Layoffs coming at BNY Mellon

BNY Mellon is likely to lay off employees, possibly by the end of June, but details on who may be impacted by the cost-cutting move are still sketchy.

The reductions in staff will be in different parts of the company, and will be achieved via attrition, actual layoffs and halting new hires, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The number of layoffs was called “substantial” by the Pittsburgh Business Times. As of now, BNY Mellon expects to make a charge of between $80 million and $100 million for severance costs during Q2, according to statements made last week at the UBS Global Financial Services Conference in New York. The layoffs would save about $100 million a year.

“We’re not disclosing locations, numbers or groups,” Ron Gruendl, a spokesman, told the Business Times.

On the other hand, BNY Mellon now has a few hundred positions open in Pittsburgh, where it has more than 7,600 employees. In addition, the bank employs about 1,300 in Massachusetts, with 22 current openings at its Westborough offices, according to the Worcester Business Journal.Globally, BNY Mellon has about 1,000 available jobs. The total number of employees is around 50,000.

Earlier this year, CEO Gerald Hassell stated how “regulatory and compliance expenses have risen substantially.” During the recent quarter, staff expenses were higher than during the same period a year earlier.

It has also been reported that BNY Mellon may also sell its corporate trust business. That unit now has about 3,500 employees working in 61 offices. The sales price would likely be $2.5 billion, or greater, based on news reports.

Last month, some shareholders complained the bank should do more to cut costs and suggested selling the asset management business, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

There are reports too that the bank has entered into a contract to sell its headquarters in lower Manhattan to Macklowe Properties for $585 million. The deal should be completed by the end of Q3. The headquarters will be moved to a new location. It was reported too that BNY Mellon will sell its stake in a fund-management, joint venture in China, according to The Wall Street Journal. The likely buyer is Shanghai Leadbank Asset Management Co.

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“It's a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money.”

-      Albert Camus