Treasury Hires BoNY-Mellon for TARP

The Treasury Department said it hired Bank of New York Mellon to provide custodial, accounting, and auction management services for the fledgling Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Mellon bank also will serve as a financial agent for the troubled mortgage assets Treasury purchases and provide pricing and valuation services to TARP. "In addition, the financial agent will support acquisition of securitized assets by serving as auction manager and conducting reverse auctions for the troubled assets," Treasury said. In related news, Treasury has issued executive compensation limits for participating TARP firms. Under the three-year contract, TARP's financial agent will track executive compensation at firms that sell assets or receive capital injections from Treasury. Separately, LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Richmond, Va., said it is competing to be one of the TARP whole loan asset managers. Treasury is expected to select its first asset managers this week.