2012 PLANSPONSOR Survey: BMO Retirement Services Ranks #1 in Best-in-Class Awards among 401(k) Providers for Sixth Consecutive

MILWAUKEE, Dec. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- BMO Retirement Services has won the most Best-in-Class designations among all leading 401(k) providers, according to the newly released 2012 PLANSPONSOR^® Defined Contribution Survey, which aggregated responses from more than 6,000 retirement plan sponsors.

BMO received 75 Best-in-Class trophies, across 23 plan sponsor and participant service categories in six market segments.

"Although our Best-in-Class tallies are second to none for the sixth year in a row, this year's achievement is particularly meaningful for us," said Phillip E. Enochs, CFA, Head of Relationship Management, BMO Global Asset Management.

Enochs noted that often in the industry, client service can be negatively impacted during acquisition and transition periods. "With the support of many dedicated people, we continued to deliver client service at an industry leading level. Despite all the moving parts involved in our integration, we remained committed to serving our clients," he said.

Retirement plans in the $5MM-10MM, $10MM-50MM and $50MM-200MM ranges awarded BMO Retirement Services with 10 Best-in-Class trophies for all 10 of the Sponsor Services categories in the survey. The BMO platform also picked up 38 Best-in-Class trophies in the Participant Services categories and was named among the very top providers most likely to be recommended by clients.

Among the 41 providers included in the survey, BMO Retirement Services was also ranked highly for an array of favorable plan attributes, including:

Average account balance
Average client participation rate
Percentage of participants maximizing match
Clients comfortable with provider's fee disclosure
Clients with more than seven-year relationships
Clients with "Safe Harbor" plan design
Clients with Roth provision

"The most compelling proof of quality service resides entirely in the clients' experience," Enochs added. "We are pleased with this year's results, but that shouldn't suggest we are complacent. BMO Retirement Services' mandate is to continually improve the ability of plan sponsors and participants to achieve their goals."

Now in its 17^th year, the 2012 PLANSPONSOR Survey is one of the largest survey samplings of plan sponsors available. Respondents include over half of all U.S. plans with $1 billion or more of defined contribution assets. The combined assets represented in the survey total $1.35 trillion, close to one-third of all such assets in the U.S.

About BMO Retirement Services
BMO Retirement Services is an integral part of BMO Global Asset Management, a global, award-winning provider of retirement, trust and custody services.

BMO Global Asset Management provides holistic, solution-driven services to our institutional and high-net-worth clients and the BMO family of mutual funds. With a nearly 40-year legacy of fiduciary service – and goal of promoting retirement readiness to our more than 500,000 participants in over 1,000 retirement plans – our clients include retirement plans, Taft-Hartley funds, government and public funds, not-for-profit organizations and family offices. BMO Global Asset Management's commitment to service excellence has led us to be recognized by Pension & Investments as one of the Top 100 largest asset managers.

We are a part of BMO Financial Group (NYSE: [ BMO ]), a fully diversified financial services firm with $542 billion total assets and more than 46,000 employees as of July 31, 2012.

Investors should consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. For a prospectus and/or summary prospectus, which contains this and other information about the BMO Funds, call 1-800-580-3863. Please read it carefully before investing.

M&I Distributors LLC is the distributor of the BMO Funds.

BMO Retirement Services is a part of BMO Global Asset Management and a division of the BMO Harris Bank N.A., offering products and services through various affiliates of BMO Financial Group.

BMO Global Asset Management is the brand name for various affiliated entities of BMO Financial Group, that provide trust, custody, securities lending, investment management, and retirement plan services. Certain of the products and services offered under the brand name BMO Global Asset Management are designed specifically for various categories of investors in a number of different countries and regions. Those products and services are only offered to such investors in those countries and regions in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. BMO Financial Group is a service mark of Bank of Montreal (BMO). Investment products are: NOT FDIC INSURED – NO BANK GUARANTEE – MAY LOSE VALUE

SOURCE BMO Retirement Services

Contributing Sources

Market Wire

N@N

2012 PLANSPONSOR Survey: BMO Retirement Services Ranks #1 in Best-in-Class Awards among 401(k) Providers for Sixth Consecutive