NEW YORK, NEW YORK and TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 23, 2012) - BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group (NYSE:BMO)(TSX:BMO), today announced that Brian Belski has joined the firm as Chief Investment Strategist, effective today.

Mr. Belski will be part of the Equity Research Team and work out of both New York and Toronto. He will provide in-depth equity portfolio strategy products for the U.S. and Canada.

Mr. Belski reports to Ian de Verteuil, Global Head of Research, BMO Capital Markets. He will replace Ben Joyce, who retired last December, after 30 years in BMO's Portfolio Strategy and Economics groups.

"Brian brings to the firm more than two decades in the industry and a reputation as one of the best performing market strategists in the U.S.," said Mr. de Verteuil. "He will be an asset to our global equity research team and an invaluable resource for our institutional clients and private client division."

Most recently, Mr. Belski was Chief Investment Strategist at Oppenheimer & Company in New York, where he distributed four proprietary strategy and portfolio strategy publications for institutional and retail clients. He also created and managed four equity portfolios. Mr. Belski has previously worked as Chief U.S. Sector Strategist for Merrill Lynch in New York and as Managing Director and Fundamental Market Strategist at Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis.

He is a graduate of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.

About BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American financial services provider, with 2,300 employees operating in 17 North American offices and 30 worldwide, offering corporate, institutional and government clients access to a complete range of investment and corporate banking products and services. BMO Capital Markets is a member of BMO Financial Group (NYSE:BMO)(TSX:BMO), one of the largest diversified financial services providers in North America with US$537 billion total assets and more than 47,000 employees as at January 31, 2012.

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