BNY Mellon disappoints as first quarter revenue slides by a fifth
US investment bank BNY Mellon reported net profits of $765m (£588m) in the first quarter, down by 18 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Fee revenue fell by three per cent as the firm took a $88m hit from cutting back on business and winding down operations in Russia, the bank said.
As profits took a hit investors received a pay out of $0.86 per share, down by earnings of $1.01 per share in the previous quarter.
“We are in an increasingly uncertain environment, including the war in Ukraine, volatile markets, and persistently higher inflation which will require more meaningful monetary policy adjustments,” commented chief executive officer Todd Gibbons.
“Throughout the quarter, we took actions in the investment securities portfolio to temper the immediate impact to capital from higher interest rates. And we expect higher interest rates to be a positive for both fee and net interest revenue going forward,” Gibbons added.
The bank’s pre-tax operating margin narrowed to 23 per cent from almost 30 per cent in the first quarter of 2021.
BNY Mellon said a dip in fee revenue resulted from lost business and the unfavourable impact of a stronger US dollar and lower foreign exchange revenue which was partially offset by higher market values.
Net interest revenue jumped by seven per cent primarily reflecting higher interest rates on interest-earning assets, a change in asset mix
and lower funding expenses. BNY Mellon shares are down by 2.73 per cent today.
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