The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Bank of Montreal has hired Caroline Dufaux as chief financial officer of its U.S. division while the lender works to improve the unit's profitability. The Globe's Stefanie Marotta writes that Ms. Dufaux is currently CFO of the bank's capital markets unit. She will join the U.S. division in the midst of BMO's efforts to improve its return-on-equity (ROE), which has been weighed down by the lender's business in that country. Ms. Dufaux fills a vacancy left by Rahul Nalgirkar, who was named BMO's new CFO as Tayfun Tuzun prepares to retire in 2026. She will take on her new role as of Jan. 1. In 2025, BMO's ROE rose to 11.3 per cent from 9.8 per cent the previous year, but still shy of its goal of 15 per cent or more. As part of its plan to boost its profitability, BMO reorganized its U.S. business earlier this year by combining its personal, business, commercial-banking and wealth-management units. Aron Levine from Bank of America Corp. joined the bank to lead the division. The lender sold more than 130 branches in markets where BMO believes it would not be able to grow in a way that would allow it to compete. Planned are 150 new U.S. branches over the next five years.