U.S. Equities Propel First Quarter Returns for U.S. Master Trust Universe, says BNY Mellon

NEW YORK, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Driven largely by strong U.S. equity performance, the median return of the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe was 4.53% for the first quarter of 2013, marking the third consecutive quarter of positive returns. For the twelve months ending March 31, 2013, the median plan was up 10.05%.

With a market value of more than $2.4 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 612 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley and health care plans.

"All plan types within the Universe reported gains for the first quarter, helped by a continued surge in U.S. equities," said John Gruber, head of product strategy for BNY Mellon's Global Risk Solutions group. "Public plans were the best performing segment, while an overweighting to U.S. fixed income by health care plans contributed to their relatively low performance."

Highlights

• 99% of plans in the BNY Mellon Master Trust universe returned positive results during the quarter.  Over the prior 12-month period, 96% of plans were in the black.
• 16% of plans matched or outperformed the custom policy return for Q1. For the full year, 51% of plans outperformed the custom policy.
• Public plans recorded the highest median return for the quarter (4.83%), followed by Taft-Hartley plans (4.74%).
• U.S. equities posted a quarterly median return of 11.03%, versus the Russell 3000 Index return of 11.07%. Non-U.S. equities posted a median return of 4.00%, behind the Russell Developed ex US Large Cap Index result of 4.86%. U.S. fixed income had a median return of 0.24%, versus the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index return of -0.12%.  Non-U.S. fixed income posted a median return of -0.62%, compared to the Citigroup Non-U.S. World Government Bond Index return of -3.83%.  Real estate posted a median return of 2.73%, versus the NCREIF Property Index result of 2.57%. 

The average asset allocation in the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe for the first quarter was: U.S. equity 27%, U.S. fixed income 27%, non-U.S. equity 17%, non-U.S. fixed income 2%, real estate 3%, cash 1%, and alternatives/other 23%.

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 36 countries and more than 100 markets. As of March 31, 2013, BNY Mellon had $26.3 trillion in assets under custody and/or 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 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 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.

SOURCE BNY Mellon