BNY, one of the world’s largest custodian banks, is taking a major step towards blockchain-based financial infrastructure by moving fund ownership records to the network.

Fresh York-based institution to launch blockchain-based version of its transfer agency business that manages fund ownership records and investor transactions, Financial Times reported Wednesday.

“We see BNY as modernizing the function behind every single fund transaction by moving the books and records into the supply chain,” Carolyn Weinberg, BNY’s chief product and innovation officer, reportedly said.

The move follows BNY’s broader digital asset expansion, including regulatory progress in Europe under the EU’s Cryptocurrency Markets Framework (MiCA), as the bank prepares for the next phase of institutional blockchain adoption.

What are transfer agency records?

Transfer agents are financial service providers who maintain official registers of people who hold shares in investment funds. They handle tasks such as processing investor transactions, issuing and redeeming fund shares, updating ownership documentation, and supporting funds’ communications with investors.

These registers are part of the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that enables investment funds to operate. Traditionally, ownership information is stored in multiple systems used by fund managers, custodians and other market participants, requiring recurrent reconciliation.

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According to the report, BNY’s transfer agent services cover approximately $8.6 trillion in assets across 7.6 million accounts. According to reports, the company, which oversees over $59 trillion in assets held and administered, will continue to apply its established digital platform and will also continue its established transfer agency business.

Baillie Gifford among the first users of tokenized funds

By moving transfer agency documentation online, BNY aims to create a common source of information for market participants, thereby reducing reliance on separate databases and manual reconciliation processes.

Early adopters of BNY’s digital transfer agency reportedly include Edinburgh, Scotland-based asset manager Baillie Gifford, which plans to apply the platform for what it calls the first “fully homegrown” UK-regulated tokenized fund. BlackRock and BNY Dreyfus, money market funds and money management firms, are also expected to apply the service for upcoming tokenized funds.

According to the company, it manages assets worth approximately $261 billion website.

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“What we have in blockchain is a common source of record-keeping between participants,” said Theo Golden, Baillie Gifford’s head of digital assets. “We agree that this is the source of truth when people are dealing with a monitored asset,” the executive said.

BNY has not disclosed which blockchain network will host the up-to-date platform. Cointelegraph reached out to the company for comment on the report, but had not received a response by press time.

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