As customers continue to move online, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has decided to close nine wealth management branches that have been hit particularly hard by a lack of foot traffic.
The nine offices are in Pittsburgh, the suburbs around New York and around Philadelphia, said Kevin Heine, a company spokesman.
"With the level of transactions and volumes that were generated by these offices, it didn't make economic sense to keep them open," Heine said in an interview Friday. "Though we continue to have a strong commitment and presence in these communities."
Approximately 30 people will be affected by the closings, he said.
Heine does not expect that other offices will close. "In fact, we've actually been expanding our operations in the last year, and in the last six months, we've probably hired a dozen new sales staff in other locations. The business is performing well, and we are firmly committed to the wealth management business and will continue to grow it."
In other BNY Mellon news, last week it appointed James Malgieri as chief executive of broker-dealer services. Malgieri will report to Art Certosimo, senior executive vice president and head of broker-dealer and alternative investment services at BNY Mellon.
"Jim has been instrumental in driving growth and market-share gains in our business as well as delivering outstanding service to our clients during extremely challenging times," Certosimo said in a press release. "Moving forward, we need a leader who understands the evolving needs of our clients and will drive the development of solutions that help them succeed."
Also last week, BNY Mellon said Scott Freidenrich was appointed executive vice president and treasurer.
Freidenrich succeeded Jeff Landau, who was named the head of BNY Mellon's cash investment strategies group.
Freidenrich was head of U.S. institutional sales for Citigroup's Prime Finance.
