Two BMO Advisory Firms Pay Over $37 Million to Harmed Clients for Failing to Disclose Conflicts of Interest

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that two BMO advisers have agreed to pay over $37 million to settle charges regarding their failure to tell clients about certain aspects of how the advisers selected investments in their retail investment advisory program, known as the Managed Asset Allocation Program (MAAP), which included the selection of more expensive investments from which BMO advisers profited. According to the SEC’s order, when selecting investments for clients, BMO Harris Financial Advisors Inc. (BMO Harris) and BMO Asset Management Corp. (BMO Asset Mgmt) preferred mutual funds managed by BMO Asset Mgmt (proprietary funds) and invested approximately 50% of MAAP client assets in proprietary funds.