Introduction

As private credit and structured debt strategies continue to scale in size and complexity, alternative asset managers are under pressure to simplify the operational lifecycle without compromising transparency or speed. What was once a fragmented operating environment — characterized by multiple service providers, duplicative data flows and inconsistent client experiences — is no longer fit for purpose to meet rising expectations for a more ‘retail’-centric investor experience.

In response, a more integrated operating model is taking shape. By bringing together corporate trust, fund administration, investor servicing and enterprise loan data processing platforms, BNY is shaping one connected model from origination and servicing through reconciliation, accounting and investor reporting. The intended outcome is not simply efficiency but scalability: fewer handoffs, cleaner data, faster close cycles, and lower operational risk — so clients can scale without replicating processes or introducing reconciliation friction.

This model is enabled by BNY’s breadth across alternatives accounting and corporate trust, supported by Markets, FX, Credit, and Treasury Services and its ability to deliver a single, client-focused experience across lending, fund and investor services, and ancillary banking products.

An Enterprise Proposition Built for Scale

At the center of BNY’s model is the concept of enterprise delivery – with clients experiencing one connected solution rather than separate offerings for loans, corporate trust, and fund administration — supported by one accountable team and a more straightforward path through the alternatives lifecycle. From a client perspective, this means consistent engagement and clear ownership.

“We bring the full breadth of BNY to clients as one institution, rather than a collection of siloed capabilities,” says Adam Roston, Head of CLO and Loan Solutions within Corporate Trust’s Structured Debt platform. 

Shaping Holistic and Tailored Next‑generation Solutions

In private markets, operational excellence is alpha. BNY is advancing that edge by embedding domain-trained Artificial Intelligence (AI) into platforms and workflows — automating interpretation, exception handling, and operational decisioning so its teams can move faster with more control.

Alan Doyle, Head of Alternatives within Fund and Investor Solutions, says that clients are increasingly seeking providers capable of supporting complex, multi‑regional alternatives strategies through a single operating framework. “This requirement remains niche in the market and becomes even more so when global reach and complementary capabilities are taken into account,” he explains. “BNY’s model offers breadth. We operate on a 24/5 basis, including Asia, and provide a more integrated approach to services such as credit, lending and FX, in contrast to the more selective engagement that is typical of peers.”

As part of its strategy, BNY has integrated with leading vendor partners utilizing AI models. These models have been trained specifically to ingest agent bank notices to capture data elements integral to the firm’s downstream loan processing, security master maintenance, credit activity, rollovers and repayments and straight-through processing.

“Furthermore, we have leveraged our internal Eliza AI platform to parse and load vendor-derived data into downstream core systems of record, which helps to automate trade processing and associated loan lifecycle management activities. Eliza has been instrumental in enhancing alternatives accounting,” says Doyle. “We have used the model to automate the collation of inputs for client reporting, enabling us to generate reporting content in a single, consistent format from multiple distinct applications. We are also embedding enterprise AI capabilities directly into platforms and workflows — for example, for fuzzy matching of client data where no market identifier exists.”

Through the close partnership enabled by BNY’s established corporate trust data connectivity, the firm can focus resources on optimizing reconciliation, with a view to completing the Net Asset Value (NAV) cycle on a more timely basis, in line with client trends driven by the continued ‘retailization’ of the private credit market.

“By leveraging the support of our Data & Analytics partners, we can now deliver output from Corporate Trust, Fund Accounting and associated reconciliation tools via our marketplace utility,” adds Doyle. 

BNY’s breadth does not imply a uniform solution for every client. Lending, for example, is determined by need and circumstance rather than being prescriptive. “Some clients will never require it, while for others it may be integral to their relationship with the bank. The value lies in the ability to deliver it seamlessly when it is needed.”

Simplifying Onboarding and Establishing Data Consistency

The operational reality of onboarding and data management remains a critical challenge across the industry. Too often, firms and their clients provide the same documentation across corporate trust, fund services, depository, and account‑opening workflows. Capturing information once and reusing it across services removes friction and shortens time to market.

A common data platform — anchored in robust governance — reduces uncertainty over what is authoritative. In traditional models, trustee records and fund accounting records are maintained separately, creating reconciliation breaks and adding operational risk.

Clients increasingly expect clear points of accountability, well-defined escalation paths, and confidence that the data they access is consistent across trustee and fund records. BNY’s goal is to operate as a single unified team and to maintain a single, consistent data set across all outputs — and has already achieved around 75% of that goal. As the consumption and routing of data is increasingly automated, consistency will continue to improve.

For loans specifically, this integration depends on a single source of truth for loan terms, events, and calculations. BNY built the Loan Enablement Platform (LEP) to standardize and validate loan data once—reducing manual interpretation of unstructured documents, eliminating duplicative calculations across systems, and improving consistency across corporate trust and fund accounting outputs.

With unified onboarding and a shared data foundation, alternative asset managers gain speed, control, and transparency—supporting scalable growth and a more coherent investor experience.

A Golden Source Operating Model for Loans

To drive consistency at scale, BNY is evolving LEP into a platform-agnostic golden source for loan data and calculations. In this model, LEP publishes standardized, validated data that downstream accounting platforms consume. This marks a significant departure from legacy approaches, where fund accounting teams independently calculate items such as interest accruals based on trustee feeds.

To achieve this, LEP leverages AI to ingest and interpret large volumes of unstructured documentation —  credit agreements, amendments and agent notices — and transforms it into standardized, actionable data. Intelligent reconciliation identifies and resolves data discrepancies across systems, while AI-enabled workflow guidance flags exceptions and provides role-specific contextual next steps — effectively guiding employees through required actions and decision points within their remit, and enhancing accuracy, control and operational simplicity.

Core components of this model, including security master and trade capture, have already been developed. Beyond efficiency gains, the approach reduces dependency on third-party vendor platforms and provides greater control over data quality, change management and the pace of innovation.

Related Platforms