Former BMO colleagues join him in the role
After more than a decade leading investment strategy at BMO Capital Markets, Brian Belski has launched his own firm, Humilis Investment Strategies, a Naples, Fla.-based advisory business aimed at serving institutional clients across the US and Canada.
The move follows his October 28 departure from BMO and what he described as a long-planned transition to concentrate on portfolio advisory work.
BMO confirmed Belski’s exit in an internal memo, saying the firm had withdrawn investment strategy and portfolio coverage associated with his team, in line with industry practice.
Belski, 59, had served as chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets since April 2012. He did not comment publicly on the reasons for his departure, and a company spokesperson declined to elaborate.
“This is 100 per cent something that I wanted to do for a while,” Belski told The Globe and Mail. “We hope to be able to provide much of what we’ve done in the past with respect to market commentary and providing portfolio advice.”
Joining him at Humilis are former BMO colleagues Nicholas Roccanova, who previously led US equity strategy; Sooyun Hong, a portfolio strategist; and Ryan Edwards, a financial writer. All three were part of Belski’s strategy group at BMO.
Belski said he is fully funding Humilis himself. The firm will not hold assets under management but will instead provide advisory services to institutional clients in both countries. He said he is open to doing advisory work for BMO in the future.
“My jobs at BMO were the head of U.S. strategy, the head of Canadian strategy, and the head of portfolio strategy,” Belski added. “It takes a toll on your life, jumping around on airplanes and trying to keep all these balls in the air. I’m really excited about having one ball in the air, and that’s doing portfolio advisory work and overseeing equity portfolios.”
Before joining BMO, Belski worked as chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co. and as chief US sector strategist at Merrill Lynch.
Known for his consistent bullish outlook on US equities, Belski has maintained that the market remains in a 25-year secular bull cycle that began in 2009. His most recent forecast projects the S&P 500 Index will reach 7,000 by year-end — one of the most optimistic among analysts tracked by Bloomberg — with the index currently trading about 2% below that level.
In recent comments, Belski said he expects “a bit of a pause” in market gains and noted that the Toronto Stock Exchange may trail US benchmarks after recent strong performance linked to higher gold prices. He advised investors to take profits in gold-related stocks and focus on diversified US companies, citing financials and naming Lululemon and Aritzia as examples.
Belski has lived in Naples, Fla. since 2021 but continues to spend several months each year in Minnesota, where he is originally from.
His departure comes as several senior market strategists have also left major financial institutions over the past two years, including those from Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, UBS, and JPMorgan Chase.
