(Bloomberg) -- Financial services and banking colossus State Street Corp. has named Vanessa Fernandes as head of Digital Asset Solutions.
Fernandes was previously a managing director and global head of digital experience at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Before then, she was an executive at Itaú Unibanco, where she pioneered innovative strategies for tokenized bank products and cryptocurrency custody, according to a State Street release Monday.
Earlier this year, State Street reorganized its digital-asset unit by shifting most employees into the bank’s traditional asset servicing and technology operations, as it wants tighter integration between traditional finance and digital assets. The move resulted in some job losses.
Fernandes’s appointment comes just as State Street and other banks are looking to expand their efforts in areas such as tokenization of assets, by representing them as tokens on blockchains. The firm is exploring ways to get involved in settling payments on blockchain, including creating its own stablecoin, Bloomberg reported earlier. It was also considering creating its own deposit token, which would represent customer deposits on a blockchain.
As the third-largest exchange-traded fund manager, State Street is already providing services like fund administration and accounting for crypto ETFs. Earlier this year, it’s struck a partnership with Galaxy Asset Management to develop digital assets ETFs. In the coming months, State Street is also focused on tokenizing assets such as funds.
Shares of State Street were little changed on Monday at around $88. The stock has risen about 16% this year.
(Adds share price. An earlier update corrected a typographical error in the headline.)
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