by Lannan Nguyen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – America’s oldest bank is getting a new name.
The Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:) announced Tuesday that it was making BNY its new name. The company has also installed block-lettered signs with the three-lettered name at its flagship offices.
Since being founded 240 years ago by Alexander Hamilton, an American founding father immortalized in a Broadway musical, BNY has overseen $48.8 trillion in assets, and acts as a bank, known as a custodian, for other financial institutions. The new name is part of an effort to broaden BNY’s image to include its other businesses, including markets, wealth and investment management.
BNY is the longest continually operating company in New York City and was founded in 1787, even before the U.S. Constitution was signed.
“While we have long been known as reliable and resilient, surviving and succeeding for more than two centuries has also required a relentless 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 boosting efficiency. The executive spent 26 years at Goldman Sachs, where he rose to become its chief risk officer.
BNY’s stock is expected to rise by about 14% in 2024, while other banks’ stocks are up about 10%. Its earnings per share and revenue grew last year.
“BNY today is much broader than just its traditional custody business,” said Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin. “Markets and money services is the largest business segment, it’s the most profitable and it’s the fastest growing… the company has correctly put emphasis on that direction of travel.”
The bank’s rebrand is its first since it was reduced to BNY Mellon 17 years ago. The bank is more popular than ever after decades of mergers and acquisitions led to a trend for brevity on Wall Street that has led to longer names.
BNY also introduced a new teal arrow logo before its all-capital 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 legal name of the bank will remain Bank of New York Mellon Corporation.
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