By Lananh Nguyen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The oldest bank in the United States will get a new name.
Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE is adopting BNY as its new moniker, it announced Tuesday. The company also unveiled all-caps signs with the three-letter name at its main offices.
Since it was founded 240 years ago by Alexander Hamilton, an American founding father further immortalized in a Broadway musical, BNY has grown to oversee $48.8 trillion in assets and serves as a bank for other financial institutions, known as a custodian. The new name is part of an effort to expand BNY's image to encompass its other businesses, including markets, wealth and investment management.
BNY is the longest continuously operating company in New York City and was founded even before the signing of the United States Constitution in 1787.
“While we have long been known as reliable and resilient, existing and thriving for more than two centuries has also required a continued focus on innovation,” CEO Robin Vince wrote in a memo to employees Tuesday.
Since taking the helm in March 2022, Vince has brought in new leadership and focused on growth in areas such as real-time payments and artificial intelligence, while driving efficiency. The executive spent 26 years at Goldman Sachs, where he rose to become its chief risk officer.
BNY stock is up about 14% in 2024, compared to 10% for bank stocks overall. Its earnings per share and revenue increased last year.
“Today BNY is broader” than its traditional custody business, said Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin. “Market and wealth services are the largest business segment, it is the most profitable and the fastest growing… the company has rightly emphasized that direction of travel.”
The bank's rebrand was its first since it was downsized to BNY Mellon 17 years ago. It continues a trend toward brevity on Wall Street after decades of mergers and acquisitions that led to ever-longer names.
BNY also introduced a new teal arrow logo to precede its all-caps name, which is already a widely used abbreviation in financial circles. Some of its divisions will also be renamed: BNY Investments, BNY Wealth and BNY Pershing.
The bank's legal name will remain The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation.
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