BMO Private Investment Counsel

Day-to-day portfolio construction is handled by dedicated discretionary portfolio managers within the Private Investment Counsel unit, who report up through BMO Wealth Management under Deland Kamanga. The investment committee and product-sourcing functions draw on BMO Global Asset Management's institutional platform for private-asset mandates. Individual client portfolios are manager-directed, meaning the advisor selects securities and allocations rather than executing client instructions on a trade-by-trade basis.

The firm accesses private credit, real estate, and infrastructure almost exclusively through BMO Global Asset Management's proprietary funds. BMO operates its own middle-market direct lending programs, real estate investment trusts, and infrastructure equity partnerships. Because the counsel sits inside a regulated bank, it does not act as a gatekeeper to third-party private-asset GPs in the manner of an independent family office or multi-family office.

No. It is a discretionary wealth-management division of BMO Financial Group, a publicly traded Canadian Schedule I bank. While it serves ultra-high-net-worth families with services resembling a family office—including tax planning, estate advisory, and multi-asset portfolio management—it operates under bank regulatory capital requirements and fiduciary standards that differ from those of a standalone single or multi-family office.

The two units are legally separate but operationally coordinated. A client of the Private Investment Counsel who is also a business owner may receive credit facilities or M&A advisory from BMO Capital Markets. The Private Investment Counsel portfolio managers can access BMO Global Asset Management products but do not receive trading instructions from the capital-markets desk, maintaining a compliance wall that separates advisory from principal activity.

The Private Investment Counsel does not publicly advertise a fund-of-funds private-equity allocation program for its discretionary clients. Its private-asset exposure comes through BMO's own pooled products—direct lending funds, property trusts, and infrastructure vehicles—rather than through commitments to third-party buyout or venture funds. Clients seeking exposure to external GPs would need to hold those investments outside their discretionary mandate.

The client base is predominantly Canadian, with a growing US presence following BMO's 2023 acquisition of Bank of the West's wealth-management operations. Investment exposure leans heavily toward Canadian and US public markets, Canadian private credit and real estate, and OECD infrastructure assets sourced through BMO's institutional platform.

BMO Private Investment Counsel offers philanthropic advisory services through BMO Trust Company and the BMO Charitable Giving Program. Clients can establish donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, and private foundations administered by BMO's fiduciary services group. The philanthropic assets are custodially segregated from the bank's general account.