Median plan posts positive returns for three of four quarters in 2012

NEW YORK, February 11, 2013 — The median return of the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe was 1.95% for the fourth quarter of 2012, driving up performance for the typical fund to 12.57% on a year-to-date basis, its best annual performance in two years.  The median plan posted positive quarterly returns for three of four quarters in 2012. 

With a market value of more than $2.2 trillion and an average plan size of $3.4 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 more than 649 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley and health care plans.

"For 2012, corporate plans came out on top with a median return of 13.4%, followed by public plans, driven by a 16.5% annual gain in U.S. equities, compared to 7.9% for U.S. fixed income," said John Houser, vice president and manager of performance & risk analytics for BNY Mellon.  "For the fourth quarter, endowments showed the highest median return, followed closely by foundations. Both benefited from a relative underweighting of U.S. equities in the short term.

"Non-U.S. equities posted a 5.1% gain during the quarter, while real estate continued its recovery with Q4 results marking the twelfth straight quarter of positive returns.  All asset classes were in the black for Q4," Houser added.

Highlights

• 97% of plans in the BNY Mellon Master Trust universe returned positive results during the quarter.  Over the prior 12-month period, 99% (611 out of 613) of plans were in the black.
• 89% of plans matched or outperformed the custom policy return for Q4.  For the full year, 65% of plans outperformed the custom policy.
• Endowments recorded the highest median return for the quarter (2.26%), followed by foundations (2.20%).
• Non-U.S. equities posted a quarterly median return of 5.07%, behind the Russell Developed ex US Large Cap Index result of 5.96%. U.S. equities posted a median return of 0.78%, versus the Russell 3000 Index return of 0.25%.  Non-U.S. fixed income posted a median return of 1.83%, compared to the Citigroup Non-U.S. World Government Bond Index return of -2.36%.  U.S. fixed income had a median return of 0.81%, versus the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index return of 0.21%.  Real estate posted a median return of 2.37%, versus the NCREIF Property Index result of 2.54%. 

The average asset allocation in the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe for the fourth quarter was: U.S. equity 26%, U.S. fixed income 28%, non-U.S. equity 16%, non-U.S. fixed income 2%, real estate 3%, cash 1%, and alternatives/other 24%.

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 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 36 countries and more than 100 markets. As of December 31, 2012, BNY Mellon had $26.7 trillion in assets under custody and administration, and $1.4 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.

BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe Median Plan Returns*

*All returns are posted gross of fee results.

BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe Median Allocations by Asset Class

Period Ending December 31, 2012

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 2012.  This data is provided by Barclays Bank PLC all rights are reserved. Citigroup Non-US World Government Bond Index: © Citigroup Global Markets Inc., 2012. All rights reserved.