Beneficiary Designation
When you regularly review your beneficiary designations, you can feel confident that your benefit payouts will be distributed as you intended.
Update your designation
Always review your beneficiary designations after any major life event. You can update your beneficiary at any time. Here’s how:
- Life insurance: Go to Workday and click My Benefits & Retirement application. Select your network status (on or off the BMO network). Click Review your beneficiaries-Life and Accident tile.
- 401(k) Plan: Login to your 401(k) Plan account online:
- Inside BMO network: Go to Workday, click Pay application. Under External Links, click 401(k) (On BMO Network)
- Outside BMO network: Go to Workday, click More Tools application, then HR Intranet. Under the Benefits tab, click Retirement, then U.S. Retirement Savings Program. From the menu on the right, click Login to 401(k)
- Empower Online: Login to Empower directly using your username and password.
- Non-Qualified Savings Plan (NQSP): Your beneficiary is the same as your 401(k) Plan beneficiary, unless you make an alternate designation. Review/update by following the 401(k) Plan instructions above.
- Employee Share Purchase Plan: Your shares (and any cash) will become the property of your estate. The executor of your estate should report the death to the Computershare service center at
1-800-545-7996 . - BMO U.S. Pension Plan: Login to your Pension account online:
- Inside BMO network: Go to Workday, click My Benefits & Retirement application. Click Employees in Canada and U.S, then Pension
- Outside BMO network: Login to Workday, click My Benefits & Retirement application. Click Employees in Canada and U.S. (login with your myBenefits & Retirement user ID and password), then click Pension
If you don’t designate a beneficiary, the plans have default rules that determine to whom benefits would be paid. Refer to the Summary Plan Descriptions for further details.
Update your designation
Always review your beneficiary designations after any major life event. You can update your beneficiary at any time. Here’s how:
- Life insurance: Go to Workday and click My Benefits & Retirement application. Select your network status (on or off the BMO network). Click Review your beneficiaries-Life and Accident tile.
- 401(k) Plan: Login to your 401(k) Plan account online:
- Inside BMO network: Go to Workday, click Pay application. Under External Links, click 401(k) (On BMO Network)
- Outside BMO network: Go to Workday, click More Tools application, then HR Intranet. Under the Benefits tab, click Retirement, then U.S. Retirement Savings Program. From the menu on the right, click Login to 401(k)
- Non-Qualified Savings Plan (NQSP): Your beneficiary is the same as your 401(k) Plan beneficiary, unless you make an alternate designation. Review/update by following the 401(k) Plan instructions above.
- Employee Share Purchase Plan: Your shares (and any cash) will become the property of your estate. The executor of your estate should report the death to the Computershare service center at
1-800-545-7996 . - BMO U.S. Pension Plan: Login to your Pension account online:
- Inside BMO network: Go to Workday, click My Benefits & Retirement application. Click Employees in Canada and U.S, then Pension
- Outside BMO network: Login to Workday, click My Benefits & Retirement application. Click Employees in Canada and U.S. (login with your myBenefits & Retirement user ID and password), then click Pension
If you don’t designate a beneficiary, the plans have default rules that determine to whom benefits would be paid. Refer to the Summary Plan Descriptions for further details.
A beneficiary is a person, trust or an estate that will receive payouts from your life insurance, retirement accounts and other plans upon your death.
Useful beneficiary information
If you designated a 401(k) beneficiary before 2021 by submitting a paper form to the HRC, your designation remains in force. You cannot view any prior designations you made via a paper form online. Instead, contact the HRC or open an e-service ticket in Workday. To ensure the accuracy of your 401(k) beneficiary designation, update your information online.
To report a death, please contact Empower at 1-844-SAV-401K (1-844-728-4015).