By Dave Sebastian

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. said its profit fell for the recent quarter as revenue decreased, partly due to lower interest rates on interest-earning assets.

The company on Wednesday posted a fourth-quarter profit of $750 million before preferred stock dividends, or 79 cents a share, compared with $1.44 billion, or $1.52 a share, in the same period last year. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 88 cents a share. The results include $159 million in litigations, severance, losses on business sales and real-estate charges, the company said.

Revenue fell almost 20% to $3.84 billion. Analysts were looking for $3.83 billion.

Fee revenue fell to $3.12 billion from $3.97 billion, reflecting the gain on sale of an equity investment in the year-ago period.

Net interest revenue fell about 17% to $680 million due to lower interest rates on interest-earning assets and the effect of hedging activities, the company said.

"The full-year impact of low interest rates will be a significant headwind in 2021," Chief Executive Todd Gibbons said.

The $15 million in provision of credit losses, compared with negative $8 million in the same period last year, reflects additional reserves in commercial real-estate portfolio, the company said.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-20-21 0701ET