The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.’s regional wealth management office in Providence is headed by Rhode Island native Thomas P. Fay. He is part of a senior management team focused on expanding BNY Mellon Wealth Management’s business throughout New England. Fay assumed his role in July and brings more than 20 years of financial services experience to the position. The company handles business development, portfolio management, private banking and client service to high net worth investors in Southeast New England.
Before joining BNY Mellon, Fay served for three years as head of private bank and trust and chief investment officer for Citizens Bank and was also managing director and division investment management executive for U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management.
PBN: What is BNY Mellon’s presence in the state?
FAY: We have been in Rhode Island since 2004, when we bought an existing investment management firm, The Providence Group. What is interesting is that we are one of the largest investment firms in the world. We transact 20 percent of the securities in the world, every day, 27 trillion dollars. With regards to wealth management, which is what we do in this office, we are the eighth largest company in the country.
PBN: Is expansion in your plans?
FAY There are about 14 people in this office and we would like to see that grow. We look at this area as a key part of growing the company. My role is not only to service clients and help them with the complexities around what’s happening in today’s world. Being a Rhode Islander and being committed to the state, extending our services throughout Rhode Island is exciting. We look forward to partnering ourselves with other members of the community. We want to be a better citizen and contribute to the community. We are also looking to add sales and private banking expertise.
PBN: What about area businesses?
FAY: I think the state has improved itself. There is some really good work going on and we have some nice ties. One of the biggest challenges that some of our customers face is that they are being counseled to leave Rhode Island, being told to move to other states to preserve more of their wealth. That is an awful message to send. We have the opportunity to help them stay and thrive. The nature of our business is for us to communicate with customers immediately.
PBN: Will you do commercial lending here in the future?
FAY: We don’t do the commercial lending, we do a lot of private bank lending and banking. In a traditional commercial loan it would be a small firm that’s looking for a loan based on the assets of the company. We work with a lot of entrepreneurs trying to build a business that may have assets. They are looking for financing and we can help them do that. It is not commercial lending, per se, but a lot are using it this way, for capital. That is generally the way entrepreneurs look for financing.
PBN: Have you started any new products?
FAY Insurance, risk management. Insurance is a key part of what we do for everything. We look at how customers are building wealth, preserving income and passing legacy. We are starting that initiative. It plays in well when you look over a client’s balance sheet and be able to deliver the proper solutions and we can be objective in doing that. It’s not just investment management, banking, lending or insurance; it’s the ability to put them all together.
