Bank of New York Mellon Corp said first-quarter profit fell by more than half as fees tumbled, and the bank slashed its dividend 63 percent in an effort to build capital.

Net income attributable to common shareholders declined 57 percent to $322 million, or 28 cents per share, from $746 million, or 65 cents, a year earlier, the bank reported on Tuesday.

The latest results included 21 cents per share of charges to write down goodwill and investments, and 4 cents per share of merger costs. The bank said revenue fell 22 percent to $2.93 billion.

Analysts on average expected profit of 63 cents per share on revenue of $3.67 billion. It was not immediately clear on what basis the forecasts were made.

Before the impact of common stock dividends, net income fell 51 percent to $370 million.

Bank of New York Mellon reduced its quarterly dividend to 9 cents per share from 24 cents.

Citing a difficult market environment, Chief Executive Robert Kelly said the decision to lower the payout was not made lightly, and reflects our commitment to build capital and repay the $3 billion of taxpayer funds received in a bailout.

Shares of Bank of New York Mellon closed Monday at $28.03 on the New York Stock Exchange. They have fallen 1 percent this year, compared with a 29 percent drop in the KBW Bank Index <.BKX>.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by John Wallace)

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