BNY (BNY) Business Profile

What it does

BNY is a global financial services platforms company headquartered in New York, New York. It provides the infrastructure and services that financial institutions, companies, governments, asset managers and wealthy clients use to hold, move, clear, administer, invest and report on financial assets. As of Dec. 31, 2025, it had $59.3 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $2.2 trillion in assets under management.

Its Securities Services segment includes asset servicing and issuer services. In plain terms, it safekeeps and administers securities and funds for clients, and provides corporate-trust and related services to issuers. Its Market and Wealth Services segment includes Payments, Trade and Clearance and Collateral Management, as well as wealth solutions. These businesses help clients move cash, settle transactions, obtain financing against securities and manage brokerage-related activity. Its Investment and Wealth Management segment manages investments and provides wealth-management services.

The Bank of New York Mellon houses Securities Services, Payments, Trade and Clearance and Collateral Management, plus the bank-advised investment-management business. BNY Mellon, N.A. houses Wealth Management and certain Pershing activities. Most investment-management and Pershing businesses are non-bank subsidiaries.

Management said on the Q2 2026 earnings call that the company is developing infrastructure that links traditional financial markets with digital systems, including real-time payments, tokenized assets, collateral mobility and digital cash.

How it makes money

BNY earns fees for ongoing servicing, administration, investment management, clearing, collateral, payment and wealth-management work. Fees can depend on assets under custody or management, market values, client activity, transaction volumes, new mandates and the mix of services a client uses. It also earns foreign-exchange revenue, net interest income on its balance sheet, and investment and other revenue.

The company reports three principal operating segments: Securities Services; Market and Wealth Services; and Investment and Wealth Management. Securities Services generated $2.8 billion of Q2 2026 revenue, including asset servicing and issuer services. Market and Wealth Services generated $2 billion, including wealth solutions, clearance and collateral management, and payments and trade. Investment and Wealth Management generated $863 million.

BNY said approximately 75.0% of its fees were recurring in Q2 2026. This means a large portion of fee income comes from continuing client relationships rather than one-time transactions, although revenues can still change with asset prices, activity and client flows. Management said on the Q2 2026 earnings call that investment-services fee growth reflected net new business, higher client activity and higher market values.

For the latest reported quarter, total revenue was $5.7 billion in Q2 2026; as of Dec. 31, 2025, assets under custody and/or administration were $59.3 trillion and assets under management were $2.2 trillion. In Q2 2026, net interest income was $1.4 billion, supported by reinvesting securities at higher yields and balance-sheet growth, partly offset by deposit-margin compression.

Customers and how it sells

BNY serves institutional participants across capital markets as well as wealth clients. Its customer base includes asset owners, asset managers, issuers, corporations, governments, financial institutions, brokerages and wealthy individuals. Through its businesses, clients can use custody, fund administration, corporate trust, clearing, collateral management, payments, foreign exchange, investment management and wealth-management services.

The company is organized to sell multiple services to the same client. Management said on the Q2 2026 earnings call that clients buying from three or more lines of business increased by more than 60.0% over the preceding three years. Management also said approximately 10.0% of deals were with clients entirely new to BNY. In Asset Servicing, more than half of clients awarding new business in Q2 also awarded business to at least one other BNY line.

BNY operates internationally. Its main continental-European banking subsidiary, BNY SA/NV, is based in Brussels and has branches in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Wroclaw. Its activities there focus on global custody, asset servicing and collateral management. At Dec. 31, 2025, approximately 60% of employees were based outside the U.S., including approximately 10,100 in EMEA and approximately 18,000 in APAC.

The company also renewed a multiyear Wealth Solutions contract with Cetera in Q2 2026.

Suppliers and costs

BNY is a services and financial-infrastructure business rather than a manufacturer. The available information does not identify key or sole-source suppliers. Its principal cost base includes employee compensation, technology and operating investment, revenue-related expenses, and costs of maintaining regulated banking and financial-services operations.

BNY had 48,100 full-time employees at Dec. 31, 2025. In Q2 2026, expenses were $3.4 billion, up 7% year over year. Management said on the Q2 2026 earnings call that three-quarters of the increase represented revenue-related expenses, while the remainder reflected higher investments and employee salary increases, partly offset by efficiency savings.

The business also carries costs associated with its balance sheet, including funding deposits and investing in securities. Its U.S. bank deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to the extent provided by law, and its bank and trust subsidiaries are subject to bank regulation. In Q2 2026, the company reported a 40% pretax margin.

Competitive position

No individual competing companies are named in the available information. BNY competes across each of its businesses with domestic and international financial-services firms, including providers of custody, corporate trust, clearing, collateral management, credit, brokerage, foreign exchange, derivatives, depositary receipts and cash-management services. Its investment and wealth businesses also compete with investment managers, wealth managers, hedge funds, investment banks, trust banks, brokerages and insurance companies. Technology providers, including financial-services data-processing and financial-technology firms, are competitors as well.

Competition is based on client service, convenience, execution, capital, product breadth, investment performance, technology, pricing, reputation and lending limits. The company states that institutions not subject to comparable regulation and technology-led entrants may affect its competitive position.

Management said on the Q2 2026 earnings call that clients purchasing three or more BNY lines of business increased by more than 60.0% over three years. It also said it held the No. 1 position in conventional debt servicing and the No. 2 position in CLO markets during Q2 2026, while increasing market share in both.

Our reading: BNY’s broad set of linked custody, servicing, clearing, payments and investment capabilities is a meaningful moat because clients can buy several services together; the evidence is the rise in multi-line relationships and cross-selling in Asset Servicing. Its scale in assets under custody and administration is also a meaningful moat in custody and servicing, where clients require operational infrastructure and trust. Technology is a weaker moat source because the company identifies financial-technology firms and data-processing providers as active competitors.

Growth opportunities

BNY’s growth plans center on winning new mandates, expanding the number of services each client uses, increasing activity on its platforms and developing new financial-market infrastructure. Management said on the Q2 2026 earnings call that the commercial model had produced 14 consecutive quarters of year-over-year sales growth, with two consecutive record sales quarters to that point. Average deal size was up by more than 20% year over year, and approximately 10.0% of deals involved clients entirely new to BNY.

The company is pursuing growth in asset servicing, ETFs, alternatives, corporate trust, collateral management, payments and wealth solutions. In Q2 2026, ETF assets under custody and/or administration reached $4.4 trillion, up 35% year over year, while alternatives assets under custody and/or administration grew 17% year over year. Average collateral balances were $8.2 trillion, up 16% year over year.

Management said the company is investing in AI and digital-asset capabilities, and in infrastructure for an always-on financial ecosystem. In Q2, it expanded its Circle relationship to combine institutional digital-asset custody with USDC mint-and-burn capabilities in one operating model. It also introduced 24/7 U.S. dollar book transfers and tripled the number of currencies available for same-day FX wire settlement coverage over the preceding three months.

BNY expects 2026 total revenue excluding notable items to increase 10% to 11% year over year, subject to market conditions. It expects net interest income to rise 12% to 13% and expenses excluding notable items to rise 6% to 7%.

Bottom line

Our reading

Our reading: BNY is principally a financial-market infrastructure and asset-servicing business, supplemented by clearing, payments, collateral, investment-management and wealth activities. Its recurring-fee base, $59.3 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and multi-service client relationships support its operating model, while revenue remains exposed to market values, client activity, interest rates and competitive pricing. Expansion into real-time payments, digital assets and AI adds execution and adoption demands alongside its existing regulated-bank obligations.