Twelve-month median return of 31.42% strongest on record; U.S. equities again best performing asset class

BOSTON, May 14, 2010 — The median plan in the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe posted a 3.53% return for the first quarter of 2010, the fourth straight quarter of positive performance.  For the twelve-month period ending March 31, 2010, the median return of 31.42% is the highest the company has recorded, going back to 1999.

With a market value of $1.96 trillion and an average plan size of $2.7 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 730 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley and health care plans.

"2010 started off strong as every member of the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe showed positive returns for the quarter," said Greg Stewart, managing director and regional product manager of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing.  "The same holds true for the one-year results ending March 31, with 100% of plans in the black.  Dispersion remained narrow, with the difference between the maximum and minimum returns less than 650 basis points."

Highlights

• 100% of plans posted positive results for the three-month period ending March 31, 2010.  For the 12-month period ending March 31, 2010, the median return of 31.42% is the strongest 12-month return on record.
• Despite the positive performance, only 8% of the plans matched or outperformed the universe custom policy return of 4.54% in the first quarter.  For the twelve-month period, the percentage of outperforming participants rises to 13% with the custom policy up 39.37%.
• Public plans were the top performing plan type for the first quarter with a 3.76% median return, followed by corporate pensions, Taft-Hartley, foundations, endowments and health care plans.  
• U.S. equities led all asset classes for the quarter with a median return of 6.00%, compared to the Russell 3000 Index return of 5.94%. Non-U.S. equities returned 1.82%, outperforming the MSCI World ex USA Index return of 1.43%.  U.S. fixed income posted a result of 2.39%, versus the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index return of 1.78%.  Non-U.S. fixed income posted a median return of 1.69%, ahead of the Citigroup Non-US World Government Bond Index return of -2.10%.  

"U.S. equities were once again the strongest asset class, with the median return for the quarter of 6.00%.  In contrast to a weakening in 2009, the relative strength of the dollar hurt returns from international investments, however, both equity and fixed income returns remained positive," said Stewart.

The average asset allocation in the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe for the first quarter was: U.S. equity 34%, U.S. fixed income 28%, non-U.S. equity 15%, non-U.S. fixed income 2%, alternative investments 9%, real estate 2%, cash 1%, and other (oil, gas, etc.) 9%.

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 BNY Mellon and other related companies.

BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). BNY Mellon 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. BNY Mellon 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 $22.4 trillion in assets under custody and administration, $1.1 trillion in assets under management, services $11.8 trillion in outstanding debt and processes global payments averaging $1.5 trillion per day. Additional information is available at www.bnymellon.com.