As global head of BNY's asset-servicing business, Emily Portney understands that balancing rapid innovation and integrating acquisitions seamlessly are both critical to driving her unit's strategic growth and consistent financial performance.
She's at the right place to shape and drive innovation. BNY, already the custodian for several major stablecoin issuers, including Circle and Ripple, is positioning itself to be at the center of the unfolding world of on-chain finance. Portney sees many potential avenues of growth on this front, including making ETFs available in wallets, tokenization to improve financing transactions, and perhaps even using tokenized mutual funds to finance initial and variation margin requirements. "I think we're going to play a very important part in that ecosystem," she said.
On the acquisition front, Portney was instrumental in helping to lead the 2024 acquisition and quick integration of Archer, a provider of managed account technology and operational services. Though deal terms were not disclosed, Portney said it was the bank's largest acquisition in many years and opened up an entire market for BNY.
With the acquisition now complete, Portney's remit at BNY has grown ever larger. BNY is the world's biggest custodian and in June of 2025 reported $55.8 trillion in assets under custody or administration. In 2024, BNY's asset servicing line of business generated $6.9 billion in revenue, its highest ever, and notched a significant improvement in pre-tax margin.
The purchase helped "us form more connective tissue across our different business lines so that we can go to market in a seamless end-to-end manner for our clients," she said. Moreover, the enthusiasm and level of coordination across the organization she helped orchestrate to execute the integration "demonstrates how far we've come in terms of breaking down the silos and thinking of ourselves much more as a platform company."
While leading a large organization through these times of fast-moving innovation and technical change creates opportunities and challenges, Portney does the work to be prepared for whatever comes her way. "Emily is a great leader because she is a good learner. She is a natural at getting her team motivated to deliver superior performance," said Carlos Hernandez, a former manager who is founder and CEO of Pensativa Partners and executive chair of Brevan Howard.
To be a good leader, Portney said, it helps to be approachable, relatable and "extraordinarily authentic. And sometimes that means being vulnerable. I don't pretend to know everything. I don't pretend to be the best at everything. I constantly ask questions and want to learn."
One method of outreach that's proven unexpectedly successful, she said, is her "quick take" email she sends to the thousands of people on her team at the start every week. "It's a thought, an observation, and a lesson learned--and sometimes it's extraordinarily personal." She's written about vacationing with family and reverting to old roles, her fear of flying for work, how a particular song can relieve a stressful situation, and even how to overcome toe cramps.
Yes, toe cramps. Turns out, she said, the solution wasn't to change shoes, it was to hydrate before bedtime. The lesson: Always keep looking for the real root cause of a problem.
