Item 1. BUSINESS

Description of Business

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, a Delaware corporation (NYSE symbol: BK), is a global company headquartered in New York, New York, with $47.8 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $2.0 trillion in assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2023. With its subsidiaries, BNY Mellon has been in business since 1784.

We divide our businesses into three principal business segments: Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services and Investment and Wealth Management. We also have an Other segment, which includes the leasing portfolio, corporate treasury activities (including our securities portfolio), derivatives and other trading activity, corporate and bank-owned life insurance, renewable energy and other corporate investments and certain business exits.

For a further discussion of BNY Mellon’s lines of business, products and services, see the “Overview,” “Summary of financial highlights,” “Fee and other revenue,” “Review of business segments” and “International operations” sections in the MD&A section in the Annual Report and Notes 24 and 25 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in the Annual Report, of which portions are incorporated herein by reference. See the “Available Information” section on page 1 of this Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference, for a description of how to access financial and other information regarding BNY Mellon.

Our two principal U.S. banking subsidiaries engage in trust and custody activities, investment management services, banking services and various securities-related activities. Our two principal U.S. banking subsidiaries are:

• The Bank of New York Mellon, a New York state-chartered bank, which houses our Securities Services businesses, including Asset Servicing and Issuer Services and certain Market and Wealth Services businesses, including Treasury Services and Clearance and Collateral Management, as well as the bank-advised business of Investment Management; and

• BNY Mellon, National Association (“BNY Mellon, N.A.”), a national bank, which houses

our Wealth Management business and certain activities of our Pershing businesses.

We have four other U.S. bank and/or trust company subsidiaries concentrating on trust products and services across the United States: The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, National Association, BNY Mellon Trust of Delaware, BNY Mellon Investment Servicing Trust Company and BNY Mellon Trust Company of Illinois. Most of our Investment Management business and Pershing businesses are direct or indirect non-bank subsidiaries of BNY Mellon.

Each of our bank and trust company subsidiaries is subject to regulation by the applicable bank regulatory authority. The deposits of our U.S. banking subsidiaries are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to the extent provided by law.

BNY Mellon’s banking subsidiaries outside the United States are subject to regulation by non-U.S. regulatory authorities in addition to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”). The Bank of New York Mellon SA/NV (“BNY Mellon SA/NV”) is the main banking subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon in continental Europe. It is authorized and regulated as a credit institution by the European Central Bank and the National Bank of Belgium under the Single Supervisory Mechanism and is also supervised by the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority for conduct of business rules. BNY Mellon SA/NV has its principal office in Brussels and branches in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Copenhagen, Denmark; Dublin, Ireland; Frankfurt, Germany; the City of Luxembourg, Luxembourg; Madrid, Spain; Milan, Italy; Paris, France; and Wroclaw, Poland. BNY Mellon SA/NV’s activities are in the Securities Services and Market and Wealth Services segments of BNY Mellon with a focus on global custody, asset servicing and collateral management. For additional discussion, see the “MD&A – Supervision and Regulation” section in the Annual Report.

Primary Subsidiaries

Exhibit 21.1 to this Form 10-K presents a list of BNY Mellon’s primary subsidiaries as of Dec. 31, 2023.

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Human Capital Management

Our enduring ambition is to build the best global team—one that is inclusive of varying perspectives, backgrounds and experiences, and represents the increasingly varied markets and clients we serve. Our core objective is to empower our teams to do their best work, make unique contributions and build purposeful careers in an environment where they are treated with fairness, dignity and respect.

Belonging and Inclusion

Belonging and inclusion is integral to who we are as a company, what our people experience as members of our global team, and how we serve all of our stakeholders. Our strategy is not separate, but embedded in the way we do business, our operating model, talent experience and client value proposition.

We aim for fair inclusion by working with professional associations, educational institutions, think tanks and nonprofits to deepen engagement with Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, LGBT+, neuro-diverse individuals, people with disabilities and talent from other underrepresented backgrounds.

At the end of 2023, women were 40% of BNY Mellon’s global workforce and 44% of BNY Mellon’s U.S. workforce. Further, 39% of BNY Mellon’s U.S. workforce were from U.S. underrepresented ethnic and/or racial backgrounds.

At the end of 2023, 40% of BNY Mellon’s Executive Committee were women and 28% of BNY Mellon’s Executive Committee were from underrepresented ethnic and/or racial backgrounds.

Our Board of Directors is committed to fostering and maintaining its diversity. At the end of 2023, 40% of our Board of Directors were women and 30% of our Board of Directors was composed of individuals from underrepresented ethnic and/or racial backgrounds. In addition, four of BNY Mellon’s six standing committees of its Board of Directors are chaired by a diverse director based on race or gender.

Retention, Training and Development

We seek to attract and retain employees by providing a rewarding employee experience. We recognize that employees seek a supportive, safe and inclusive workplace, and we continually evaluate our employee

engagement and wellbeing programs in an effort to meet those expectations. We offer a 401(k) plan for U.S. employees and other defined contribution retirement plans worldwide, where consistent with market practice. We also maintain defined benefit plans for certain current and former employees, some of which are frozen (including in the U.S.). At Dec. 31, 2023, we had approximately 43,100 participants in our 401(k) plan, including former employees. In addition, our frozen U.S. defined benefit pension plan covered approximately 7,400 U.S. participants, and our non-U.S. defined benefit plans (some frozen) covered approximately 18,000 non-U.S. participants.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation has provided eligible employees an award of 10 restricted stock units (“RSUs”) or BK Shares. BK Shares is an equity grant that allows for eligible employees to become equity owners and share in the Company’s success.

At key career transition points, from internship to executive management, we offer programs and development opportunities to help employees advance their careers and progress within our organization. Our extensive training and development opportunities are designed to enable employees to grow professionally and advance within our organization.

We engage with employees to encourage innovation, show appreciation for their contributions, and gather feedback on how we can build a more rewarding, inclusive workplace. For example, we regularly gather feedback through an all-employee survey.

Employee Wellbeing, Health and Safety

BNY Mellon’s holistic approach to employee wellbeing is designed to create a healthy, resilient and vibrant workforce. Our programs are designed to provide employees access to resources to help improve their physical health, emotional resilience, financial wellbeing and social connections. Further, we work to ensure the safety of our employees and clients in all of our facilities.

BNY Mellon fosters a high-performance culture and supports employee work/life balance, while also delivering on our regulatory requirements and business imperatives. We endeavor to promote a collaborative and effective workplace for our people,

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while continuing to embrace the concept of flexibility and enhancing our culture and commercial impact.

Employees and International Operations

Globally, at Dec. 31, 2023, BNY Mellon and its subsidiaries had approximately 53,400 full-time employees.

We pride ourselves on providing dedicated service through our multilingual sales, marketing and client service teams. At Dec. 31, 2023, approximately 55% of our total employees (full-time and part-time employees) were based outside the U.S., with approximately 11,000 employees in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”), approximately 18,400 employees in the Asia-Pacific region (“APAC”) and approximately 800 employees in other global locations, primarily Brazil.

Supervision and Regulation

Information on the supervision and regulation of BNY Mellon can be found in the “MD&A – Supervision and Regulation” section in the Annual Report, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Competition

BNY Mellon is subject to competition in all aspects and areas of our business. Our Securities Services and Market and Wealth Services businesses compete with domestic and international financial services firms that offer custody services, corporate trust services, clearing services, collateral management services, credit services, securities brokerage, foreign exchange services, derivatives, depositary receipt services and integrated cash management solutions and related products, as well as a wide range of technology service providers, such as financial services data processing firms. Our Investment and Wealth Management business competes with domestic and international investment management and wealth management firms, hedge funds, investment banking companies and other financial

services companies, including trust banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies, as well as a wide range of technology service providers.

Competition in the financial services industry continues to be intense. Competition is based on a number of factors including, among others, customer service and convenience, transaction execution, capital or access to capital, quality and range of products and services offered, performance, technological innovation and expertise, price, reputation and lending limits. Competition also varies based on the types of clients, customers, industries and geographies served. Our ability to continue to compete effectively also depends in large part on our ability to attract new employees, retain, develop and motivate our existing employees, amid heightened regulatory restrictions and an inflationary environment. Our competitive position may be affected by institutions that are not similarly subject to extensive regulation, and as further technological advances enable more companies to provide financial services.

For additional discussion regarding competition, see “MD&A – Risk Factors – Operational Risk – Our business may be adversely affected if we are unable to attract, retain, develop and motivate employees” and “MD&A – Risk Factors – Strategic Risk – We are subject to competition in all aspects of our business, which could negatively affect our ability to maintain or increase our profitability” in the Annual Report, which are incorporated herein by reference.