Veteran investment banker William Downe has been promoted to be chief operating officer of Bank of Montreal, making him a potential successor to chief executive officer Tony Comper.

Comper, 60, has not announced a timeline for retirement but observers expect him to step down in about two years, leaving ample time for a successor to be groomed.

Sources say that while Downe is the front-runner, BMO has assembled a roster of alternate contenders for the bank's top job, led by chief financial officer Karen Maidment.

William Downe takes coo title at BMO

Comper announced Thursday that Downe is moving from CEO of BMO Nesbitt Burns to become COO of the parent BMO Financial Group, effective Feb. 1.

Industry watchers say Downe, who has a wealth of U.S. experience, was given the nod because Canada's fourth-largest bank wants to expand its focus on the lucrative business of international brokerage banking.

"It is a signal that the bank is moving, as it ought to move, in the direction of what I would call brokerage banking . . . and away from the old-fashioned Canadian tradition of street-corner retail banking," said Thomas Velk, a banking expert at McGill University in Montreal.

"Brokerage banking is the future of all banking. This guy knows it and understands it, and that's what makes him, in my eyes, the candidate of choice."

BMO's shares (TSX:BMO)fell 93 cents to $68.08 by Thursday's close.

"Broker banks are not nearly as burdened as the old-fashioned bank structure is by regulatory problems," observed Velk. "And it makes them much more competitive internationally."

Downe, 53, has spent 23 years at BMO Financial Group. He joined the bank in 1983 as a credit analyst and rose through management jobs in corporate banking in the United States, becoming executive vice-president of North American corporate banking in 1996.

He won the top job at BMO Nesbitt Burns in 2001 and later took charge of BMO's American operations including the Chicago-based Harris retail bank.

As COO he will report directly to Comper and will be responsible for all of BMO's operating units, the bank said.

"Bill's track record of success, client focus and experience in leading a wide range of our businesses in both Canada and the United States have prepared him to provide strong enterprise-wide leadership in the role of chief operating officer," Comper stated.

Maidment, 47, also reporting to Comper, will also have her title expanded Feb. 1 to chief financial and administrative officer.

She will have responsibilities including finance and financial strategy, mergers and acquisitions, treasury, risk and portfolio management, legal and compliance, communications and investor relations.

"They sent a signal to Karen that they don't want her to go anywhere," commented Jim Fisher, an associate dean of strategic management at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. "From Bill's point of view, he has to demonstrate to the board that he can create an effective team . . . It's definitely probation."

Fisher said probation for potential CEO successors is a new corporate trend and BMO is just the second Canadian bank to embrace the strategy. CIBC chief executive Gerald McCaughey spent almost a year being groomed as president and COO before officially taking the reins from John Hunkin.

"This is something that absolutely wouldn't have been done as much as two years ago," Fisher added. "What this says is that Tony (Comper) is kind of respectful of this need to manage people that is different than what we're used to, and the old idea of the `hero CEO' is in fact a thing of the past."

Also on list of possible successors are Robert Pearce, who heads the bank's retail operations, and Frank Techar who runs the Chicago-based Harris Bankcorp, sources said.