TORONTO (Reuters) – Bank of Montreal will begin bringing employees in its investment and corporate banking unit back to offices on Monday, a spokesperson confirmed to Reuters late on Wednesday.
It is the first major Canadian lender to set a concrete return-to-office date following the lifting of COVID restrictions in Ontario, the country’s most populous province and home to its five biggest banks.
The timetable for a return to bank premises will differ by groups, teams and geographies, the spokesperson for Canada’s fourth-biggest bank said by email.
Bloomberg reported the plans on Wednesday.
Most of Canada’s major banks put their return-to-office plans on hold late last year following the resurgence of the Omicron variant.
Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s biggest lender, will also vary its return-to-office plans by business and region, and will continue to allow rapid testing as an alternative to vaccinations, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia said they have not updated their plans.
(Reporting By Nichola Saminather; Editing by Mark Porter)
