Bank of New York Marking Time

Custody banks like Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK) do not generally get all that much attention. These "banks' banks" operate huge businesses involving trillions of dollars, but they take only tiny percentages of these awesome amounts and generally run themselves quite conservatively. As a result, the average investors' default response is to scrunch up their faces at the blizzard of numbers they report, sigh at the generally modest growth and move on to other ideas. 

That could be a mistake, however. While custody banks are not operating the most exciting businesses in the world, they are gatekeepers and toll collectors in the massive financial services industry and an integral part of an industry that seems poised for worldwide growth. So, while regular banks like Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and TCF Financial (NYSE: TCB) worry about loans and deposit share in their home markets, and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) battles for hegemony in trading and asset management, BNY quietly services hundreds of banks and asset managers across the world. 



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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/Bank-Of-New-York-Marking-Time-BK-WFC-TCB-MS-STT-NTRS0721.aspx