Ottawa, Ontario
FCAC applied an administrative monetary penalty of $4 million on the Bank of Montreal (BMO) for violations of consumer provisions in the Bank Act. The violation is described in Summary of Proceeding #4, published today.
A total of 101,091 customers were financially impacted. BMO has issued refunds and redressed interest to impacted customers totalling more than $3 million. For the amount that could not be refunded to accounts, BMO made a charitable donation of more than $600,000.
The violations relate to erroneous charges for monthly plan fees that should have been waived or discounted for certain personal deposit accounts. From 2010 to 2024, BMO failed to disclose all charges applicable to these accounts. Additionally, between 2022 and 2024, BMO failed to clearly disclose information regarding when monthly plan fees would begin.
Accurate disclosure is a foundational element of the consumer protection provisions of the Bank Act. For consumers to make informed financial decisions, they must be provided information that is accurate and, at a minimum, meets legal requirements.
All federally regulated financial institutions are expected to review the findings of FCAC Decisions and Summaries of Proceedings and apply them to their own practices, as appropriate, in an effort to achieve the highest levels of compliance with protections for financial consumers.
