Bank of New York Mellon Wealth Management wants to expand more US and overseas markets through a stream of new hires and takeovers, the firm’s chief executive Lawrence Hughes was quoted as telling Reuters yesterday.

Hughes, who took the post in May, was quoted saying that BNY Mellon Wealth will continue to add financial advisors and boost its ranks of new business-generating staff by 15 per cent this year.

"We're very interested in expanding organically and through acquisition," Hughes said in the interview. "We made a pretty substantial investment in growing our own sales force and we're also interested in strategic acquisitions in markets that make sense for us."

As reported by this publication in June, the US firm has purchased Toronto-based I3 Advisors, the independent wealth strategy company.

This publication understands that BNY Mellon intends to expand its wealth management operations and push its brand more aggressively than in the past. For example, the bank’s chief executive, Bob Kelly, was recently quoted as saying that it was gearing up for expansion in South Korea and China, most likely through organic growth or joint ventures.

In the Hughes interview, he was quoted saying that BNY Mellon Wealth will seek out purchases or key hires in markets where the parent company's asset management and investment services businesses are already established, such as Brazil and several other markets in Asia and Europe.

China, where BNY Mellon this month announced an asset management venture with Chinese partners Western Securities, is another likely destination, he said.

He also said he intended to increase the firm’s domestic presence in Texas, expand into Arizona and continue growth in California and Florida.