Bank of Montreal profit beats on strength in personal banking

Adds fourth-quarter details, compares results with estimates

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Bank of Montreal BMO.TO beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, helped by strength in its domestic personal and commercial banking unit.

Net income rose 6% to C$716 million ($538 million) in the unit, the lender's biggest. Personal and commercial banking net income in the U.S. unit was up 6%.

Net income at its wealth management unit jumped 22%.

However, the company's net income fell nearly 30% to C$1.19 billion, or C$1.78 per share, in the fourth quarter, hit by a restructuring charge of C$357 million related to severance and real estate costs.https://reut.rs/2DI7ge5

Excluding items, BMO earned C$2.43 per share, ahead of analysts' expectations of C$2.41 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

BMO set aside C$253 million for credit losses in the quarter ended Oct. 31, up 45% from a year earlier.

($1 = C$1.33)

(Reporting by C Nivedita in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Maju Samuel)

((C.Nivedita@thomsonreuters.com; within the U.S. +1 646 223 8780, outside the U.S. +91 80 6749 9246;))

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