The Bank of Montreal (BMO) cut 997 full time jobs in the last quarter of the 2013 fiscal year in which it earned a record profit of $4.2 billion. While the news may annoy the average Canadian, analysts say it is a predictable consequence of improved productivity and a stagnant economy.
BMO offers personal and commercial banking in the United States where the economic outlook is deteriorating.
The job cuts seem big but they actually represent a shrinkage of just over two per cent of BMO’s labour force. They pale in comparison to cuts of 18 per cent for Potash Corporation, attempted staff reductions of 40 per cent for BlackBerry and a 30 per cent cut in Barrick Gold corporate staff.
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