One of the wealth management industry’s largest custodians no longer commands its own business line at BNY, a shift for a brand founded by the son of a World War I hero.
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In its April 16 earnings statement for the first quarter, megabank BNY listed results for “Wealth Solutions (formerly Pershing)” in its Market and Wealth Services Business segment. This followed BNY’s January announcement appointing Global Head of Markets Adam Vos as global head of wealth solutions, overseeing Pershing and BNY Archer Managed Account Solutions. As part of the move, the megabank reassigned BNY Pershing Global Head Jim Crowley to executive vice chair of BNY. In the process of the restructuring, BNY combined its managed accounts business, previously in its Asset Servicing unit within the Securities Services Business segment, with Pershing in the Market and Wealth Services segment.
But it wasn’t clear at the time of the leadership change that BNY would alter its treatment of the Pershing brand, which predates by many years the megabank’s 2003 acquisition of the custodian and investment technology firm. Francis Warren Pershing, son of U.S. Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing, founded the firm 88 years ago. Today, it has more than $3 trillion in assets under custody or supervision across more than 1,000 registered investment advisory firms, brokerages and other wealth management clients in 30 countries, according to Pershing’s website, which on the day of BNY’s earnings, referenced “BNY Pershing/Wealth Solutions strength and stability” on its “About” page.
On the company’s earnings call with analysts, BNY Chief Financial Officer Dermot McDonogh fielded a question from an analyst who referred to the custodian as, “I guess, the artist formerly known as Pershing.” McDonogh joked that the name of Wealth Solutions “will be as good as the artist formerly known as Pershing” moving forward. The asset flow into the newly combined unit displayed “a relatively clean quarter with lots of volume,” McDonogh said, noting that the days of business de-conversions from Pershing due to JPMorgan Chase’s acquisition of First Republic are over.
“With the macro uncertainty, we did see a lot more volume as clients were re-hedging and rebalancing their portfolios,” McDonogh said. “We really kind of feel that Archer, sitting in wealth solutions, will be able to drive more capabilities and more product innovation for our clients. So we feel really good about the outlook and what Archer can do in the Wealth Solutions space.”
The company rejected the notion that it had undertaken any rebranding of Pershing itself or that it buried its name within BNY’s structure, which includes many subsidiaries that have their own distinct brands.
“In January, we announced the creation of Wealth Solutions, a business line combining Managed Accounts Solutions provided under the BNY Archer brand and the solutions provided under the BNY Pershing brand,” a BNY spokesperson said in an email. “This combination further strengthens our capabilities to serve wealth advisors by adding Archer’s market leading distribution and managed accounts expertise to deliver fully integrated, end-to-end solutions across the entire wealth ecosystem. The reference in our earnings materials to Wealth Solutions reflects this expanded scope for financial reporting purposes.”
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To see the main industry takeaways from the first quarter of 2026 for Wealth Solutions (formerly Pershing) and BNY’s Investment and Wealth Management segment, scroll down the page. Also, find analysis of the firm’s results in the first, second, third and fourth quarters of last year.
Trump accounts business
Earlier this month, the Treasury Department selected BNY to be the “financial agent” of new investment accounts launching July 4 with a $1,000 federal contribution to eligible newborn children. In a collaboration with digital investment firm Robinhood, BNY will “manage the national infrastructure for the program,” according to the company’s press release.
“We are honored to be selected as [the] financial agent for Trump Accounts. In collaboration with Robinhood, we are helping to expand access to financial opportunity for all Americans,” BNY CEO Robin Vince said in a statement. “BNY has been part of the fabric of the U.S. financial system since our country’s founding, and through this landmark initiative, will help more Americans invest in our economy, strengthen U.S. capital markets and give more children a foundation for long-term financial security.”
Wealth Solutions (formerly Pershing) assets under custody or administration
Asset appreciation and $22 billion in net new assets pushed up the custodian’s assets under custody or administration by 14% year over year to $3.3 trillion in the first quarter. The inflow of assets doubled from the same time a year ago, and average active clearing accounts ticked up 2% to 8.6 million.
The company noted that those figures referred to the combined holdings of the unit previously known as Pershing and the managed accounts business, but the vast majority of the assets stemmed from the custodian. At the end of 2025, Pershing had $3 trillion in assets under custody or supervision. The company has now revised that number to $3.3 trillion under the combination of Pershing and the managed accounts business, and the numbers for the net new assets flowing into the unit remained identical to Pershing’s prior standalone figures.
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Wealth management client assets
Client assets at BNY’s direct wealth management business increased 4% year over year to $339 billion in the first quarter.
Wealth Solutions (formerly Pershing) revenue
Higher net interest income, asset appreciation and client activity drove up the combined unit’s topline in the first quarter. Revenue climbed 7% from the year-ago period to $783 million.
The company doesn’t break out specific profit figures for the custodian unit. But the whole Market and Wealth segment generated pretax income of $961 million on revenue of $1.89 billion for a margin of 51%. Revenue rose 11%, profit surged 18% and margin grew by 3 percentage points.
Investment and Wealth Management profit
Despite some lower fee revenue due to changes in the firm’s investment product mix and flows, the asset and wealth management division’s top and bottom lines expanded in the quarter due to market appreciation and interest gains. The segment generated pretax profit of $90 million on revenue of $825 million for a margin of 11%. Revenue was up 6%, profit soared 43% and margin enlarged by 3 percentage points.
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Remark
In his prepared remarks, McDonogh noted that the company “formed our Wealth Solutions business by realigning Archer Managed Account Solutions” from BNY’s asset servicing business line into Pershing. “This integration further strengthens our capabilities to serve wealth advisors by adding Archer’s market-leading distribution and managed account expertise to deliver fully integrated end-to-end solutions across the entire wealth ecosystem.”
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