BNY Mellon has opened its first wealth management office in the Cayman Islands in an effort to expand the firm’s global reach.
For BNY Mellon’s International Wealth Management Group, which for the past 30 years has served international clients through a local agent in the Cayman Islands, the new Cayman office is part of the company’s expansion strategy, said Peter Moertl, head of BNY Mellon’s IWM group.
“As BNY Mellon strengthens its focus on global markets, we embarked on a strategic reorganisation of our international operations, established our presence in Toronto, and are further expanding with our new office in the Cayman Islands,” Mr. Moertl said. “We currently serve a sizable number of family offices and ultra high-net-worth individuals with complex, transnational needs that can be served by our Cayman location.”
BNY Mellon’s wealth management group maintains offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Toronto and the Cayman Islands with a focus on wealth and investment planning, trust and estate planning and private banking.
The Cayman office will be headed by Patrizia Bruzio, vice president for International Wealth Management Wealth Advisory Services and general manager and director of the BNY Mellon Trust Company (Cayman) Ltd. She said another reason for the launch of the Cayman office was the growth of the IWM group.
“Our business just reached a critical mass where it made sense to have our own people on the ground and have our own physical presence,” Ms Bruzio said.
All clients of BNY Mellon Trust Company make use of Cayman structures like Cayman trusts or companies.
In addition to the suite of the BNY Mellon financial services, the Cayman office is mainly responsible for the fiduciary work. “So if somebody wants a Cayman trust or a Cayman company, it is run and administrated out of this office,” Ms Bruzio said. “Most of our clients also use our investment management services under the wealth management umbrella.”
These clients also view the new office favourably.
“They like to see that we have real substance here,” said Myriam Soto, managing director with BNY Mellon IWM group, who is charged with enhancing the Cayman Trust Company and other international trust opportunities.
Ms Soto said she thinks the Cayman office of currently three staff is poised to grow in the future.
“Cayman is a key piece of our expansion plans globally,” she said. “For example, one of the things we are looking at is a New Zealand trust company and most likely at the beginning Cayman would be the administrative staff behind that trust company.”
Currently the group’s wealth management clients are evenly distributed across the regions of Latin America; Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Asia/Pacific, she said.
At the office opening ceremony at Camana Bay on Wednesday, 18 January, Minister of Labour Rolston Anglin thanked BNY Mellon for showing confidence in the Cayman Islands and continuing to invest locally.
Related Videos
