State Street Taps Former BNY Mellon Exec to Lead Digital Assets Solutions

US-based financial services giant State Street has announced the appointment of a former Bank of New York Mellon Corp. executive to spearhead its Digital Assets Solutions unit.

Announced Monday, Vanessa Fernandes will lead the execution of State Street’s enterprise strategy for its digital asset services team.

Fernandes served as the Managing Director of BNY Mellon before joining State Street. She was also an executive at Brazil’s largest private bank Itaú Unibanco, where she launched “innovative strategies for tokenized bank products and cryptocurrency custody.”

At State Street, Fernandes will partner with business leaders across product, technology and operations, the announcement read. Fernandes will be based in New Jersey and report to Donna Milrod, chief product officer.

The veteran US bank announced the opening for a leader for its digital assets solutions team in May this year. Over the past four months, the banker has been searching for an “innovative thinker with comprehensive knowledge of digital asset technology and substantial institutional expertise.”

Fernandes assured to help drive the next phase of digital innovation, adding it is a pivotal time for the industry.

“I look forward to collaborating with the talented team at State Street to further integrate digital capabilities into our core offerings and build a stronger, more future-focused foundation for our clients.”

State Street Partnered with Taurus to Provide Digital Asset Services

State Street already provides fund administration and accounting services for crypto investments. In August, it extended its services to include the crypto custody and the facilitation of tokenised assets.

Besides, the bank partnered with Swiss-based crypto firm Taurus to offer tokenisation services. The collaboration positioned the company to assist clients in creating and managing tokenised funds.

Further, State Street’s asset management arm and Galaxy Asset Management recently introduced three new digital asset-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The ETFs aim to offer “active management” of digital asset exposures to capitalise on market inefficiencies.