Healthcare plans lead the pack, beating benchmark by more than 200 basis points

BOSTON, May 14, 2008 — The median plan for the 551 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley and healthcare funds that make up the BNY Mellon Master Trust Universe posted a combined -5.18% return for the first quarter of 2008, representing the lowest performing quarter since second quarter 2002. Despite the weak performance, the median plan return was still 15 basis points ahead of the universe's custom composite benchmark (Russell 3000® Index* 50%, Lehman Brothers® Aggregate 40%, MSCI® All Country World Index ex US 10%), which posted -5.33% for the quarter.

The BNY Mellon Master Trust Universe represents a market value of $1.5 trillion, with an average plan size of $2.7 billion.

"Healthcare plans posted the best performance of any plan type during the quarter, still negative but significantly better than the overall median return of -5.18%," said Greg Stewart, first vice president and regional product manager of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing. "The other plan types were clustered around the median in a range of -4.94% to -5.49%, with Corporates the lowest performing plan type. On a one-year basis, endowments outperformed all plan types with a 3.33% return."

  Highlights:
   -- Of the plans in the universe, 95% posted negative results for the
      period ending March 31, 2008.

   -- Healthcare was the top performing plan-type for the first quarter with
      a -3.16% median return, followed by endowments, public, Taft-Hartley,
      foundations, and corporate plans.

   -- Non-U.S. Fixed Income led all asset classes for the quarter with a
      median return of 3.04%, lagging the Citigroup® Non-US Dollar World
      Government Bond Index return of 10.93.  U.S. Fixed Income generated a
      median result of 1.29%, versus the Lehman Brothers® Aggregate return
      of 2.17%.  U.S. Equities returned -9.76%, compared to the Russell
      3000® Index return of -9.52%.  Non-U.S. Equities -8.78% result
      outperformed the MSCI® All Country World Index ex US return of
      -13.33%.

"Funds with greater fixed income exposure benefited during the equity downswing, while those with heavier equity allocations, such as corporate plans, paid the price," said Stewart. "Although U.S. Equities remains the dominant asset class for almost all plan types, the allocation to U.S. Equity in the BNY Mellon Master Trust Universe fell to 34%, more than 10% less compared to first quarter 2000."

The average asset allocation in the BNY Mellon Master Trust Universe for the first quarter was: U.S. Equity 34%, U.S. Fixed Income 26%, Non-U.S. Equity 19%, Non-U.S. Fixed Income 1%, Alternative Investments 8%, Real Estate 3%, Cash 2%, and Other (Private Equity, Oil, Gas, etc.) 7%.

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing offers clients worldwide a broad spectrum of specialized asset servicing capabilities, including custody and fund services, securities lending, performance and analytics, and execution services. BNY Mellon Asset Servicing provides services through The Bank of New York, Mellon Bank, N.A. and other related companies.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) is a global financial services company focused on helping clients manage and service their financial assets, operating in 34 countries and serving more than 100 markets. The company is a leading provider of financial services for institutions, corporations and high net-worth individuals, providing superior asset management and wealth management, asset servicing, issuer services, clearing services and treasury services through a worldwide client-focused team. It has more than $23 trillion in assets under custody and administration, more than $1.1 trillion in assets under management and services $12 trillion in outstanding debt. Additional information is available at bnymellon.com.

  BNY Mellon Trust Universe Median Plan Returns
  Period Ending March 31, 2008

                              Number of       1Q      One-    Five-    Ten-
  Universe                    Participants    2008    Year    Years    Years

  Master Trust Total Fund     551            -5.18    0.63    11.94    6.27
   Corporate Plans            253            -5.49    0.16    11.88    6.19
   Foundations                80             -5.18    1.31    12.03    6.90
   Endowments                 81             -4.94    3.33    13.66    7.01
   Public Plans               59             -5.11    0.80    12.64    6.67
   Taft-Hartley Plans         31             -5.12   -0.47     9.27    6.17
   Healthcare Plans           20             -3.16    2.39     9.43    5.65
  Universe Benchmark: Russell 3000®        -5.33   -0.72     9.61    4.95
  Index 50%, Lehman Brothers® Aggregate
  40%, MSCI® All Country World Index
  ex US, 10%)

*Russell Investment Group is the owner of the trademarks, service marks, and copyrights related to its indexes.