BNY Wins Debit-Card Management Contract With Treasury Department

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. was selected as the financial agent for a US government program that gives about 3.4 million Americans access to a wide variety of federal benefits.

BNY is taking over the Direct Express prepaid debit-card program, administered by the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, on Jan. 3, the New York-based bank said in a statement Thursday. Comerica Inc., which had been the provider since 2008, announced its likely lossof the contract in July, sending shares of the Dallas-based firm plunging.

“It really just reiterates what we’re trying to do — to ...