OREANDA-NEWS. On Tuesday, April 12, Chairman and CEO Gerald Hassell hosted BNY Mellon's 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders at the company's 101 Barclay Street location in New York.

“Last year, I stood at this same podium and said I recognize that investors expect to see an improvement in our financial performance – and we were confident we could deliver on the targets we set at Investor Day in late 2014,” Hassell told shareholders. “I am pleased to report that we delivered on those expectations.

“In difficult market conditions, more so than reflected in the underlying assumptions of our Investor Day targets, we exceeded what we set out to achieve. In fact, I’d argue we’ve delivered what would be considered very good results in almost any environment,” Hassell continued.

BNY Mellon’s total shareholder return (TSR) for 2015 was more than 3 percent, outpacing the trust peer average, the median of proxy peers and the S&P Financials Index. Over a 3-year period, our company’s TSR of 69 percent also outperformed in each of those same comparisons.

In the 2016 proxy voting, the director nominees and say-on-pay resolution were overwhelmingly approved by shareholders, and a shareholder proposal to make the board Chair an independent member of the Board was not approved. 

Other highlights from Hassell’s update:

  • Hassell acknowledged that revenue growth has been a challenge across the industry, and it is BNY Mellon’s top priority. While 2 percent revenue growth in 2015 was below the company’s three-year target of 3.5-4.5 percent, Hassell pointed out that, on a constant currency basis, which excludes the impact of a stronger U.S. dollar, our growth was higher.
    “We have a heightened focus on profitable and disciplined revenue growth – not just driving gross revenues or expanding market share at any cost,” Hassell said. “We are investing in products and solutions with upside potential,” he said, pointing to the company’s collateral management capabilities, which he believes can provide unique value and help buy- and sell-side clients solve pressing problems.
  • The company’s success in executing our business improvement process is creating a better client experience, improving margins in our businesses and lowering expenses in nearly every category. It has helped lower noninterest expense by 2 percent on an adjusted basis each of the past two years.1
  • Hassell encouraged investors to read BNY Mellon’s recently released inaugural People Report. He cited significant progress in building a robust leadership talent pipeline, improving and integrating talent, succession and development planning and strengthening the link between pay and performance.
  • Innovation at BNY Mellon was a major focus. “We are building a digital enterprise that will dramatically increase the speed at which we can respond to rapidly changing client needs, and position ourselves as a valued partner to fintech firms,” Hassell said. He told investors that NEXEN, the next-generation ecosystem being rolled out, “is up and running, not up and coming.” More than 2,300 users representing more than 950 clients are now using NEXEN. The company’s goal and expectation is to be the platform of choice for institutional services.

“It’s a tough environment, no doubt. It will be critical for us to drive efficiencies and stay focused on executing on our strategic priorities extraordinarily well. We think we’ve shown we can do just that. I am very confident about our future,” Hassell concluded.

This information may contain forward-looking statements, which may be expressed in a variety of ways, include the use of future or present tense language. These statements and other forward-looking statements are based upon current beliefs and expectations and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond BNY Mellon’s control). Factors that could cause BNY Mellon’s results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the risk factors set forth in BNY Mellon’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015, and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this piece, speak only as of the date of publication and BNY Mellon undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after that date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.