BMO Harris

Bank of the West
Illinois
Banks, Diversified Financials

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Rating - Danger
High Risk

BMO Harris is the American subsidiary of the Canadian organization Bank of Montreal (BMO). BMO will not provide financial services to specific industries and companies, notably those dealing with coal, guns/ammunition, or Arctic drilling. The company covers the cost of "medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children. BMO funds "LGBTQ2+" organizations and causes, donates to ideological groups hostile to freedom of expression, and advances racially discriminatory lending practices. BMO also restricts donations to certain faith-based charities. BMO Global Asset Management is part of the Glasgow Net Zero Alliance. BMO does not have viewpoint protections for its employees. For these reasons, BMO Harris receives a High Risk rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

BMO will not financially interact with firearms companies, coal companies, or organizations engaging in Arctic drilling (1)(2). The bank also says that “higher risk sectors and activities are subject to enhanced due diligence, escalations and exception processes,” referring to environmental and social risks (3). BMO received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign (4)(5). Among other requirements, this means the bank has pledged to vet vendors for LGBTQ policies.

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

BMO does not provide corporate donations to religious organizations (1). BMO does not match all employee donations to religious groups unless they are “for secular activities offered on a non-denominational basis (2)(3).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

BMO does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

BMO incorporates “environmental and social risk management” into its financial decisions, including “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” “climate change,” “human rights,” “cultural heritage,” and more (1)(2). BMO is a proud supporter of LGBTQ2+ Pride Month (3). BMO also requires anti-racist training for all employees (4). BMO Global Asset Management is part of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, committed to carbon neutrality by 2050 (5).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

BMO allocated $5 million for racial equity funding, some of which went to partisan groups like the National Urban League and the Obama Foundation (1). Much of those funds were strictly accessible to “Black and Latinx” people. BMO corporately sponsors a “Pride and Remembrance Run” for the LGBTQ community as well as other LGBTQ2+ events (2)(3). The company is a corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce and a corporate sponsor of PrideFest (4)(5). BMO held a “Rainbow Deposit” campaign during Pride Month where $1 was donated to the LGBTQ organization, Rainbow Railroad, for each photo of a rainbow submitted (6)(7). BMO has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index. This score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (8)(9).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
Rationale

BMO Harris has not used its PAC donations for ideological purposes (1)(2)(3). It has donated on a bipartisan basis to advance business interests without ideological prejudice.

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
December 5, 2023

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