BMO Financial Corp.

BMO Financial Corp. carries the weight of a large Canadian banking group, so it is meant for customers who want everyday banking with a serious institutional backbone behind it. By our assessment, its real strength is breadth: banking, wealth management and the wider financial services that come with a major bank brand are all part of the picture. The trade-off is that a name like this is not intimate or local in feel, and big-bank service can be more standardized than people who prefer a small branch culture want. In practice, BMO Financial Corp. sits in the mainstream of modern banking, where stability and range matter more than personality. It is a familiar sort of financial company rather than a boutique one, and that makes it sturdier than it is distinctive.