BNY Mellon CEO Backs Dividend Boost
NEW YORK (
) --
Bank of New York Mellon
(BNY) - Get Report
CEO Robert Kelly is looking to pay a higher dividend and conduct share buybacks in 2011, he said at the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference in New York on Wednesday.
Kelly said he was not sure how -- or when -- regulators would allow dividend hikes and added much would depend on how banks faired during their second set of stress tests.
The Dodd-Frank bill passed in July requires annual stress tests for large financial firms. The
Federal Reserve
has indicated that only banks that pass this hurdle will be allowed to increase dividends.
"I think our payout ratio is about 15 percent today and we would like that to go higher," Kelly said. "The bigger opportunity would be on share buybacks which would be a bigger priority for us."
Kelly also stated that he believes the bank is done making acquisitions for the moment.
"
We were pretty busy in 2010," Kelly said. "Frankly, we put the advantage of our balance sheet strength to improve our core services. We have got to integrate these things, and clearly it is better for shareholders if we hold onto that capital."
--Written by Maria Woehr in New York.
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