Financial group BMO is raising its minimum wage for employees who had worked for the recently acquired Bank of the West, as well as existing workers who had not been covered by a previous pay increase.
Toronto-based BMO says that, starting March 12, all hourly-paid full-time and part-time US employees will receive at least $20 per hour. Last year, BMO raised its minimum wage from $18 to $20 for certain workers: full-time and part-time US employees who work in branches and call centers.
The new policy will also cover Bank of the West employees after the integration of the two companies, which is scheduled to be completed in September. Bank of the West had raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2018.
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
BMO promised to keep all Bank of the West branches open and retain the San Francisco bank’s 9,300 employees after the $16.3 billion acquisition, which received regulatory approval last month and became official on February 1. The combined company also agreed to a five-year, $40 billion contract. community benefits plan to allay any concerns from regulators and consumer groups about the deal’s impact on the public.
The purchase of Bank of the West gave BMO an additional 500 branches and 1.8 million customers.
“BMO is committed to helping the newly acquired BMO US and Bank of the West team members thrive and progress their professional and personal goals,” a BMO spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The wage increase is part of a broader wave of employee compensation improvements that banks have undertaken amid a tight labor market and an ongoing debate about raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to at least $ fifteen.
Last week, Blue Ridge Bankshares in Virginia announced an increase in the minimum wage to $18 an hour, while Popular, Banco Popular’s US subsidiary in Puerto Rico, raised the hourly base wage to $15 earlier this year from $13.
In recent years, many other banks have also proactively increased their minimum wage policies, corporate moves that have led to higher reported spending amid a weak economy and strategic shifts to focus on digital banking services.
Last July, hourly workers at Bank of America began reception a $22 minimum wage as part of the bank’s plans to increase its hourly base wage to $25 by 2025. BofA CEO Brian Moynihan said on a fourth-quarter earnings call last month that although wage increases contributed to a 5.4% increase in non-interest expenses for the year During the year, the bank has not announced layoff plans.
During a fourth-quarter earnings call in January, Truist’s chief financial officer, William Rogers, said an increase in the minimum wage to $22 an hour helped improve employee recruitment and retention and created “a better overall experience.” for the client”. However, higher labor costs will contribute to an expected 5% to 7% increase in expenses this year, Rogers said.
