<< BMO becomes the largest purchaser of Bullfrog Power in Atlantic Canada Joins top-tier Vanguard level on bullfrogpowered Green Index >>

BMO Financial Group announced today that it has significantly expanded its commitment to the use of green energy by purchasing Bullfrog Power for all of its 64 facilities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Effective immediately, BMO becomes biggest user of Bullfrog Power in Atlantic Canada.

The announcement follows purchases over the last two years of Bullfrog Power's clean, renewable energy for BMO locations in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, where a total of 78 branches have been bullfrogpowered to date.

"Customers expect us to show leadership when it comes to the environment," said Steve Murphy, Senior Vice-President, Atlantic Division, BMO Bank of Montreal. "This means that we must adopt and integrate environmental best practices into everything we do. With this purchase, we are reaffirming our commitment to minimizing the impact of our operations on the environment - here in Atlantic Canada and everywhere else we do business."

"It is part of our Environmental Policy to encourage a green workplace through programs that promote energy efficiency, waste minimization, recycling and green procurement," said Jim Johnston, Director, Environmental Sustainability, BMO Financial Group. "With this further investment, BMO moves to the top-tier Vanguard level on the bullfrogpowered Green Index for companies who have purchased over 20,000 annual megawatt hours of green power. It shows our leadership in the area of environmental sustainability and will represent an integral part of BMO achieving carbon neutrality company-wide in 2010."

"At Bullfrog Power, we're delighted that BMO has decided to expand its green power partnership with us, as we bring a new green electricity choice to Maritime homes and businesses," says Tom Heintzman, President, Bullfrog Power. "By choosing to bullfrogpower all of its operations in the Maritimes, BMO continues to play an important role in the advancement of the renewable power industry in Canada."

BMO Financial Group is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index, the Jantzi Social Index and the FTSE4Good Series Index. BMO is also included on the 2009 Jantzi/Maclean's list of the 50 Most Responsible Corporations in Canada and has appeared on Corporate Knights Magazine's Best 50 Corporate Citizens list every year since 2003.

To help customers, investors, employees and other interested parties make sense of it all, BMO's Corporate Responsibility website has a section devoted to addressing climate change (www.bmo.com/environment). The site provides one of the most complete compilations of corporate performance data among its peers.

SOURCE: BMO Bank of Montreal

SOURCE: BMO Financial Group

SOURCE: GREEN NEWS

BMO Financial Group: Peter Scott, Toronto, PeterE.Scott@bmo.com, (416) 867-3996; Ronald Monet, Montreal, ronald.monet@bmo.com, (514) 877-1101, www.bmo.com