NEW YORK, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The median return of the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe was +1.94% for the first quarter of 2014, the third straight quarter of positive results. The Universe's median plan was up 11.65% for the 12 months ending March 31, 2014, driven by strong performance from U.S. equities.

With a market value of more than $2.6 trillion and an average plan size of $3.8 billion, the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe is a fund-level tracking service that can be used to make peer comparisons of both performance and asset allocation results. The Universe consists of 686 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley, and health care plans.

"Benefitting from a relative overweighting of U.S. equities, corporate plans outperformed other plan-types with a 2.59% gain in the first quarter," said John Houser, senior consultant for BNY Mellon's Global Risk Solutions group. "The difference between the highest and lowest performing plan was a healthy 104 basis points. By asset class, real estate led the way with a 3.07% quarterly gain, but all asset classes were in the black, helping plans across the board. Over the last 12 months, U.S. equities outperformed with a strong +22.91% return, while the U.S bond segment was relatively flat at +0.07%."

Q1 Highlights

• 99.5% of plans in the BNY Mellon Master Trust universe returned positive results during the quarter
• 51.5% of plans matched or outperformed the custom policy return for Q1
• Median allocation to U.S. equities fell from 28% in Q4-2013 to 26% in Q1-2014, while U.S. fixed income allocation rose from 24% to 26% in the same periods.
• Corporate plans recorded the highest median return (+2.59%), followed by Endowments (+1.91%)
• U.S. equities posted a quarterly median return of +1.84%, versus the Russell 3000 Index return of +1.97%. Non-U.S. equities saw a median return of +0.72%, behind the Russell Developed ex US Large Cap Index result of +1.34%. U.S. fixed income had a median return of +2.10%, versus the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index return of +1.84%. Non-U.S. fixed income posted a median return of +2.84%, compared to the Citigroup Non-U.S. World Government Bond Index return of +3.22%. Real estate had a median return of +3.07%, versus the NCREIF Property Index result of +2.74%. 

The average asset allocation in the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe for the first quarter was: U.S. equity 26%, U.S. fixed income 26%, non-U.S. equity 17%, non-U.S. fixed income 2%, real estate 4%, cash 1%, and alternatives/other 24%.

BNY Mellon's Asset Servicing business supports institutional investors in today's fast-evolving markets, safeguarding assets and enhancing the management and administration of client investments through services that process, monitor and measure data from around the world. We leverage our global footprint and local expertise to deliver insight and solutions across every stage of the investment lifecycle.

BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries and more than 100 markets. As of March 31, 2014, BNY Mellon had $27.9 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.6 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Learn more at www.bnymellon.com, or follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon.

Russell 3000 Index and Russell Developed ex US Large Cap Index:  Russell Investment Group ("Russell") is the source and owner of the Russell Index data contained or reflected in this material and all trademarks and copyrights related thereto.  The Russell Index data may contain confidential information and unauthorized use, disclosure, copying, dissemination or redistribution is strictly prohibited. Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index: © Barclays Bank PLC 2014.  This data is provided by Barclays Bank PLC all rights are reserved. Citigroup Non-US World Government Bond Index: © Citigroup Global Markets Inc., 2014. All rights reserved.

Contact:
Joseph F. Ailinger Jr.
+1 617-722-7571
joe.ailinger@bnymellon.com

SOURCE BNY Mellon