BNY Mellon Plans Digital Assets Unit
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: February 12, 2021
In what has to be a positive sign for the digital assets space, one of the world’s largest custodian banks, BNY Mellon, has announced plans to create a digital assets units to “accelerate the development of solutions and capabilities to help clients address growing and evolving needs related to the growth of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies”.
The cross-functional, cross-business team, which will be led by Mike Demissie, head of Advanced Solutions at BNY Mellon, and it is currently developing a client-facing prototype that is designed to be the industry’s first multi-asset digital custody and administration platform for traditional and digital assets.
“Growing client demand for digital assets, maturity of advanced solutions, and improving regulatory clarity present a tremendous opportunity for us to extend our current service offerings to this emerging field,” says Roman Regelman, CEO of asset servicing and head of digital at BNY Mellon. “Pending further evaluations and approvals, we expect to begin offering these innovative and industry-shaping capabilities later this year.”
Demissie adds, “The Digital Assets unit plans to deliver a secure infrastructure for transferring, safekeeping and issuing digital assets. Consistent with our open-architecture approach, the unit will leverage BNY Mellon’s digital expertise and leading technologies from fintechs and other collaborators to speed up product development and help our clients tap into the best available solutions in the market.”
Meanwhile, Caroline Butler, head of custody at the bank, says, “Enabling the use of digital assets is critical to transforming the future of custody. Building the bridge between the traditional and digital spaces will create a front-to-back ecosystem for innovation. Our digital asset capabilities should help evolve the way the financial industry operates, including custody, collateral management, issuance, investment management and other segments where BNY Mellon is a key service provider.”