BNY Mellon names new Asia admin head

Daniel Smith, one of BNY Mellon's most senior US executives, will move to Hong Kong in August as Asia-Pacific chief administrative officer (CAO) and report to Chris Sturdy, BNY Mellon's Asia-Pacific chairman.

Smith replaces Lee Stephens, who relocated to the US to a senior business development role in BNY Mellon's Washington, DC office earlier this year. He joined the firm in 1987 and has held several senior management positions in the US, the most recent being CAO of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing. He is also a member of BNY Mellon's operating committee.

To date, Smith has been living in Boston working with co-chief executives Jim Palermo and Tim Keaney. Paul Adamo, previously chief of staff to Keaney and Palermo, is the new global asset servicing CAO in Boston.

In his new role, Smith will help drive the development and build-out of the region's infrastructure to support the company's clients and growth across Asia-Pacific.

Sturdy says: "Today about a third of our profitability and people are outside of the US in regions with excellent growth prospects. We are expanding ambitiously but methodically across Asia in both of our core businesses, asset management and securities servicing."

"Over the longer term," he adds, "we expect Asia to be a much larger percentage of our bottom line, as the region is a key engine of growth for our company."

Meanwhile, BNY Mellon recently announced several initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. The firm received a discretionary investment management (DIM) licence for its asset-management business in Korea last week, meaning it can contract for DIM services with local financial institutions and professional investors.

And on Monday, BNY Mellon reported an approval for a branch licence in Beijing, while it received its first banking licence in Sydney and Melbourne last year.

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing is the group's global custody and fund administration business, with $22.4 trillion in assets under administration.