blocked and present the customer a message advising the transaction cannot be completed. Any funds will be automatically credited back to their bank account within 30 minutes.
Action Required
- If customers ask why they can no longer make cryptocurrency transactions with their BMO Credit or Debit card, let them know that BMO is taking a proactive approach to protecting our customers' accounts by blocking merchants who are considered high risk.
- If customers have completed a cryptocurrency transaction which has been blocked using the Interac Online Payment service. let them know they will receive their funds back in their account within 30 minutes. They do not need to do anything to have their funds returned.
- If the funds are not returned to the customers, follow the e
Bank of Montreal’s drive to improve efficiency has come with a cost: $357 million, along with the most dramatic job cuts by a Canadian bank in more than 15 years.
The lender took the charge, which was $484 million before taxes, mostly for severance payments. The cuts will affect about five per cent of Bank of Montreal’s workforce, executives said on a fiscal fourth-quarter conference call Tuesday. That would equate to about 2,300 positions, based on the company’s year-end headcount.
“This is a sizable move,” Chief Executive Officer Darryl White said on the call, while announcing earnings that beat analysts’ expectations. “We’re on a new path as far as a continuous improvement of the operating efficiency of the bank and this charge is designed to accelerate that path as we go forward.”
The latest restructuring charge -- which follows one taken in the second quarter of 2018, also tied to severances -- included a small amount of real-estate related costs and is part of White’s efforts to improve productivity at what has been Canada’s least-efficient bank. The company’s adjusted efficiency ratio, a measure of what it costs to produce a dollar of revenue, was 60 per cent in the fourth quarter, down from 62.2 per cent a year earlier, as the lender moves toward White’s target of 58 per cent or better by the end of fiscal 2021.
“It is difficult for us to credit good expense control in the face of yet another restructuring charge from this bank, this time approaching C$500 million,” CIBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Sedran said in a note to clients. “However, the underlying segment performance was solid with improving volume growth, positive operating leverage and stable credit quality. A decent result.”
Bank of Montreal shares fell 1.8 per cent to $98.88 at 9:38 a.m. in Toronto. They have gained 11 per cent this year, compared with a 13 per cent increase for Canada’s eight-company S&P/TSX Commercial Banks Index.
The job cuts are across all areas of the bank and are deeper than previous rounds of reductions, including the elimination of 1,850 jobs, or four per cent of the workforce, in May 2016, and the 1,000 positions cut in 2007. The latest move comes about six months after the Toronto-based company pared about 100 jobs across its capital-markets division.
The reductions surpass Bank of Nova Scotia’s 1,500 job cuts, announced in 2014, and the 1,660 positions eliminated by Royal Bank of Canada in 2004. Those were among the Canadian banking industry’s
... keep reading on reddit ➡
Whilst the situation from my last post has been somewhat ameliorated, I'm still hoping the sub can help me out here.
Can be flexible on repayment/interest terms to some extent, always happy to work with the generous lenders here.
Happy to send any documents as necessary.
There are approx. 30 banks in Hong Kong. I called every one of them to see if institutional money is really going into Bitcoins. I got response saying that the Bank of Montreal, Hong Kong branch do actually help their clients in the high net worth ranks to invest in Bitcoins. This is recent.
https://imgur.com/a/7rji4mU
Why you should know:
Because tourists often just use the ticket machines which are the most expensive way of using the tube, and always have a huge queue.
When you get to the travel gates, just tap your contact contactless payment method on the yellow circle, and the gates will open. You'll pay less and it's far quicker for you.
I'm going to be in France for nearly 12 months paid for by my current employer in Montreal. I obviously need a bank account in France, but from what I understood it's not possible to open an account there without being their there physically.
My bank in Montreal tells me that to do an international transfer, I *must* go to my branch (be physically present). So, I'm looking for solutions to this chicken-and-egg problem. Traveller's cheques seems not to be an option for the sum I need? A huge bank draft doesn't seem safe (I'd have to declare it when I enter)?
Or is there a bank in Montreal that lets customers do international wire transfers via internet? When I lived in the USA there was Fidelity and you could do a lot with them.
