BNP Paribas has agreed to sell its San Francisco-based Bank of the West to Bank of Montreal for $16.3 billion. The Bank of Montreal is more commonly known throughout the United States as BMO Financial Group and will be acquiring the Bank of the West as several European banks have left the U.S. market due to being unable to compete with large U.S. lenders such as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, etc.
BNP has stated that it will use the money gained from the sale to invest more heavily into technological operations through acquisitions, and these acquisitions will likely be within Europe. The Bank of Montreal has high aspirations for this deal as it would allow for the organization to have more than 500 branches and wealth offices with a total of 1.8 billion customers primarily residing within California.
Following the announcement of the deal the Bank of Montreal shares fell a total of 2%. The deal is expected to be finalized by the end of 2022.
Source: Financial Times
