BMO Capital Markets has been ranked among the top 20 FX banks globally in the 2010 FX Week magazine client survey. The rankings were based on more than 7,000 responses from dealers, brokers, investors and corporations. BMO finished 20th overall, which represents the firm's best finish ever in the survey (ranked 25th last year). BMO Capital Markets also ranked first with corporate clients, second for the Canadian dollar, and second with both investor and bank clients. These results are a reflection of the firm's intense client focus and ability to effectively compete on the global stage.

European CEO Magazine has named BMO Capital Markets the "Best Foreign Exchange [FX] Bank, Canada & North America" (October/November 2010 issue). The criteria for choosing the winners included transaction volume, market share, scope of global coverage, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative technologies. This award truly underscores BMO's commitment to continued expansion into global FX markets.

Dr. Sherry Cooper and the BMO Capital Markets Economics team have won the Lawrence R. Klein Award for economic forecasting accuracy. The team beat out nearly 50 other top North American economic forecasters for having the most accurate forecasts as part of the Blue Chip Economic Indicators survey from 2006 to 2009. The W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University sponsors and judges the award, which is one of the best-known and longest-standing awards in the profession.

Trade Finance Magazine has awarded BMO Capital Markets the "Best Trade Bank in Canada" Award for Excellence. The annual awards are based on industry votes and feedback as well as input from the magazine's editorial team. The win recognizes our firm's in-depth knowledge of global markets and the work the Trade Finance team does to deliver effective solutions to our importing and exporting clients.

BMO Capital Markets placed first in foreign exchange market share growth in Euromoney Magazine's 2010 annual survey. The report recognized BMO Capital Markets in two categories: "Most Improved Overall Market Share by Volume" and "Most Improved Market Share by Size over US$250 billion." The Euromoney FX survey is the benchmark measure for the FX industry, with results based on qualitative and quantitative responses from thousands of companies around the world.

For the third year in a row, BMO was named one of the Most Popular Market Makers in China for 2009 by the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS). This award is determined by a popularity vote among market makers. As in previous years, BMO was the only foreign bank to have won this award. BMO was also awarded "Best non-USD Market Maker" for the third year running, and is the only bank to have won this award. In addition, three members of the Guangzhou branch were honoured with "Trader of the Year" awards.

BMO Capital Markets was awarded the 2010 Journal of Financial Advertising & Marketing (JFAM) Award for "Best Media Strategy – Investment Banking", in recognition of our 2009 weekly advertising campaign in The Wall Street Journal. This year's JFAM awards received dozens of entries from the world's leading financial services firms, and were judged by a panel of 30 leading experts in financial services marketing.

BMO Capital Markets has been named the Best Bank for the Canadian Dollar by FX Week Magazine. The award is determined by votes from foreign exchange market professionals around the world. The FX Week Best Bank Awards are presented annually in London, U.K. during November.

In this year’s survey, nearly 7,000 respondents from banks, corporate treasurers and investors, including fund managers, institutional investors and hedge funds, nominated their preferred banks, brokers and vendors in 39 categories. The BMO Capital Markets FX group holds a dominant position in the Canadian-dollar foreign exchange market and is top-ranked by large hedge funds and pension funds for institutional liquidity and pricing capacity. This accolade further demonstrates the group’s ability to help clients turn currency risk into reward.

BMO Capital Markets has been named the best foreign exchange bank in Canada by European CEO Magazine. The European CEO awards panel used a wide range of criteria for voters to consider, such as innovation, originality and quality of products, as well as proof of market development and excellence in client representation.

BMO Capital Markets' Foreign Exchange Group is a team of nearly 100 professionals based in eight cities around the world from Beijing to Chicago. The FX group holds a dominant position in the Canadian-dollar foreign exchange market and is top-ranked by large hedge funds and pension funds for institutional liquidity and pricing capacity.

BMO Capital Markets was the winner in the “Best Live Event” category at the 2009 American Business Awards in New York. The firm won the award in recognition of our Global Metals and Mining Conference, which provides an unparalleled client experience for over 1,000 people from 21 countries.

BMO Capital Markets was also a Finalist in three other categories at this year’s awards: Best Marketing Department; Best Marketing Brochure (Global Metals & Mining brochure); and Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program (Equity Through Education).

Also known as the “Stevie” awards, the American Business Awards competition is open to companies of all sizes, and in all sectors, across the United States. The 2009 awards drew a total of more than 2,500 entries, with the final winners round being judged by nearly a dozen high-profile business executives.

BMO Capital Markets took home three silver awards for: ROI (Return on Investment); Out of Home, Single; and Interactive Media Campaign categories. We also received two bronze awards for: Multimedia, Campaign; and Print, Campaign categories.

The awards were determined by a panel of 16 judges - all senior executives in Advertising and Financial Services. Over 500 individual pieces of creative work were evaluated from a who's who of financial services companies. Awards for 2008 were handed out in four categories: Corporate Image; Business to Business (B2B); Consumer Retail; and ROI.

Harris and BMO Capital Markets were recognized as a Top Ten contributor for the United Way Metro Chicago 2008 campaign. The firm was also honored with two awards: the Innovative Promotion Materials award which recognized the inventive marketing efforts that were employed to promote LIVE UNITED, and the Volunteerism Pillar award, which recognizes the company that best encourages and supports its employees’ involvement through hands-on volunteerism.

The Wall Street Journal's annual financial analyst ranking, "Best on the Street", reviews nearly 50 major industry groups, ranking the top analysts within each business segment. The stock pickers in each industry are ranked by their recommendation-performance scores for 2008.

Four BMO Capital Markets analysts were recognized for their stock picking abilities in biotechnology; business and industrial services; household and personal products; and retailers: broadline and apparel.

BMO Capital Markets placed first in the 2009 Thomson Reuters StarMine Canadian analyst awards. StarMine is an independent firm that measures the performance of analysts based on the returns of their stock picking recommendations and the accuracy of their earnings estimates. The 2009 awards apply to 2008 calendar-year performance and estimates for Canadian-based companies in 20 sectors. In an exceptionally volatile year, BMO Capital Markets won the award for Top Broker by collecting 17 individual awards.

A full list of the winners can be found on the StarMine website.

BMO's Guangzhou branch was named "Most Popular Market Maker" in 2008 – as determined by a popularity vote among market makers. The three runners up were all Chinese banks – Industrial Bank of China, Bank of China and Bank of Communications.

BMO was also named "Best Market Maker" for 2008. This award, which is determined by the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), takes into account technical indices/indicators, market votes and scoring by regulators. BMO was the only foreign bank to win this award.

In addition, BMO was the only bank to be awarded "Best non-USD Market Maker" in 2008, as we have the largest share of volume in non-USD CNY crosses.

BMO Capital Markets was awarded the 2008 Media Strategy Award for Investment Banking by the Journal of Financial Advertising & Marketing (JFAM). The finalists in the Investment Banking category were BMO Capital Markets, UBS and Standard Chartered. The judging panel was made up of senior marketers from over three dozen financial services companies and agencies.

• BMO Capital Markets placed first overall in Canadian Equity Research for the 28th consecutive year.
• BMO was selected as "Top Research Department" by a large margin, with our analysts ranked number one in nine industry sectors, more than any other dealer.
• BMO had 16 all-star analyst teams, where we ranked first, second or third in the 32 sectors evaluated.
• We were also ranked first by institutional investors in the categories of Best Morning Notes and Best Website.
• BMO was ranked first for Overall Quality of Trader Service and received first-place rankings in every trading category measured by the survey, including: penetration of traders (most citations); effectiveness in execution; contribution to investment knowledge; putting client interests first; personal chemistry with the trader; and impact of trader service on commissions paid to the firm.
• BMO was ranked #2 (top bank-owned dealer) for Overall Quality of Sales Team. In addition, we were ranked first for arranging meetings with management and analysts.
• Our entire equity sales, trading and research team was ranked first overall for reputational franchise - a score that was at a significantly higher level than all of our competitors.

Global Finance magazine named BMO Capital Markets the best investment bank in Canada for 2008. Global Finance editors made the selection based on criteria that included market share, number and size of deals, key capabilities and services offered, innovation in financing and new product information, competitive pricing and after-market performance of underwritings. Deals announced or completed in the last three quarters of 2007 and first half of 2008 were considered.

The Journal of Financial Advertising & Marketing (JFAM) chose BMO Capital Markets' Equity Through Education initiative to win the inaugural "Strategic Philanthropy Award" for best program in financial services.

In winning this award, Equity Through Education beat the charitable programs of more than 20 other financial institutions, including Merrill Lynch, American Express and Citigroup. The editorial board at JFAM selected Equity Through Education for achieving strategic corporate goals while meeting the philanthropic needs of a wide range of charities.

The Equity Through Education program commits one day's worth of the institutional equity trading commissions we earn in Canada and the U.S. to organizations that help bright, deserving people realize their educational ambitions.

The Financial Communications Society Portfolio Awards gave BMO Capital Markets best-in-show honours in the Multicultural category for its "Ambitions This Big" ad.

The FCS Portfolio Awards received over 370 entries in 2008. The entries were judged by a panel of 18 corporate marketing and advertising agency executives. Also receiving best-in-show awards were American Express and Barclays.