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.