Dive Brief:

• BNY Mellon will award 10 shares of the bank’s stock in February 2023 to each of its eligible rank-and-file employees, the bank said in a press release Wednesday.
• The New York City-based bank will put the shares into Fidelity stock plan accounts for about 90% of staff, CEO Robin Vince wrote in a memo to employees, according to Reuters. The bank’s shares closed at about $46 on Tuesday. That represents a 21% drop from the beginning of this year, Bloomberg reported.
• “We all contribute to BNY Mellon’s positive outcomes, and equity participation is an important way to feel connected to our growing value,” Vince said in the company’s press release. “Our firm touches 20% of the world’s investable assets … It’s especially meaningful that, with this new program, many employees will become first-time participants in the capital markets we help power.”

Dive Insight:

BNY Mellon is hardly the first bank to offer stock bonuses on a broad scale to its workforce. TD gave a one-time bonus of five shares in October 2021 to its non-executive employees based in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Bank of America followed suit in January, offering bonuses of 65 to 600 restricted stock units to roughly 97% of its staff. The award varied depending on compensation.

BNY Mellon’s move stands out, however, for its timing. While TD and Bank of America rolled out their rank-and-file awards at a high-revenue time, BNY is doing so as times get leaner across the industry.

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citi are all considering reducing bonus pools for investment bankers by 30%, according to Bloomberg. That downturn may be greater overseas. Morgan Stanley plans to cut Asia-based investment bankers’ annual bonuses by as much as half, Reuters reported Monday.

Rumors are also circulating that Goldman Sachs may be cutting its bonus pool for senior employees by as much as half. Goldman, Barclays, Citi and Bank of America are also considering giving no bonus to its lowest performers, in perhaps a hint that they may be targeted for workforce reduction, Bloomberg reported.  

The stock award was announced on a day when BNY Mellon also bumped up its parental leave policy. Under the bank’s new rules, all new parents will receive 16 weeks of paid leave — up from 12 weeks for the primary caregiver, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

That puts it on par with JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. JPMorgan increased its parental leave to 16 weeks in November. Goldman Sachs, by comparison, offers 20. Citi offers 16 weeks for “birthing” parents and eight weeks for “non-birthing” parents, according to Bloomberg.

BNY Mellon, which oversees $42.2 trillion in assets, counted roughly 51,000 employees as of Sept. 30.