Bank of New York Mellon said its third-quarter profit unexpectedly rose, helped by a tax court decision.
Net income increased 34% to $967m, or 82 cents a share, from $720m, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier, the New York-based bank said today.
Excluding the one-time tax benefit, BNY Mellon earned $706m, or 60 cents a share, compared with the 58 cent estimate by 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Chief executive Gerald Hassell has been focused on increasing the assets the bank oversees, cutting costs and raising prices for existing customers to combat the impact of interest rates that have been near zero since 2008.
Low rates have held down revenue from securities lending, cut income from BNY Mellon’s investment portfolio and forced the bank to waive fees on money funds.
Bank of New York Mellon is a custody banks and it keeps records, tracks performance and lends securities for institutional investors. The bank also manages investments for individuals and institutions.
In 2011, Hassell trimmed jobs and set a target to save as much as $700m by 2015 through operational improvements.
BNY Mellon earlier this month was one of 11 large US lenders that submitted “living wills” to regulators which show how they would wind-down if they should ever go bankrupt.
The bank said in any of its scenarios, “the core business lines and critical operations would continue in operation in substantially the same manner as prior to resolution.”
