BOSTON, April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — The funded status of thetypical U.S. corporate pension plan in March inched up 0.5percentage points to 88.5 percent, according to monthly statisticspublished by BNY Mellon Asset Management.

Although the gain in March was small, this was the seventhstraight month of improvement, according to the BNY Mellon PensionSummary Report for March 2011. So far this year, the funding ratiofor the typical corporate plan has improved 4.2 percentagepoints.

Assets for the typical corporate pension plan were unchanged inMarch, as the 0.5 percent increase in U.S. equity markets wasoffset by a 2.2 percent decline in international developed markets,according to the report. Liabilities decreased 0.5 percent duringthe month as the Aa corporate discount rate increased from 5.54percent to 5.61 percent, the report noted.

Plan liabilities are calculated using the yields of long-terminvestment grade corporate bonds. Higher yields on these bondsresult in lower liabilities.

“The funded status of U.S. corporate pension plans has now beenabove 85 percent for three months in a row,” said Peter Austin,executive director of BNY Mellon Pension Services, the pensionservices arm of BNY Mellon Asset Management. “We are ever so closeto the 90 percent funded-status milestone, which was last achievedin October 2008. Sponsors expect funding levels to continue toimprove, and are expressing strong interest in reviewing assetallocation options for their plans.”

Austin noted that many plans are weighing the advantages ofimplementing risk reduction strategies through higher bondallocations that reduce future funding volatility versus pursuingadditional returns through equities, alternatives and otherreturn-seeking asset classes to further improve their funded statusin a rising rate environment.

BNY Mellon Asset Management is the umbrellaorganization for BNY Mellon's affiliated investment managementfirms and global distribution companies.

BNY Mellon is a global financial servicescompany focused on helping clients manage and service theirfinancial assets, operating in 36 countries and serving more than100 markets. BNY Mellon is a leading provider of financial servicesfor institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals,providing superior asset management and wealth management, assetservicing, issuer services, clearing services and treasury servicesthrough a worldwide client-focused team. It has $25.0 trillion inassets under custody and administration and $1.17 trillion inassets under management, services $12.0 trillion in outstandingdebt and processes global payments averaging $1.6 trillion per day.BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York MellonCorporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available atwww.bnymellon.com.