BNY beats expectations in Q2, fueled by fee revenue and NII

Bank of New York Mellon soared above Wall Street’s expectations in the second quarter of 2025, boosted by higher fee revenue and an increase in net interest income.

Earnings per share for the three months that ended June 30 were $1.93, well above analysts’ average estimate of $1.75, according to S&P. Revenue came out to $5.03 billion, beating estimates of $4.83 billion and marking a 9% increase from the same period last year.

But the bottom line showed the steepest jump of all: Net income for the quarter reached $1.44 billion, up 23% from the second quarter of 2024. It also surpassed analysts’ expectations, which pegged net income at $1.25 billion.

“BNY delivered a strong performance in the second quarter,” CEO Robin Vince said in a prepared statement. “Our results in the first half of the year underscore BNY’s potential to create value for clients and shareholders.”

Behind the rise in revenue were sharp increases in two areas. The first was fee revenue, which climbed 7% year-over-year, reaching $3.64 billion. And the second was net interest income, which swelled to $1.2 billion, up 17% from last year’s second quarter. BNY mainly attributed this growth in NII to “the continued reinvestment of maturing investment securities at higher yields.”

The improving numbers come at a time when BNY, the nation’s oldest bank, is undergoing a broad transformation. Under the direction of Vince, a Goldman Sachs veteran who took over as CEO three years ago, the company reorganizing into what he calls a “platforms operating model” by streamlining and unifying many departments. This new model, Vince said last quarter, is designed “to get things done quicker with a little bit less bureaucracy and nonsense getting in the way.”

On Tuesday, Vince said BNY was already reaping the rewards of that reorganization.

“BNY’s ongoing transformation has significant momentum,” the CEO said in a statement. “Only one year after the launch of our new commercial model last summer, we delivered two consecutive quarters of record sales in the first half of the year.”

With roots dating back to 1784, BNY is one of the oldest banks of the world. But in recent years, it’s been an early adopter of some of the world’s newest financial technologies. 

In 2022, BNY launched a product offering direct custody of cryptocurrencies, starting with bitcoin. That product ran into a roadblock from the Biden-era Securities and Exchange Commission, which required custodians to list crypto assets as a liability on their balance sheets. 

Read more on bank earnings:https://www.americanbanker.com/earnings

But soon after President Trump took office, the SEC dropped that rule. And in June, the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, which clarifies the federal regulation of stablecoins, a crypto product pegged to more traditional assets. That bill continues to work its way through the House of Representatives on its way, potentially, to President Trump for signing.

Amid this friendlier political environment for crypto, BNY announced this month that it will take custody of the stablecoins issued by the crypto company Ripple.

“There have been some impediments to full participation from a regulatory point of view,” Vince said last quarter. “We haven’t let that stop us.”