BMO Harris names specialty lines chief, three Midwestern executives

BMO Harris Bank in Chicago has promoted a regional president to a new post overseeing retail specialty lines and shuffled some of its other regional leaders.

The personnel changes are part of a broader shift to boost personal banking in the U.S. unit of the Bank of Montreal as commercial banking has typically outpaced retail for BMO Harris. Darryl White, the CEO of Bank of Montreal, has said that he anticipates the U.S. subsidiary will grow faster than its Canadian parent company.

Steve Zandpour, the new U.S. head of retail specialty sales, will oversee premier sales (wealth management services for the mass affluent), mortgage sales and small-business banking handled out of branches, the $123 billion-asset bank said Tuesday. He has more than 20 years of experience and was mostly recently a regional president for the bank’s northern Chicago market.

The bank also named Chris Michalski regional president of Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri and Indiana; Bernard Narine regional president of the Chicago south region; and Tony Tintinalli regional president of the Chicago north region. Each will oversee the branch networks in their respective markets. One of their priorities will be revamping digital banking, BMO Harris said.

Previously, Michalski was head of U.S. mortgage sales, Narine was regional president for Arizona and Florida, and Tintinalli was head of U.S. premier sales. Their successors in these jobs are expected to be named in April.