Shareholder Spotlight : BNY Mellon - A Dive into the Filth of Finance

Look, I’ve worked in some shitholes. Dirty places. Places were lying is native tongue. But not much comes close to the festering pile of bollocks that is the Bank of New York Mellon. This isn’t some posh wanker’s tea party; this is brown residue on the sewer pipe of global finance, where suited pricks in glass towers play god with your pension, your savings, and the planet’s future, all while lining their pockets with blood money. BNY Mellon, or as I like to call them, the Bloody New York Money Launderers, have been caught with their hands in the till so many times it’s a wonder they’re still standing. And get this: they own a chunk of shares in Cummins Inc., our least favourite diesel-spewing, discriminatory, veteran-firing bastard of a company that’s just paid out nearly two billion bucks for cheating on emissions tests, pumping poison into the air we all breathe. It’s yet another firm in the Cummins ecosystem – think of it as a web of corporations with their own twisted take on ethics, where “doing the right thing” means dodging regs and screwing the little guy. If Cummins is the engine revving up environmental Armageddon, BNY Mellon is the fuel tank sloshing with dirty cash.

I’m not here to sugar-coat this shit. This is an exposé, and unlike Cummins’ PR videos, there’s no filters. Be warned though that this authenticity and their spin do share something – the ability to leave you feeling queasy. We’ll peel back the layers on this corporate behemoth, from their FX fiddling to bribery via bogus internships, all while explaining the basics so even your nan can follow along without glazing over. No dumbing down, just straight talk. Buckle up; it’s going to be a bumpy, sweary ride.

The FX Fiasco: Robbing Pensions Blind

Picture this: you’re a hardworking teacher or firefighter, socking away cash in a pension fund for that rainy day. BNY Mellon, as a custody bank – that’s fancy talk for a massive vault guardian holding trillions in assets for investors – promises to handle your foreign exchange trades fairly. FX is just swapping currencies, like turning pounds into dollars when you holiday abroad, but on a mega scale for big funds.

But these wankers didn’t play fair. For years, they systematically overcharged clients by quoting the shittiest rates of the day instead of the best ones available. It’s like going to a market stall for bananas and getting charged prime rib prices while the vendor smirks. Whistle-blowers blew the lid off this in 2011, revealing a scheme that milked billions from public funds. U.S. taxpayers got fucked hardest – think schools and hospitals short-changed. The bank settled for a whopping 714 million dollars without admitting guilt, because why own up when you can just pay to make it go away? Outrageous, innit? This wasn’t a one-off cock-up; it was deliberate, with internal emails showing they knew exactly what they were doing. Fuck these guys and their “best execution” bullshit.

Money Laundering and the Russian Connection

Back in the 90s and early 2000s, BNY Mellon got tangled in what some called “Russiagate” – not the Trump bollocks, but a proper money-washing scandal. Rogue employees funnelled dodgy Russian cash through the bank, turning dirty roubles into clean dollars. We’re talking billions siphoned from post-Soviet chaos, possibly linked to organised crime.

The bank coughed up 14 million to Russia and another 38 million in U.S. penalties, again without saying “sorry, we bollocksed it.” It’s the financial equivalent of a dodgy kebab van serving up mystery meat – you know it’s off, but they keep slinging it. For the everyday punter, this means your bank might be propping up oligarchs while you struggle with overdraft fees. Gritty? It’s filthy.

The Cum-Ex Tax Dodge: Stealing from the Taxpayer’s Pocket

Fast forward to 2022, and German cops raid BNY Mellon’s Frankfurt digs over the Cum-Ex scandal. Cum-Ex? It’s a clever – read: slimy – trading trick where banks and investors claim double tax refunds on dividends they never paid tax on in the first place. Think of it as nicking from the communal pot at a pub quiz; Europe’s governments lost billions.

BNY Mellon was knee-deep, facilitating trades that screwed taxpayers. No convictions yet, but the probe’s ongoing, and it’s another black mark on their ledger. Why does this matter to you? Because when banks game the system, it’s your taxes plugging the holes – higher bills for schools, roads, and the NHS. These bastards treat ethics like an optional side dish.

Bribery in Broad Daylight: Internships for Favours

Now here’s the real pisser. In 2015, the SEC nailed BNY Mellon for violating anti-bribery laws by handing out plush internships to relatives of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund officials. Sovereign wealth funds are like national piggy banks for oil-rich countries, investing billions globally.

These weren’t merit-based gigs; they were straight-up bribes to snag business. One intern was dubbed “not qualified” internally, yet got the spot anyway. First case of its kind – internships as currency for corruption. The bank paid 14.8 million to settle, no admission of wrongdoing. It’s outrageous hypocrisy: preaching diversity and opportunity while rigging the game for the elite. For the average Joe applying for jobs, it’s a kick in the teeth knowing spots go to connected kids.

ESG Lies: Greenwashing the Greed

BNY Mellon loves banging on about ESG – Environmental, Social, and Governance investing, basically putting money into “good” stuff like clean energy and fair labour. But in 2022, the SEC slapped them with a 1.5 million fine for misleading investors. They claimed funds integrated ESG factors, but nah, not really.It’s like a chef claiming organic ingredients while using factory-farmed crap. Investors thought they were backing ethical plays, but got shafted. In a world burning up from climate change, this fakery is criminal. And tying back, their investments in arms dealers like Elbit Systems – 13 million bucks worth – fuelled protests in 2023, with activists chucking fake blood at their HQ. Pro-Palestine groups called them out for bankrolling conflict. Ethical? My arse.Discrimination and the Toxic WorkplaceInside the beast, it’s no better. Federal probes in 2022 found BNY Mellon shortchanging female, Black, and Hispanic staff in pay – systemic bias, mate. They paid 1.9 million in back wages, but that’s peanuts compared to the damage.Whistleblowers get the boot too: execs fired for flagging dodgy deals, like illegal asset moves. One sued over age and gender discrimination after backing a harassment claim. And a Black employee sacked for social media posts amid racism allegations? The court backed the bank, but it reeks of suppression. For workers, it’s a grinder – layoffs in thousands, AI threats, and a culture where speaking up gets you shown the door.

Reporting Fails and More Dirty Tricks

The hits keep coming. In 2024, the CFTC fined them five million for botching swap transaction reports – basically, not telling regulators about massive trades, violating prior orders. Their subsidiary Pershing got dinged 175,000 for ignoring fractional share reports over 26 years.Then there’s the 614 million settlement in 2014 for fraudulent mortgage lending, and ongoing suits over unregistered securities (17.7 billion worth) and trade secret theft. They’re even squabbling over a 890 million data contract dispute. Pattern? Profits over people, every time.And don’t forget the Cummins link: BNY Mellon holds over a million shares in this engine giant, which just settled for 1.675 billion in civil penalties plus repairs on 600,000 Ram trucks for emissions cheating. Defeat devices that bypassed clean air rules, spewing NOx into the skies. Cummins claims no bad faith, but come on – it’s VW Dieselgate 2.0. BNY Mellon’s investment portfolio is a rogue’s gallery of ethical trainwrecks.

The Big Picture: Why This Shit Matters

In the end, BNY Mellon’s rap sheet totals over 1.65 billion in penalties since 2000, covering everything from fraud to environmental slaps. They’re not some rogue trader; they’re systemic, embedded in the financial plumbing that runs the world. For you and me, it means higher costs, polluted air, and a rigged game where the house always wins.

Research has had me see corruption in every corner of the globe, but this lot take the piss. Time to boycott the bastards. Really. Finance shouldn’t be a free-for-all for the filthy rich. Fuck that.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Shareholder Spotlight : BNY Mellon – A Dive into the Filth of Finance