History
In 1882, Norman Wait Harris established N.W. Harris & Co., a Chicago-based municipal bond broker and the forerunner of Harris Bank.
Harris Trust and Savings Bank was established 1907. It merged with Chicago National Bank in 1960 and was restructured as Harris Bankcorp, Inc. in 1972. Bank of Montreal (later known as BMO Financial Group) acquired Harris in 1984.
Further acquisitions were First National Bank of Barrington in 1985, State Bank of St. Charles and First National Bank of Batavia in 1988 and Libertyville Federal Savings Bank and Loan and Frankfort Bancshares in 1990. Harris Bankcorp and Suburban Bancorp combined under the Harris name in 1994. 54 Chicago area branches were acquired from Household Bank 1996 and the direct brokerage firm Burke, Christensen & Lewis merged with Harris Investors Direct to form Harris InvestorLine 1999. Freeman Welwood was acquired 2000, Village Bank of Naples (Florida) and Century Bank in Arizona was acquired 2001 and First National Bank of Joliet was acquired 2001. Northwestern Trust and Investors Advisory Company in Seattle, Washington was acquired in 2002. Harris InvestorLine combined with CSFBdirect to form Harrisdirect 2002. Online client accounts of Morgan Stanley Individual Investor Group were acquired 2002 and myCFO was acquired in 2002. Sullivan, Bruyette Speros & Blayney Incorporated was acquired 2003. Lakeland Community Bank in Round Lake and New Lenox State Bank in Will County acquired 2004, Mercantile Bancorp. Inc. based in Hammond, Indiana was acquired 2004. Intent to acquire Villa Park Trust and Savings Bank was announced in 2005.
The Harris Trust and Savings Bank name was retired in 2005
First National Bank & Trust, based in Kokomo, Indiana was acquired in 2007. Ozaukee Bank, Based in Cedarburg, Wisconsin and Merchant and Manufacturers Bankcorp Inc, based in New Berlin, Wisconsin were acquired in 2008. Amcore Bank N.A. was acquired April 23, 2010. Marshall & Ilsley was acquired by BMO Financial Group July 5, 2011.
On December 17, 2010, Bank of Montreal (BMO) agreed to purchase Marshall & Ilsley in an all-stock transaction valued at about $4.1 billion USD. Marshall & Ilsley will be combined with BMO's Harris Bank subsidiary based in Chicago. The company restructured as BMO Bankcorp July 5, 2011.
Read more about this topic: BMO Harris Bank
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