We may collect Personal Information or other data when you use our Services, including when you apply to open an account online, fill out a contact form, log in online, use the mobile applications, receive our digital communications or schedule an appointment. Depending on the Services you are using, data may or may not be personally identifiable. Personal Information we collect is stored as long as required by applicable law or regulation, which may be seven years or longer after you have ceased to be a BMO customer. Data that we may collect includes:
- Transactional Information about your use of our products and services.
- Information on a Digital Account Opening Form - If you provide your Personal Information in an online form, but don’t complete the application, with notice to you, we may retain the Personal Information to contact you regarding your application.
- Information about or on your Device:
- Location information about your device’s approximate physical location for purposes such as validating your identity, the prevention, suppression or detection of crime, and to enhance the functionality of a service, for example locating a nearby BMO branch. Our ability to access location information is controlled by your device. Please refer to the user guide and settings for your device regarding how to allow, block, or limit the collection of location information. If you choose not to provide location information, some Services may not operate effectively.
- Information about your operating system, browser, IP address, MAC address or other device identifier, geolocation, security status and other similar device information in order to improve your experience, and/or to protect against fraud and manage risk.
- Information about how you use your device while using BMO applications, including system settings, call status, a list of other installed apps, device orientation, certain key or tap events, network and device connections, and clipboard events.
- Your contact list information to facilitate digital payments. You can turn this access on or off.
- Photographs or Videos when selected by you to complete certain types of transactions or services. Images and videos are collected from your device’s storage, camera or photo applications, and are used to enable the delivery of mobile banking products and services, including mobile deposits, user authentication, and/or product feedback. They are shared with BMO service providers where necessary to deliver the requested products and services. To prevent the collection of images or videos, you may choose not to use those features or services that require live photos or image upload, none of which are required to bank with BMO.
- Website Use Information such as browsing behavior on BMO websites, links and locations you select, form data and downloads, as well as other data gathered from the use of web tools (for example, Cookies, Pixel Tags and Web Beacons) to better understand your interests and needs so that we can serve you better. You may have the ability to limit this collection of data either through your browser settings or by managing your preferences on BMO websites. Please see Opting out of online behavioural advertising section below on other information on how to opt-out of online behavioural advertising.
- Other Information such as feedback you may provide to us, answers to surveys and questionnaires, and use of online tools and calculators.
We may use and disclose your Personal Information that is collected through our Services in accordance with applicable law and our Privacy Codes to:
- Verify your identity;
- Ensure we have accurate information about you;
- Understand your financial needs (including your eligibility for products and services you requested or accepted or were pre-approved for);
- To manage our relationship;
- Protect against fraud and manage other risks;
- Communicate with you regarding products and services that may be of interest;
- Understand our customers, including through analytics, and to develop and tailor our products and services;
- Comply with legal or regulatory requirements, or as permitted by law; and
- Respond to questions you may have.
We and/or our service providers may use various tools, such as Cookies, Pixel Tags, Web Beacons, Software Development Kits (SDKs) and device IDsidentifications on our websites, mobile applications, and in our emails and advertisements for security and fraud prevention, analytics, personalization and to provide you with relevant marketing. These tools help us capture user activity for analysis to better understand use and effectiveness of the websites, ads, and emails; show relevant information; enhance user experience; and identify potentially compromised devices or accounts.
Cookies are a string of data used to help remember information about website visitors, sent between a server and a web browser to, for example, help facilitate the use of a website (for example, by remembering a user’s preferences or language) and to help understand how a website is being used and in our emails to monitor user activity. Cookies are a common technology and most web browsers automatically accept cookies by default. If you decide that you do not wish to accept cookies, refer to your browser’s settings or online help for further instruction and information on setting and clearing cookie preferences. Because cookies are generally browser-specific, your choices will need to be applied to each web browser you use. If you would like to use our Services you will be required to accept these cookies to maintain session integrity and enhanced security.
The cookies and other similar technologies that we use on our websites can be categorized into the following groups:
- Strictly necessary cookies and other technologies are essential in order to enable you to move around a website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies, certain services you may have asked for cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the Internet.
- Performance cookies and other technologies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they receive error messages from web pages. These cookies do not collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is anonymous and is only used to improve how a website works.
- Functionality cookies and other technologies allow a website to remember choices you make (such as your username, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, font and other preferences on web pages that you can customize. They may also be used to provide services you have requested, such as watching a video. The information these cookies collect may not always be anonymous and by using our websites, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.
- Marketing and Advertising cookies and other technologies allow us and our partners to provide you personalized, interest-based advertising, which could include geolocated advertising.
Pixels: Our emails may contain a single, campaign-unique “web beacon pixel” to tell us whether our emails have been opened and, combined with other technology, verify any selection on the links within our email(s). We may use this information for determining which of our emails are more interesting to you and to query whether users who do not open our emails wish to continue receiving them. The pixel is deleted when you delete the email. If you do not wish the pixel to be downloaded to your device, please select to receive emails from us in plain text rather than H T M L, choose not to select links that we send you, or unsubscribe from the receipt of our emails. Pixel-related information may be connected to your personal identity.
BMO Digital Banking Authentication Processes capture and store your device information as well as information you provide in order to confirm your identity each time you visit our secure websites. When you apply for or purchase a new product online, register for a secure online service or activate an existing product, the application you complete may include an online authentication process. The information that you provide in your application may be compared against the information contained in your consumer credit report to validate your identity and authenticate you as the customer.
We and/or our service providers may use data collected about you over time across multiple websites or other sources to present targeted ads to you. This data may be collected on our websites and platforms, or the websites and platforms of others. This may include information collected on apps. We and/or our service providers also use this data to help manage and optimize our Services and communications to you. Ads may be for products or services we think are relevant based on your browsing habits, online activities, and/or other information. These ads may be about our products and services, or other companies’ products and services. Interest-based advertising tools do not identify you personally, but are associated with the device being used, such as a computer, smartphone, or tablet device, and your internet activity, in order to serve these ads.
BMO works with third-party advertising networks to distribute our advertisements on other websites and mobile applications where we have paid to advertise. You may be able to control these advertisements through the settings on third-party platforms. Our ads may also be served in emails. These advertisements may use tracking technologies to capture certain data, such as your I P address, usage information, or your responsiveness to our advertisements. To stop certain online advertising by BMO, please refer to the “Opting out of Online Behavioral Advertising” section, below.
Third parties may collect certain information on BMO websites or other sites where BMO advertises. These third parties might link your name or email address to other information they collect from certain third party websites you may visit. We permit certain third-party partners to collect non-personally identifiable information in order to drive a more tailored off-BMO experience as well as to track the efficiency of said paid partnership. Please note that BMO does not have control over third party partner data collection policies, nor does BMO have any visibility to the individual’s data that is collected. Even when opting out of receiving online ads from BMO or email communications directly from BMO, you may still see advertising in particular environments regardless of the exclusion measures we at BMO can control.
Certain BMO ads on third-party websites may display an “Advertising Options” icon that you can select to learn about your choices. This icon will only appear on certain platforms. You should always review the privacy policy on any third-party site you visit.
BMO honors Do Not Track opt-out preferences that you make to participating third party advertising networks that we hire to perform advertising on our behalf. You can learn more about limiting the amount of online and mobile advertising you receive by visiting youradchoices.com (U.S.) or youradchoices.ca (Canada), or selecting the “AdChoices” icon on an ad presented to you. You can also learn more about the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) self-regulatory program for Online Behaviourial Advertising as BMO provides links to their consumer tool with certain ads. The DAA’s Principles are intended to provide consumers with transparency about the collection and use of data for online behavioral advertising and to promote the consumer’s choice in managing its scope.
Additionally, you may be able to limit ad tracking on your web browser or mobile apps by adjusting the ad settings on the specific browser or social media/advertising platform (e.g., Google, Adobe, Facebook).
You may still receive online advertisements from us even if you opt-out in any of the ways described above, but they will not be customized based on your choices or behaviour. If you block or reject cookies, not all of the tracking described here will stop because choices you make are browser and device specific. You will need to apply your opt-out preferences to each browser you use. If you delete or clear your browser’s cookies, you will need to opt-out again.
Voluntary Participation: From time to time, you may choose to enter your information in order to participate in online surveys, contests, sweepstakes or other activities that we sponsor. We use this information for a variety of reasons, such as measuring the performance of the website, or identifying products and services that might interest you. All information is used in accordance with the purposes outlined in this Policy and the terms of the activity, if applicable. Do not participate in these voluntary activities if you do not want your information used for these purposes.
Email Communications: If you prefer not to receive email communications from us, you can unsubscribe by selecting the “Unsubscribe” button provided in the promotional emails you receive from us. Please allow up to 10 business days for us to process your request. However, if you unsubscribe, we may still send you email notifications that are legally required (for example, a notice about an upcoming change affecting your account) or reply to specific email requests about your accounts and services.
To manage your email preferences, please visit our Canada Subscription Centre. For the U.S., you can use the US Subscription Center to manage your notification preferences for text messages and call our customer care team to help manage email opt-outs/unsubscribe.
Other Marketing Preferences: If you have any questions about how your personal information is used here at BMO or want to manage any additional Marketing preference opt-outs, please contact us by calling our customer care team or visiting one of our branch locations.
Third Party Links
Our websites may contain links to other sites that we do not own or operate. Also, links to our websites may be featured on third party websites on which we advertise, or in instances that we have not endorsed. We do not manage, and we are not responsible for, the digital marketing and cookie practices of third parties, for example, third party websites linked to/from BMO digital channels. The linked websites have separate and independent privacy statements, notices and terms of use, which we recommend you read carefully.
Contact Us
The branch, office or channel where you interact can answer any questions you may have. If your concerns are not resolved, please involve the Manager/Supervisor. Alternatively, contact us at: