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BNY Mellon briefs El Paso retirement trustees on custody, accounting and automation tools
Summary
BNY Mellon presented an education session explaining custody functions, accounting controls, private‑market data handling and client‑service processes for the City of El Paso pension fund.
BNY Mellon representatives gave trustees an education session on custody services, outlining how the custodian safeguards assets, produces accounting reports, and supports regulatory and audit processes.
Robbie (Robert) O'Hara, the BNY client‑service lead for this relationship, told trustees custody is primarily safekeeping and accurate recordkeeping: "Think of custodial banking as a museum. The artifact owner would be you all, the city of El Paso, and the museum or the curator would be us at BNY." He explained that BNY holds assets in custody, records positions, processes corporate actions and proxy votes, and does not move client assets without authorized instruction.
O'Hara described how custody data flows into institutional accounting and audit packages, the firm's multi‑person reconciliation checks ("4‑ or 6‑eye checks" for different processes), and automation for private‑market reporting (Canoo intelligence) and client service case tracking (ECRM/Nexon). He also said BNY provides performance, risk and compliance tools to benchmark portfolios and simulate stress scenarios.
Trustees asked about data accuracy, access for the City’s investment consultant, and password/session length for online tools; BNY said backups and group support emails are routed through an ECRM that assigns and tracks cases, and noted ongoing work to improve login/session convenience while maintaining security. The session closed with an invitation for additional training and a commitment to follow up on technical or process questions raised by staff.
