BNY Mellon Wealth Management Software Failure - Novick & Associates
"Sometimes the cash doesn't work out due to lost data or any various number of reasons" - Internal BNYM email
HUNTINGTON, N.Y., Sept. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- BNY Mellon internal emails written over a nine month period beginning in June, 2012 reveal a wealth management business incapable of accurately tracking and reporting client trust account performance.
Documents produced in response to a court order in the litigation between the sons of renowned East Hampton sculptor Norman Mercer and BNY Mellon have uncovered a wealth management business which relied on "Scorecard" software and processes that were incapable of accurately calculating and reporting the financial performance of its clients' fiduciary accounts.
In June, 2012, the Vice President and Portfolio Manager responsible for the Mercer trusts notified the bank's IT department in an email that she was "unable to locate performance" for the Mercer Trusts and that she needed the information "to prepare for a meeting with the client early next week so it is imperative that I have the performance returns for all (Mercer) accounts".
After nine months of unsuccessful attempts to fix the problem, and the trust reports continuing to show negative cash allocations of – 30.58% and – 29.60% in two of the Mercer accounts, the IT department explained in a February 11, 2013 email that "sometimes the cash doesn't work out due to lost data or any various number of reasons" and told the portfolio manager that, "The best solution would be to input an offsetting entry (deposit) to fix the cash position." The email went on to explain, "As it stands right now, there will always be a negative cash allocation."
Multiple requests to BNY Mellon Wealth Management for an explanation have remained unanswered.
Software problems and lost data have been a continuing problem for BNY Mellon. The company recently experienced a software "glitch" that resulted in its inability to accurately report the net asset value (NAV) for hundreds of billions of dollars worth of mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETF) for approximately one week. It was widely reported that the "glitch" affected about five percent of all U.S. mutual funds.
The law firm of Novick & Associates represents Norman Mercer's sons, Howard and David Mercer, in connection with litigation involving BNY Mellon N.A
Contact:
Donald Novick, Novick & Associates
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (631) 547-0300
SOURCE Novick & Associates
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