BMO’s purchase of the New York-based firm, whose software supports about two per cent of daily U.S. stock trading, is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the second quarter. (The Logic)

Talking point: BMO didn’t disclose the purchase price, but The Globe and Mail reported the bank was planning to pay about $100 million. That’s the same price TD Bank paid in 2018 for Layer 6, a Toronto-based AI firm. Each of Canada’s large banks is now spending over $3 billion annually on tech. The Clearpool acquisition is BMO’s second recent one, deepening its exposure to U.S equity markets. In September 2018, BMO acquired New York-based KGS-Alpha Capital Markets. Clearpool has over 100 institutional clients, mostly U.S. broker dealers that offer some similar services to BMO. However, BMO will put in place “information barriers” to establish a firewall between Clearpool and itself.