Art Certosimo, Senior Executive Vice President and CEO, Broker-Dealer Services and Alternative Investment Services, The Bank of New York Mellon
For such a palpable and patriotic son of the Garden State, it is ironic that Art Certosimo should have discovered the securities services industry in London rather than New York. It was 1985, and he was running the trade finance operations of the Chase Manhattan Bank from its then offices at Woolgate House in Basinghall Street.
Our nostro reconciliations showed that the nostros of the bank were completely out of control, with lots of outstandings, Certosimo recalls. When we finally investigated the cause, what do you think we found? It was contractual settlement date accounting, which was invented by Colin Grimsey and Robert Kay in global custody. We were giving the custody customers the money, but there was simply no follow-up to the outstanding debits and credits in the nostros after we credited and debited clients. The discovery ensured that within less than a year Certosimo was head of global custody operations.
Fellow legend Colin Grimsey was then head of the sales and relationship management side of the global custody business in Europe, but the discovery of the chaos precipitated by the sales-led introduction of contractual settlement date accounting did not prevent the two men working harmoniously together. Besides, it coincided with the implementation of the decision to move the operations of the bank from London to Bournemouth. Certosimo was one of five people charged with choosing the destination and the site of what is now Chaseside, on the outskirts of the Dorset seaside town, and ensuring the transition was successful despite only half the workforce electing to come.
Continue reading here