The most significant contri bution to performance came from our Canadian and U.S. personal and business banking operations, where earnings increased 23%, with strong volume growth and an improved productivity ratio of 60%.  Under Frank Techar’ s leadership as the new President and CEO of Harris Bank in the United S tates, we are proceeding apace to become the number-one retail bank in the high-potential Chicago area. Plans are in motion to increase our 14 branches in greater Chicago to about 200 – and we are focusing as never bef ore on serving a wider range of customers’ needs. This is also a priority in Canada, where Rob Pearce has taken charge of retail banking as Presid ent and CEO of the Personal and Commercial Client Group. The rollout in 2002 of a new state-of-the-art technology  platform, which revoluti onizes our ability to provide and sell a full range  of quality products and se rvices, will help us increase sales to existing  customers, as will major in vestments over the past few years to introduce specialized sales staf into branches and to create a stronger sales-and- service culture.  InourPrivateClie ntGroup,netincomerose12%excludingnon- r e c u rri n gi t e m s ,w h i l ea s e tsu n d e rm a n a g e m e n ta n da d m i n i s t ra ti o n increased 14%. The highl ight of the year for this group was continued expansion of The Harris’ w ealth management platform with the announce- ment of four U.S. acquis itions totalling US$676 million. Having made excellent progress in integr ating acquisitions, this group is poised for growth throughout its North Ameri can operations when market conditions improve. In our Investment Ba nking Group, where revenues fell substantially more than expenses du to net securities losses and weaker trading-related activity, earnings improved due to a much lower provision for credit losses. The really encouraging st ory for this group was its success in reducing risk-weighted assets by $2 9 billion over the past four years. With the plans now in place, risk-weighted assets will remain relatively stable over the coming years while our ab ility to increase returns will improve. In 2003, as we continue to implement our growth strategy with enthusiasm andenergy ,everyoneal lacrossthisenterprisewillbefocusedonour  number-one priority: pro ductivity improvement. While protecting cus- tomer-related expenses that are essential to increase sales, and protecting strategic initiatives design ed to promote future growth, we will continue  to streamline functions to achieve greater operational efficiencies. 2 BMO FINANCIAL GROUP ANNUAL REPORT 2002 Solid Group Performance Challenges for the Future A 23% rise in net income (ex- cluding non-recurring items) to $968 million demonstrates our strength in personal and busi- ness banking. At the same time w ei n c r e a s e dm a r k e ts h a r e , total revenue rose 7% and the productivity ratio improved to 60% in this group. Rise in Net Income 23 % CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE TO FELLOW SHAREHOLDERS Reduction in Risk-WeightedGLYPH<CR> Assets  ($ billions) 2002 2001 2000 1999 55.9 68.5 75.3 85.1