Canada's domestic banks have always hankered for a more global presence even though their domestic operations tend to yield the biggest profits.
That's the lesson that might be taken from Bank of Montreal's disclosure today that it has credit exposure to some of the most dodgy European
countries including Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
In a note in its first quarter results, BMO shed little light on the nature of the exposure to the so-called PIIGS countries, saying only that it is related to governments and financial institutions and that the potential losses are "considered manageable."
The disclosure comes the same day that the prime minister of Greece warned his country could go bankrupt unless the country acts aggressively to pay
down its debt.