TORONTO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Bank of Montreal ( BERZ ) withdrew

from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) on Friday, the website

of the world's top banking sector climate coalitions showed,

making it the first Canadian lender to announce its departure.

BMO's action follow that of U.S. lenders that have been

rushing in recent weeks to leave one of the climate coalitions.

Goldman Sachs ( GS ) broke ranks to announce on Dec. 6 it

was leaving NZBA and was soon followed by Wells Fargo ( WFC ),

Citi, Bank of America ( BAC ), Morgan Stanley ( MS ) and

JPMorgan ( JPM ).

BMO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto)