The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe returned a median 9.4% in the fourth quarter, its third consecutive quarter of robust performance.
The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe, made up of 483 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft–Hartley and health care plans, offers peer comparisons of performance by plan type and size. It has a total market value of some $2.4 trillion and an average plan size of more than $8 billion.
In aggregate, U.S. Master Trust Universe plans reported a one-year return of 13.2%, exceeding the three-year annualized return of 8.7% and the five-year annualized return of 9.7%.
With a return of 10.4% in the fourth quarter, endowment plans reported the best performance for the second quarter in a row.
"Endowment performance was again supported by high allocations to alternative investments and underweighting of fixed income investments," Frances Barney, BNY Mellon's head of global risk solutions, said in a statement.
Endowment plans had the highest allocation to alternative assets of any plan type, according to BNY Mellon. The average plan in the Master Trust Universe allocated 23% of its assets to alternatives and 29% to U.S. fixed income.
Corporate plans continued to underperform other plan types, with a return of 8.1%, because of higher allocations to fixed-income investments and lower ones to alternative investments. Average corporate plan allocated 46% of their assets to U.S. fixed income and 13% to alternatives.
