[ T H O U G H T L E A D E R S H I P | C I B C M E L L O N ]
As the closing bell rang at the Toronto Stock Exchange, Mal Cullen, chief executive of CIBC Mellon, stood alongside colleagues to celebrate a landmark achievement. Cullen had just helped close the market, marking the firm’ s milestone of surpassing C $ 3 trillion in assets under administration( AUA). For the CEO who took the helm barely two years ago, the moment was more than ceremonial.“ I’ m incredibly proud,” said Cullen, noting that reaching the C $ 3 trillion mark reflects“ the trust our clients place in us and the hard work of our talented team”. Cullen’ s praise for the work of the nearly 2,000-strong team stretched to every employee who had contributed to the success over nearly three decades whether through solidifying, onboarding, or supporting the business during its history.“ This achievement isn’ t just about the number,” he continued.“ It’ s about delivering meaningful progress … and continuing to innovate for our clients.” In other words, crossing the $ 3 trillion threshold is not a finish line, but a springboard for CIBC Mellon’ s next evolution.
Crossing the $ 3 trillion threshold
Reaching the $ 3 trillion milestone in asset servicing has given CIBC Mellon’ s CEO, Mal Cullen, the chance to give gratitude to clients, team members and its parent company alike, while also depicting what has gone into the successes over nearly three decades and how the custodian will continue to evolve in a fast-changing world.
Spurring further innovation Hitting C $ 3 trillion in AUA places CIBC Mellon in rarefied air. It ranks the Torontobased custodian among a select group of global asset servicing firms that have ever reached such scale, reinforcing the firm’ s role as a trusted provider in the industry. The joint venture – co-owned by two powerhouses – administers assets on behalf of Canada’ s largest banks, insurance companies, pension plans, investment funds, corporations and other institutional investors. The growth has been striking. As at 31 December 2024, CIBC Mellon’ s administered assets were roughly double the level from just a few years prior. Cullen attributes this climb to strong client relationships and operational resilience.“ It’ s a significant milestone that reflects our clients’ confidence in us,” he explains to Global Custodian.“ We have a relentless focus on making sure that the clients know that we are looking out for Canadian requirements. We ' re advocating for regulatory changes and we ' re supporting what is somewhat unique in the Canadian market.” Beyond the sheer number, Cullen sees symbolic weight in the milestone. It coincides with a period of stability and expansion for the firm. CIBC Mellon was founded in 1996 as a 50-50 joint venture between Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce( CIBC) and The Bank of New York Mellon – now known more succinctly as BNY. The unique parentage has always been a key to CIBC Mellon’ s success – and never more so than now, as global investors increasingly seek both local insight and international reach. With the support of BNY, CIBC Mellon has steadily broadened its service offerings. The firm has long provided custody, fund administration, pension benefit services and unitholder recordkeeping, as well as enabling access to parent company services such as foreign exchange and securities lending. In more recent years, the CIBC Mellon has launched and grown capabilities in emerging areas like digital and data services, helped launch the world’ s first bitcoin and ether ETFs in Canada, advanced into the insurance business and inked alliances with a growing array of fintechs to improve its efficiency and offerings. The milestone places CIBC Mellon ahead as the largest Canadian custodian and also validates the company’ s strategy of running the business better and innovating for clients. For CIBC Mellon, scale has come hand-in-hand with trust – and with pressure to keep raising the bar.
Global scale, local expertise Cullen is the first to highlight the advantage of CIBC Mellon’ s parentage.“ Our unique position as a Canadian leader backed by the global strength of BNY allows us to offer our clients a combination of local expertise and global capabilities,” he explains. In practice, this means clients benefit from a massive global network – BNY’ s custody platform spans over $ 52 trillion in assets worldwide – while dealing with a team on the ground in Canada that understands the local market and
26 Global Custodian Spring 2025