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Bank of Montreal is one of the largest banks of Canada. It has chosen its Irish unit as its post-Brexit European hub.

Standard and Poor’s revealed its latest rating of the division of the bank last Wednesday. It said that Bank of Montreal Ireland (BMI) will be “instrumental to the group’s strategic operations in Europe.”

As part of the contingency plans of the bank, the Irish unit will be utilised to grant the group the required “passporting” rights in order to provide banking services across the European Union.

It will also give it access to funding of the European Central Bank.

The rating agency said that the “main purpose” of the Bank of Montreal Ireland “is to serve the group’s clients.”

Thus, it is not expecting that the unit’s share of the global revenues of the group will substantially expand more than the “less than 1%” it contributed in 2017.

In its summary, S&P stated: “We expect BMI to continue to expand its existing set of product offerings across debt and equity capital markets, structured products, and corporate banking to new and existing BMO clients in Europe.”

Bank of Montreal is considered as one of the traditional “big five” banks of Canada — and one of the largest banks across the globe.

According to EY, a leading consultancy company, Dublin has risen as the top choice for companies looking to shore up their European operations post-Brexit.

Last Wednesday, EY warned that assets that are worth approximately £1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) and more than 7,000 positions are believed to have been shifted out of London as part of the contingency planning that are related to Brexit.

Bank of America and Barclays are two companies that have also chosen Dublin as their new European hubs.