In his first public appearance as the new chairman and CEO of Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Gerald Hassell defended his bank’s reputation at the Barclays financial conference in New York yesterday.
Hassell emphasized that BNY Mellon, which is the largest custody bank in the U.S., intends to fight lawsuits alleging that it unfairly charged customers on foreign exchange transactions.
He also said BNY Mellon will fight allegations that it was a negligent trustee for investors settling mortgage claims with Bank of America Corp. Twenty-two major investors approved BNY Mellon’s $8.5 billion settlement with BofA, but New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says other investors affected by the settlement were excluded from the decision.
“We don’t think we’ve done anything out of line,” said Hassell, who assumed the CEO position two weeks ago, after former chairman and CEO Robert Kelly unexpectedly resigned.
Read more about how BNY Mellon is facing scrutiny in the Wall Street Journal.
