In reality, BNYM should have reduced headcount long ago. Jonn Bogle told us in the 70s that throwing darts at a dartboard would get you returns that beat 80% of actively managed portfolios, and then went on to prove it. The investment acumen of BNY Mellon is not only less than spectacular, it's been downright terrible. Not only has it failed to deliver clients profits, it's consistently failed to deliver on its basic promise of superior investor performance, and the average portfolio gets handily beaten by Vanguard and Fidelity Indexing time and time again merely by virtue of tax savings in the right vehicles as well as low expense ratios compared to BNYM's front end, deferred, and level loads. Anyone with a zero trade fee Robin Hood account with free investment tools can accomplish that.
The value of BNYM's employees to the millennial and Gen Z first time investor? Not only zero, it's actually negative. The investment tools that Intuit cross sells them via Mint.com when they file their taxes via TurboTax online are more valuable. Low expense fees and stuffing as much as they can into into a Roth or tax avoidance vehicle is the name of the game. BNYM's fund offerings are just awful awful awful, and no one informed should be investing in them at all.
How bad is it? 91% of BNYM funds have underperform their funds since inception.
0% of funds have outperformed their benchmark funds since inception consistently enough to give 95% confidence that outperformance will persist.
For wealthier clients in asset management? Liability protection, Trusts, yes, it's useful, but 10% of the superstars drive 95% of the business, and everyone else is just window dressing. The company doesn't really need you to make the numbers. Honestly, clients would be better served by self-serve web software, but they're so rich they can't be bothered. Even better? Just toss everything into a Fidelity or Vanguard Target Retirement Fund which automatically rebalances your portfolio and forget it. You'll almost certainly do better than supporting someone's paycheck at BNYM.