BMO Private Bank is reportedly planning to hire asset managers to advice on European and Asia ex-Japan equity.
Robert Cormie, Asia head of private banking at BMO, said: "We will continue to add managers as we see niches. We will expand number of sub-asset classes but we don’t want to have two to three managers playing in the same space, to keep the process simple for clients."
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Edmund Yun, executive director for investment at BMO Private Bank said the bank is boosting the asset manager roster for its discretionary business to offer more flexibility in asset allocation, reported Asian Investor.
The move provides a good opportunity for fund managers at a time when private banks in the region have been shrinking the number of products on their portfolio.
"Moving to a custom fund list for the international business is also a natural progression from when it started the discretionary programme last year, which was set up from the North America perspective in terms of strategies," he added.
The fund houses will be selected and monitored by BMO Harris Investment Management, the investment arm of BMO Harris Private Bank.
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By GlobalDataAdditionally, the bank also has a group of manager’s offering sub-advisory services to discretionary accounts including Lazard Asset Management for international equity (ex-US) and global equity, Invesco for Greater China equity and units of BMO Asset Management for US equity value and equity growth, Canadian fixed income and soon US bonds.
BMO Private Bank’s discretionary business is advised by external managers, and the advisory unit is served by about 25 fund houses.
Cormie added that the bank’s discretionary business have increased 200% in terms of assets since the January 2013 acquisition of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).
