BMO's top U.S. executive to depart in leadership shuffle

• Key insight: BMO Financial Group in Toronto is shaking up its U.S. leadership team, announcing the retirement of U.S. CEO Darrel Hackett. Tim Cox, a BMO veteran, will become the bank's U.S. country head.
  
• What's at stake: Cox, who's been BMO's U.S. general counsel since 2022, is taking the job as BMO expands its presence in California.

BMO Financial Group's U.S. CEO is exiting that role, the Toronto-based company announced, as part of a leadership shuffle that will hand more responsibility to the bank's U.S. general counsel.

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Darrel Hackett, who has been BMO's U.S. chief executive since 2023, will retire from that job and become executive vice chair and senior advisor. It did not say how long he is expected to serve in either of those roles.

Meanwhile, Tim Cox, BMO's U.S. general counsel since 2022, will become the bank's U.S. country head on Nov. 1. He will also become CEO of BMO's U.S. holding company and its U.S.-based bank, succeeding Hackett.

Cox, who has served in a variety of legal and regulatory roles since he joined the BMO in 2010, will report to BMO Financial Group

CEO Darryl White. Cox will be BMO's first U.S. country head since Chris Begy, who retired in 2018. Begy was the U.S. country head from 2013 to 2018.

"Tim's leadership, deep understanding of our business and commitment to serving our clients, colleagues and communities will be key to the continued success of our U.S. franchise," White said in a press release announcing the changes.

A spokesperson for the bank did not respond to American Banker's questions about why the bank decided to install a new U.S. country head at this time.

The leadership changes follow a recent overhaul of BMO's stateside business, which has been a substantial revenue contributor to the Canadian bank's bottom line. Since early 2025, BMO has divested certain lower-returning loan portfolios, reorganized part of its U.S. leadership team and sold off 138 branches in slower-growth markets, mostly in the Midwest and Great Plains.

In June 2025, the bank announced several south-of-the-border management changes, including the hiring of Aron Levine, a longtime Bank of America executive, as BMO's new U.S. president.

Last year the bank also announced the retirement of Erminia "Ernie" Johannson, a frequent honoree on American Banker's annual Most Powerful Women in Banking lists. At the time, Johannson was the head of BMO's North American personal and business banking group.

While BMO maintains a large Midwest presence, it's now locked in on California, where it acquired San Francisco-based Bank of the West in 2023. BMO wants to increase its share of California's deposit market, in part by opening more than 130 branches in the Golden State over five years.

The moves, BMO executives have said, are designed to deliver sustainable growth and improve the bank's profitability. The bank has set a goal to achieve a 12% return on equity in the U.S. by Oct. 31, 2027.

In August, executives said they were confident that BMO will hit that target on time. U.S. return on equity came in at 9.2% during the bank's third quarter, a steady improvement from prior years.

Levine told American Banker in September that the U.S. revamp is working as intended.

"We're making good progress on the things we said we'd deliver on," he said.

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Levine, who previously reported to both White and Hackett, will now only report to White, the BMO spokesperson said.

Hackett joined BMO in 2004 after working as a consultant at McKinsey for about five years. At BMO, he held a variety of jobs, including president of BMO Wealth Management U.S. and head of U.S. business banking.

Hackett "played a central role in advancing [BMO's] North American growth strategy and helping build the U.S. business" that exists today, White said in the press release.