CES Energy Solutions Corp. has amended and extended its credit facility, raising its total size to about C$750.0 million from C$550.0 million. The agreement is dated November 6, 2026, and the facility matures on November 6, 2031. The Bank of Nova Scotia leads the syndicate. It includes The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal, ATB Financial, National Bank of Canada, Wells Fargo Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, and Business Development Bank of Canada. The deal includes a C$702.0 million revolving facility, a C$20.0 million Canadian operating facility, and a $20.0 million US operating facility. It also has a C$350.0 million accordion feature and drops the Total Net Debt to EBITDA covenant. "The new five-year term locks in current attractive terms," said chief financial officer Anthony Aulicino.

BMO launches AI Agent Assist to accelerate credit card support and refund processing. BMO has launched AI Agent Assist, an internal agentic AI tool designed to streamline credit card transaction inquiries at its Virtual Connect contact centre. For fintech professionals, this represents a shift toward operationalising "human-in-the-loop" AI to drive measurable productivity gains and faster client resolutions in high-volume retail banking environments. What was announced. BMO is introducing AI Agent Assist to its Virtual Connect contact centre to help employees resolve Canadian client inquiries regarding credit card transactions. The tool is designed for internal use, providing team members with AI-enabled transaction matching, policy retrieval, and case preparation. By surfacing relevant data directly to employees, the technology aims to reduce the time spent navigating multiple systems and minimize the need to place clients on hold. The scale of the implementation is significant; BMO's Virtual Connect centre receives over 500,000 calls annually related to credit card transactions, with each call currently taking an average of 12 to 14 minutes to resolve. With the new AI capability, BMO targets a 20-30 per cent reduction in resolution time for eligible inquiries. Furthermore, the bank expects to process approximately 40 per cent of eligible credit refund requests automatically, potentially allowing qualifying clients to receive credits as soon as the same day. The system operates on a "human-in-the-loop" principle, meaning employees remain accountable for reviewing AI-generated information and making final servicing decisions. This work is part of BMO's broader enterprise AI ambition, which includes a goal of generating more than $1 billion in AI-enabled revenue growth, productivity improvements, and operating efficiencies by 2030. The bank is also designing these capabilities for reuse across other business processes and client experiences. The companies involved. Bank of Montreal (BMO) is a major North American financial institution providing a wide range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, and investment banking products. Operating under a "digital-first" strategy, the bank has increasingly focused on translating AI investments into measurable value. Its progress in the sector was recently highlighted in the 2026 Evident AI Index, where BMO received the highest available scores in several Responsible AI categories and was ranked second among 50 global banks for reported AI use-case outcomes. Overall, BMO maintains a position among the world's top 20 banks in the Index. The bank's Virtual Connect contact centre serves as a primary touchpoint for its Canadian client base, handling hundreds of thousands of complex inquiries annually. By integrating agentic AI into this high-volume environment, BMO is positioning itself as a leader in the practical application of AI within the "Big Five" Canadian banking landscape, moving beyond experimental pilots to integrated, employee-facing solutions. What FF News has reported before. FF News has tracked BMO's activity across various financial sectors, including its expansion into specialized investment products. In August 2026, Ascento Capital reported that BMO and REX Shares Launch 3x Leveraged Semiconductor ETNs on Cboe BZX. This launch demonstrated the bank's capability to partner with fintech innovators to bring sophisticated leveraged products to the Cboe BZX Exchange, catering to professional investors seeking targeted exposure to the semiconductor industry. This prior coverage highlights BMO's broader strategy of leveraging technology and partnerships to diversify its product suite and enhance its market presence in both retail and capital markets. What this means. This announcement signals that the "agentic" phase of AI in banking has arrived. While many institutions have focused on client-facing chatbots, BMO's focus on "Agent Assist" targets the more complex, back-end friction that often slows down resolution times. By aiming for a $1 billion efficiency gain by 2030, BMO is putting significant pressure on its peers to move beyond generative AI experiments and deliver hard ROI. The move also raises questions for the wider sector about the long-term role of human staff; while the "human-in-the-loop" model is currently a safety guardrail, the successful automation of 40 per cent of refunds suggests a future where human intervention is reserved only for the most exceptional cases. Featured speakers.

BMO using agentic AI to help credit card clients get faster answers and resolutions. * New AI Agent Assist helps BMO employees provide faster answers to client credit card requests, targeting a reduction in call times of up to 30 per cent. TORONTO, Nov. 6, 2026 /CNW/ - BMO is introducing AI Agent Assist to help clients get faster answers and resolutions when they contact BMO's Virtual Connect contact centre about their credit card transactions. Designed for internal use by employees, this new agentic AI capability brings relevant transaction information and guidance directly to team members, reducing time spent navigating systems and helping deliver a simpler, more consistent experience for BMO clients. Each year, BMO's Virtual Connect contact centre receives more than 500,000 calls from Canadian clients about credit card transactions, with each call currently taking an average of 12-14 minutes to resolve. With AI Agent Assist, BMO aims to reduce the time spent to resolve eligible client inquiries by 20-30 per cent for eligible calls and to process about 40 per cent of eligible credit refund requests automatically. As a result, in the case of qualifying inquiries clients could receive their credit as soon as the same day. AI Agent Assist brings AI-enabled transaction matching, policy retrieval and case preparation directly to employees for review. By bringing together the information and guidance employees need in the moment, the technology helps employees respond with relevant information more quickly, reducing the need to place clients on hold while navigating systems and supports a more consistent client service experience. "We're focused on applying AI where it can deliver meaningful, measurable outcomes for our clients and our business," said Greg Brown, Head of Enterprise AI Transformation and Chief Digital Officer, Personal and Business Banking Canada, BMO. "We're bringing agentic AI to a high-volume client experience to make it faster and simpler, while building reusable capabilities that support the next generation of AI solutions across BMO. This is how we broaden from individual use cases to AI at scale with clear guardrails and our people accountable for every decision. "As AI agents play a growing role in financial services, we're focused on helping clients safely benefit from the technology with the right protections and oversight in place - backstopped by the trust they have in their bank." AI Agent Assist is used by BMO's client service team who are accountable for reviewing AI-generated information and making servicing decisions. BMO designed AI Agent Assist with a 'human-in-the-loop' principle to support and equip its expert client service team while keeping people at the centre of important decisions. The technology brings together relevant information throughout the client servicing process, reducing the need to search across systems and complete manual tasks. Employees remain accountable for reviewing AI-generated information and making appropriate servicing decisions. "When clients call us about a credit card transaction, they want clarity and a quick resolution," said Holly Jackson, Head, Virtual Connect, BMO. "AI Agent Assist gives our employees the information and guidance they need, so they can spend less time moving between systems and more time helping the client. For qualifying requests, that could mean receiving a credit as soon as the same day." Building AI to scale BMO is designing the capabilities behind AI Agent Assist for reuse across the bank, enabling BMO to deploy proven and trusted agentic AI capabilities across other client experiences and business processes. As Canadians increasingly turn to AI to help manage their money and make financial decisions, BMO is building a future where trusted agentic solutions are part of everyday banking experiences. That includes building our own capabilities and creating the conditions to safely enable broader AI experiences that benefit clients, with security, privacy and human oversight at the core. The work supports BMO's broader enterprise AI ambition, its focus on translating AI investments into measurable value for clients and the business, and its goal of generating more than $1 billion in AI-enabled revenue growth, productivity improvements and operating efficiencies by 2030. BMO's AI progress is also reflected in the 2026 Evident AI Index, which evaluated BMO with the highest available scores in several Responsible AI areas and ranked the bank #2 among 50 banks for reported AI use-case outcomes. BMO also ranked among the world's top 20 banks overall in the Index. About BMO Financial Group BMO Financial Group is the eighth largest bank in North America by assets, with total assets of $1.5 trillion as of July 31, 2026. Serving clients for more than 200 years, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, global markets and investment banking products and services across Canada, the United States, and select markets globally. BMO is innovating for business value, by deploying and integrating human, digital and artificial intelligence to personalize client experiences, augment teams, and automate its business responsibly. Driven by its purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, BMO is committed to driving positive change in the world, and making progress for a thriving economy, sustainable future, and stronger communities. SOURCE BMO Financial Group For further information: Media Contact: Jeff Roman, [email protected], (416) 867-3996