BMO hires UBS banker to lead US M&A team, memo shows 

By Nivedita Balu

TORONTO, May 29 (Reuters) – BMO Financial has hired David Descoteaux from UBS to head its U.S. M&A team for capital markets and commercial banking, according to a memo seen by Reuters, finalizing a months-long search to fill the role as the Canadian lender combined teams.

Descoteaux will take charge on June 1 and will report to Carrie Cook, global head of investment & corporate banking, and Tony Sciarrino, head of U.S. commercial bank at BMO, the memo said. 

Under the new structure, Cameron Hewes, the head of the middle market M&A team, will report to Descoteaux and work closely with Sarfraz Visram, the head of Canadian M&A, on cross-border and North American deals.

Descoteaux joins BMO from UBS, where he spent nine years covering deals in North and South America across sectors including technology, media and telecom and fintech. Prior to UBS, he spent 14 years at Lazard. At UBS, 70% of transactions that Descoteaux carried out involved private equity sponsors, the memo noted. 

The capital market segment has been a boon for Canadian banks in recent quarters as loan growth has weakened amid tariff-related uncertainty, benefiting from strong fee and advisory income as M&A activity has sharply rebounded  in 2025 and so far this year.

BMO declined to comment.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Andrea Ricci)