Dive Brief:

• Rahul Nalgirkar will become BMO’s next CFO, effective Jan. 1, the bank announced Wednesday.
• Nalgirkar, previously CFO for BMO’s U.S. operations, as well as the bank’s commercial banking businesses in Canada and the U.S, will succeed Tayfun Tuzun, who is set to retire in early 2026, the bank said.
• Tuzun’s retirement marks a continued changing of the guard at BMO. The bank announced in June that Ernie (Erminia) Johannson, who has led the bank’s North American personal and business banking group since 2020, also intends to retire in early 2026. At the same time, BMO hired Bank of America’s former president of preferred banking, Aron Levine, to serve as the Canadian bank’s U.S. president.

Dive Insight:

Nalgirkar’s advancement also shows a continued infusion of Fifth Third alums into the C-suites of Canadian banks. Nalgirkar came to BMO in 2022 after spending seven years at the Cincinnati lender. He ended his tenure there as CFO of Fifth Third’s commercial, consumer, wealth and business banking lines. He previously served in executive stints at CIT and Citi, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Tuzun, too, jumped to BMO from Fifth Third. He had served as the Cincinnati bank’s CFO from 2013 until leaving for the Canadian lender in November 2020.

"Tayfun joined BMO during one of the most dynamic periods in our history, working with our leadership team to serve our clients, digitize and streamline operations, and acquire and integrate Bank of the West," BMO CEO Darryl White said in a statement.

BMO proposed buying San Francisco-based Bank of the West for $16.3 billion in late 2021. U.S. regulators took more than a year to approve the acquisition, which expanded BMO’s stateside foothold beyond a Midwestern swath headquartered in Chicago.

But the deal hasn’t been as quickly profitable as originally imagined. BMO in January announced its aim to achieve 12% return on equity in its U.S. operations, but as of late July, that figure stands at 8%. Overall, however, BMO’s shares have jumped 28% since January.

"BMO has benefited from Tayfun's leadership and expertise, including his oversight of the effective management of capital, liquidity and funding as we established BMO as one of North America's largest banks," White said.

Tuzun will continue to serve on the board of BMO’s U.S. subsidiary after he retires, the bank said.

Nalgirkar, meanwhile, will serve as deputy CFO during a transition period leading up to his Jan. 1 debut as finance chief. He’ll also serve on BMO’s executive committee.

"Rahul is a dynamic, strategic finance leader with a deep understanding of the financial services industry in North America and a proven collaborator and catalyst for performance," White said Wednesday. "Whether it's making progress for holistic and comprehensive service to our clients across our businesses and geographies or bringing our strategy to life and cutting through complexity to deliver results, Rahul's impact is clear and significant.”

Nalgirkar’s ascent comes as BMO – and several Canadian banks – have shuffled executives over the summer. In addition to Levine arriving at BMO and Johannson and Tuzun leaving, the Toronto-based lender tapped Nadim Hirji, its commercial-banking chief, as vice chair in July. That made way for Sharon Haward-Laird and Mat Mehrotra to co-lead personal and commercial banking in Canada for the bank. BMO did not say who would succeed Nalgirkar in his old role.

Rival TD last week named its next chief operating officer, as well as a new general counsel (incidentally, a BMO alum).

CIBC, meanwhile, named its next U.S. CEO in August, ahead of a new global chief executive taking charge in November.

BMO is not the only Canadian bank to see an influx of Fifth Third alums. Royal Bank of Canada opened a pipeline of talent coming from the Cincinnati bank in 2023. RBC hired former Fifth Third CEO Greg Carmichael to become executive chair of the Canadian lender’s Los Angeles-based subsidiary, City National Bank.

Within two months, RBC then hired Fifth Third’s consumer-banking chief, Howard Hammond, to serve as City National’s CEO, and Chris Doll, the Cincinnati bank’s head of investor relations, as City National’s CFO.