Bank of Montreal’s first-quarter earnings tumbled 27% as it took capital market-related writedowns of $548 million before tax and said it will not meet its 2008 goals for earnings growth.

“Where we fell short, I as CEO, take responsibility,” BMO president and CEO Bill Downe told shareholders at the bank’s annual meeting today in Quebec City.

BMO today reported earnings of $255 million, or 47¢ a share, for the quarter ending January 31. That compares with net income of $348 million, or 67¢ a share, in the same period a year earlier.

The quarterly charges included losses on positions related to bond insurer ACA Financial Guarantee Corp., trading and structured credit-related positions, preferred shares, and various writedowns on asset-backed commercial paper and structured finance vehicles.

“Global markets have been significantly disrupted by the re-pricing of credit risk in the last six months,” said Downe. “BMO is in a number of important businesses directly affected by these global events.”

Excluding the significant items, which were $362 million after tax, the bank said net income was $617 million or $1.19 per share.

“In light of market changes, it’s now clear that our positions grew beyond what was in line for our risk tolerance and strategic direction,” said Downe. “We’ve taken action and we are making permanent changes to address this,” Downe added.

Included in these are a few management changes that were announced in February. Former interim CFO Tom Flynn was appointed as chief risk officer, replacing the retiring Robert McGlashan. As well, Tom Milroy succeeded Yvan Bourdeau as CEO of BMO Capital Markets.

The bank also said today it won’t be able to meet its 10-15% earnings growth target for 2008, and that conditions were “particularly difficult” in some of its capital markets businesses.

The BMO Capital Markets group saw a net loss of $34 million, compared with a net loss of $20 million a year ago, according to today’s release.

The bank said net income in its personal & commercial Canada segment was $302 million, up $5 million, or 1.7%, from a year ago.

Net income in the P&C U.S. segment was US$26 million, up US$1 million, or 5.2%, from a year ago.

Net income in the private client group was $98 million, up $7 million, or 7.6%, from a year ago.

Also today, the bank bumped its quarterly dividend by 2¢ from a year ago, to 70¢ per share, which is unchanged from the fourth quarter.