Over the past year, financial markets have been driven by higher rates and a potential shift toward deglobalization. In response, Hanneke Smits, global head of investment management at BNY, has aligned the bank's portfolio strategies to meet evolving client needs.
This includes launching Pinpoint, a data-driven portfolio consultation service that has led to new client opportunities in Switzerland; debuting Pershing X Wove, a wealth-management platform for North American clients; and expanding a partnership with alternative credit specialist CIFC Asset Management, which allows clients around the world to access private credit exposure.
In her daily duties at BNY, Smits, who is originally from the Netherlands and now based in Britain, leads the bank's seven investment firms: ARX, Dreyfus, Mellon, Newton Investment Management, Insight Investment, Walter Scott and Siguler Guff. In all, the investments business has approximately $2 trillion in assets. Smits has been in this role for four years. Before this, she was CEO of Newton from 2016 to 2020. Previously, she was on the executive committee at private equity firm Adams Street Partners.
Smits is also a member of the firm's executive committee. In 2023, she helped implement new firm-wide principles to enable BNY to better serve clients and strengthen company culture. Smits also serves as executive sponsor of PRISM, the firm's LGBTQ+ employee and business resource group.
Smits believes leaders must be visible, transparent and accessible to their teams, because "we can't be what we can't see." To that end, she hosts "Ask me anything" sessions, town halls and fireside chats, giving her team regular updates on plans and decision-making. She currently has 13 direct reports.
Outside of the firm, Smits is the chair of Impetus, a venture philanthropy nonprofit that helps disadvantaged young people receive support to succeed in school and work. As part of this role, Smits is the trustee of the education endowment foundation. In 2015, she also co-founded Level 20, a nonprofit that helps women achieve success in private equity careers; the goal is to raise the number of women in private equity from 5% to 20%.
Additionally, she is global chair of the 30% Club, a U.K.-based organization that promotes gender diversity on company boards. The organization operates in over 20 countries and boasts more than 1,000 board chairs and CEOs as members. This year, the 30% Club co-sponsored the launch of the Executive Accelerator program, a mentoring initiative that seeks to increase female representation in executive leadership roles. Per the latest Gender Balance Index, 60% of banks globally have no women in C-suite roles. Additionally, the share of women in the C-suite across all banks dropped to 15% in 2024 from 18% the previous year.
In the years since she was just starting out in her career, Smits said, she has seen progress in how companies are talking about including women. "We've finally moved beyond explaining what inclusion means or why it should even matter," she said. "The industry has a lot more male allies now, and I think it's important to recognize the active role they have played in committing to improve gender diversity."
Challenges, however, remain. The pace of change is still too slow, Smits said, and "we must continue to address the full pipeline of women in the industry, from attraction and recruitment through to retention and advancement."
Smits noted the importance of having mentors when you are starting out and even when you have achieved high levels of success. If she could act as a mentor to her younger self now, she said, she would tell her: "Make sure to set boundaries for yourself so that you can prioritize self-reflection and find the space to recharge. Feedback is a gift, both to give and receive."
Her mentors later in life have helped her to build relationships and identify areas in which she might further develop. "And when I decided to take a career break, stepping away from private equity, the supportive network around me was instrumental as I reflected and sought out my next chapter," she said.
And what is the next chapter for Smits now? Retirement. In July, she announced her decision to step down from BNY later this year, after 35 years in the industry. She said she looks forward to enjoying life with her husband and three young adult children, and doing activities such as hiking, golf, tennis and skiing.
"I'm also keen to continue learning, whether that's history, the classics or picking up where I left off, speaking Mandarin," Smits added.
