Bank of New York Mellon will lay off 3% of its staff due to cost considerations, but still sticks to its digital asset strategy

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Odaily Translator | Nian Yin Si Tang

, original author: Yueqi Yang

Odaily Translator | Nian Yin Si Tang

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. plans to cut about 1,500 jobs this year, and the U.S. lender said costs will be a top consideration in 2023.

The layoffs amounted to about 3% of the company's 51,700 employees as of year-end, according to a person familiar with the matter. The bank reported fourth-quarter revenue of $3.92 billion on Friday, missing analysts' expectations.

Chief Executive Robin Vince said on an earnings call that cost is a big consideration this year. "This will come from further tighter expense controls across the company, a greater focus on profitable new business growth, and saying no to more things when the economy is bad," he noted.

The layoffs will focus on management positions, according to The Wall Street Journal, which earlier reported the layoffs. The bank's workforce totaled 48,400 full-time employees at the end of 2019.

secondary title

"The Longest Bets"

The bank also said it remains committed to its digital asset strategy despite the FTX crash and the turmoil in the crypto market. Vince said that BNY Mellon is committed to continuing to explore digital assets, although it will take a very cautious approach. He also admitted to seeing cryptocurrencies as the bank's "longest-term bet."

"This will continue to be our focus, not on cryptocurrencies but on the broader opportunity that exists in digital assets and distributed ledger technology," Vince said on an earnings call with analysts on Friday. If anything, recent events in the cryptocurrency market have only further highlighted the need for trusted regulated providers in the digital asset space.”Vince said on the call that he does not believe that cryptocurrencies will become a major source of income for banks in the near future. According to him, it is expected that digital assets may be negligible from a revenue perspective for the next five full years. Vince also likened practitioners ignoring the digital asset market to "custodians 50 years ago, sticking to paper and not computers...that wouldn't be us."Last October, the Bank of New York Mellon

Approved by New York financial regulators

, to start receiving the customer's cryptocurrency. The bank will receive bitcoin, ethereum from selected clients and will store the private keys needed to access and transfer those assets, providing the digital currencies with the same bookkeeping services as a fund manager's portfolio of stocks, bonds, commodities and other assets.

The bank said it is the first of eight systemically important U.S. banks to store cryptocurrencies and allow clients to use the same custody platform for their traditional and encrypted assets. It is expected that crypto custody services will be offered to more clients in the future, subject to regulatory approval.

The New York-based bank did not disclose revenue or other figures related to its crypto custody business.In addition to BNY Mellon, US Bancorp and State Street are among the traditional banks that have ventured into the crypto custody space.But regulatory pressure is also looming. In January, the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the FDIC issued a

Joint Statement

, highlighting the main risks of banking organizations related to crypto-assets and the crypto-asset space, and presenting the regulatory approaches of various institutions to this field.