BMO found AI, climate change and diversity opportunities in pandemic: CEO
Posted April 7, 2021 9:31 am.
TORONTO — BMO Financial Group’s chief executive says COVID-19 hasn’t stopped his bank from finding opportunities around artificial intelligence, diversity and climate change.
Darryl White says the bank spent the first year of the health crisis helping customers make quicker and better decisions because AI advancements offered more and increasingly sophisticated data.
He says the bank used the technology to model more lending scenarios, while it focused on strengthening the company’s diversity and climate change targets.
BMO recently pledged to increase the representation of women, employees with disabilities and workers who are Black, Latino, LGBTQ+ or Indigenous by 2025.
The bank has also committed $300-billion to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2025, endorsed the United Nation’s principles for responsible banking and released a sustainability report with a climate-specific section.
White’s comments came during the bank’s annual AGM, which was held virtually for the second time, and included the appointment of two new board members, Stephen Dent and Madhu Ranganathan.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2021.
Companies in this story: (TSX:BMO)
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