BNY Approached Northern Trust for Merger Talks, WSJ Says (2)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. approached Northern Trust Corp. last week to express interest in a possible merger in what would be a megadeal for the US financial services industry, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The chief executives of the banks had at least one conversation, the Journal said Sunday, citing people it didn’t identify, though the firms didn’t discuss a specific offer.

Shares in Northern Trust rose as much as 5.5% in premarket trading on Monday.

A representative for BNY declined to comment. Representatives for Chicago-based Northern Trust didn’t immediately return a request for comment placed outside regular ...