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the worst performing among Canada’s Big Five publicly traded banks during that time.

But the crisis also gave Downe an opportunity to show his mettle and make an impression on his peers.

Gord Nixon, chief executive of the Royal Bank of Canada from 2001 to 2014, says it was during this economic tumult that Downe “really stepped to the fore.” At one point, the heads of all of Canada’s big banks would meet as often as daily with the Department of Finance and the Bank of Canada, and Downe provided a key perspective, Nixon says.

“He was very attuned to what was happening in the United States because of his role on the Fed board, and his history in the United States,” Nixon says in an interview. “And so, during that period of time, I would say that Bill really showed some good leadership for the country, as well as for his institution.”

By June 2010, BMO had rebounded to become the best-performing Canadian bank stock and was posting record second-quarter profits.

In December of that year, as some of BMO’s peers were still treading cautiously in the wake of the crisis, Downe announced the bank’s plans to buy Wisconsin-based lender Marshall & Ilsley Corp. for US$4.1-billion.

It was the first blockbuster deal for a Canadian bank post-crisis, and BMO’s big- gest acquisition since the 1980s.

Analysts at the time were generally skeptical of the deal, but it proved to be a “key decision milestone” for Downe, and gave BMO much-needed scale in the U.S., says Meny Grauman, an analyst with Cormark Securities.

That purchase allowed BMO to jump-start its U.S. operations, which had stagnated relative to its peers despite its purchase of Chicago-based Harris Bank in 1984.

“The timing of the deal proved to be very prescient, and so, all around that has been a home run,” Grauman says. “You can call that a transformational deal for BMO in the U.S., shortly after the financial crisis, which took a little bit of courage. Hindsight makes it an easier decision, but at the time, there were some question marks.”

The change at BMO under Downe is borne out by the numbers. When he took the top job on March 1, 2007, its market capitalization was about $30 billion. Now, it is more than double that, closing in on $63 billion.

“Bill was always a fierce competitor, as was his institution,” says Nixon, who describes his contemporary as smart and level-headed.

“But at the same time, he became a good friend, and someone that as I say I developed a lot of respect and