Northbrook BMO Closing Was ‘Years In The Making’

Steve and Mary Johnston | May 31, 2023

(Editors note – Steve and Mary Johnston contacted the BMO complaints department on May 3rd to talk about the pending closure of the Northbrook in the hope of starting a process to reverse the decision. The day immediately following that conversation with BMO officials, the Northbrook branch was publicly listed For Sale For $199,000 with Rogers and Trainor Realty. The Johnston’s follow up letter is reprinted below)

We learned that the decision to close the branch had actually been ‘years in the making’. Why then was the community and customers not informed in advance of branch sustainability concerns, especially considering that this same branch had operated profitably and energetically for many years prior?  Can it be that the closure decision is based on more recent branch-level HR issues rather than what’s best for long-standing Northbrook customers, or BMO itself? Of note: BMO has been here for nearly 60 years. 

In consideration of our recent population surge in affluent retirees bringing new capital, equity and financial needs/opportunities to the area, how could BMO’s Northbrook branch targets not have been met or exceeded, especially when it’s the only game in town? 

As example, the local Northbrook Lions service club has raised in excess of $125 K to augment the amenities of this community’s only long-term care facility. This, despite poor, unreliable and/or in many areas, non-existent internet and cellular services, across the same remote, rugged and vast geographic area, with much economic disparity.

Although our question in the earlier paragraph isn’t rhetorical it’s unlikely to be answered; nonetheless BMO would likely want to scrutinize it internally. 

It appears that BMO Northbrook branch’s final legacies to its ‘valued customers’ are

to be automatically transferred to one other BMO branch at considerable distance, without benefit or courtesy of consultation as to which alternative branch locations might be preferable.

The corporate Complaints Process appears to be nothing more than a transparently formidable and futile exercise in public relations optics.

We would like to know the percentage of Complaints Process issues actually resolved in favour of BMO customers’ concerns.

We believe that economically this community deserves retaining the Northbrook branch, and that we ‘valued customers’ deserved improved customer service and communication, not closure. 

Steve and Mary Johnston