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 -FAQs-
| What
is State Street Corporation and what does it do? |
State Street Corporation is among the world's leading specialists
in serving the management and administration needs of institutional
investors.
Founded in 1792, State Street has a strong tradition of reliable
and innovative services and products. Today, we support our
customers' investment strategies by combining trust, investment
management and securities processing capabilities with information
technology.
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| What
is State Street's approach to servicing financial assets? |
In 1924 State Street was appointed custodian of the first U.S.
mutual fund. Today, with $10.1 trillion of assets under custody,
we are still a pioneer in the custody business, a leading servicer
of financial assets worldwide.
Information is vital to our role as custodian. Rather than simply
reporting transaction processing activity, State Street delivers
information captured by multiple systems, which our customers
can then download to perform analyses in their own software
applications. More and more, customers look to us for value-added,
decision-oriented information. It can be the edge that allows
them to succeed as financial markets continue to evolve into
an electronic, real-time, paperless environment.
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| Who
are State Street's customers? |
We serve a broad cross-section of customers: institutional investors
and investment firms that buy and sell securities, corporations
and government agencies that issue investment securities, and
security broker/dealers who manage mutual funds and intermediate
between buyers and sellers of stocks and bonds.
Major customer groups include securities firms, large corporations,
insurance companies, banks, government agencies and non-profit
organizations.
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| What
specific services does State Street provide? |
In addition to execution of trade settlement and safekeeping,
we provide a fully integrated array of services that help our
customers execute and monitor complicated global investment
strategies.
Our services include securities processing, sophisticated multicurrency
accounting, recordkeeping, performance measurement and analytics
measurement, global securities lending and daily pricing. Our
capital markets and treasury services are an integral part of
our customers' global investment strategies. We provide a full
range of capabilities, including foreign exchange, short-term
investment and cash management services.
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| What
is State Street's approach to managing assets? |
State Street currently has $1.4 trillion of assets under management,
making us the third largest money manager in the U.S., and a
worldwide leader in the investment management marketplace. We
built our asset management business on the implementation of
computer-based investment strategies for institutional investors.
Increasingly, we are becoming a core manager, with index, enhanced
and fully active strategies. In fact, we have been a pioneer
in the development of U.S. and international index funds.
To meet our customers' various liquidity needs, State Street offers
multiple fund pools.
We also serve as the investment advisor to SSgA Funds, our own
series of mutual funds.
In New England, State Street is a leading trustee and money
manager for individuals, endowment funds and foundations.
As well, we provide a full range of planned gift management
services for some of the foremost educational, medical, environmental
and religious non-profit organizations throughout the United
States.
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| What
role does technology play at State Street? |
Through the innovative use of leading-edge technology, State
Street gives customers the information they need to succeed in
today's fast-paced financial environment. We use our technology
leadership position to provide our customers with near-real time
information for every phase of the investment process —
pre-trade, trade and post-trade.
We provide these services through a proprietary worldwide computer
and telecommunications network that features a single window
on custody, cash and accounting data. This network delivers
consistent worldwide reporting — whether a customer invests
in one country or 30. It links each of an investor's locations
to the entire network in real-time. This multicurrency system,
Horizon, is the most flexible, report-ready and interactive
accounting system available today.
To extend our services far beyond the traditional custodian's
custody and accounting role, and in addition, offer essential
value-added consultative tools, we rely on technology.
Working with the same people and building on the same concepts
that made our Horizon system such a proven and effective tool,
we have developed a family of state-of-the-art investment products
unrivaled in the industry. Post-trade analytical products such
as SL PerformanceAnalyzer; trade-phase products such as Bond
Connect and Lattice ; and pre-trade research products such as
State Street Global Link, all reflect our leadership position
in this capacity. We have committed and commit vast resources
to building information technology platforms suitable for the
growing demands of the 21st century.
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| How
is State Street taking advantage of the Internet? |
As an information provider, we are committed to empowering our
customers through the delivery of timely and accurate information.
In~Sight, our first Internet-enabled online information delivery
platform, gave rise to many other related value-added electronic
products.
In addition to the various products within the In~Sight suite
(such as Executive Reporting for high-level, summary information
and Headquarters Reporting to consolidate multinationals' assets),
we have created several other Internet-driven products. We have
designed several service products that capitalize on our Internet
technologies.
State Street's FX Connect, for example, is an interactive online,
real-time foreign exchange execution service that allows managers
to link their portfolio management and matching systems to facilitate
trading among multiple counterparties.
State Street's Global Link, an integrated platform of investment
research, risk management, performance and analytics, and electronic
trade execution, further exemplifies our online capabilities.
In addition, Lattice, a centralized equity trading system that
enables users to obtain the best possible trade execution, is
accessed online.
Combine these Internet services with the industry's best Corporate
Trust website and State Street becomes the most distinguished
and accomplished information provider. We strive to continually
reinvent these services, providing sophisticated solutions for
our customers' information needs now and far into the next century.
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| How
important are institutional investors to State Street? |
Virtually everything we do at State Street is built around serving
institutional investors worldwide. No other financial services
company approaches our level of focus on serving their specialized
needs —in terms of financial resources, technology and
product capabilities, management attention or employee time.
Investment managers, treasurers, executives of plan-sponsoring
institutions, fund administrators and systems directors, securities
traders, and human resources and benefits professionals we provide
for all of them the daily support and information they need
to meet their responsibilities to their customers, beneficiaries
and shareholders.
State Street's institutional customers range from large public
pension plans to small investment managers; from multinationals
to foundations and endowments; and from corporate customers to
localized unions.
Our versatile systems and broad range of resources enable us
to provide for all customers' daily operational, reporting and
analytical needs no matter what their size or structure.
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| How
can State Street give institutional investors an edge? |
As a result of our broad range of institutional customers, we
have a comprehensive view of the institutional investment landscape
and a superior vantage point to monitor the trends driving the
changes in world markets today:
- Aging of the world's population
- Shift from government to private pension plans
- Growth in cross-border investing
- Increasing complexity of investment strategies
These trends shape the world of institutional investors both
in strategic direction and day-to-day operations. When we are
on top of the trends, our customers can stay ahead and prosper
from them.
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| How
global is State Street? |
State Street employs approximately 21,000 people worldwide, and has offices
in all major financial markets, including Boston, Los Angeles,
New York and other major U.S. cities. We also have international
offices in Canada, Chile, Cayman Islands, Netherlands, Netherlands
Antilles, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark,
Germany, United Arab Emirates, People's Republic of China, Ireland,
Switzerland, Czech Republic, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan,
Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Our global custody network
spans over 100 markets.
Such a global presence enables us to provide local service to
customers and their investment advisors in more than 70 countries.
We can help them invest in virtually any market in the world.
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| What
is the history of State Street? |
State Street's oldest ancestor, the Union Bank, was founded
in 1792. At the time, a number of Bostonians felt that Boston's
growth warranted the establishment of a third bank in the city.
So on June 25, 1792, the bank's charter was approved and signed
by John Hancock, Massachusetts' first governor.
Remarkably, the Union Bank never failed to declare semiannual
dividends despite the several wars and panics that occurred
during its existence. Until it merged with State Street Trust
in 1925, the Union Bank was the oldest bank in continuous existence
in Massachusetts.
State Street Bank and Trust Company was formed in 1961, as the
culmination of a series of mergers among 13 predecessors. By
the early 1960s, State Street was one of the largest banks in
New England.
In 1966 construction was completed on the State Street Bank
Building at 225 Franklin Street. At the time it was the tallest
bank building in New England and the first high-rise office
building in downtown Boston.
During the early 1970s, construction was completed on approximately
80 acres of land the bank had purchased in Quincy, Massachusetts.
This area, the site of our growing mutual fund custody operation,
became known as State Street South. Today it consists of six
buildings and serves as the central operations area for our
worldwide locations, where we operate 24 hours a day in order
to support locations throughout North America, Europe and the
Pacific Basin. This way we provide consolidated processing for
our customers around the world.
Today, State Street is known as the leading specialist in serving
institutional investors worldwide. In becoming one of Massachusetts'
largest financial institutions and one of the state's ten largest
private employers, we have continued a long-standing State Street
tradition. In much the same way our earliest ancestors drove
the leading business of their day - maritime trade - State Street
is integral to Boston's emergence as a dominant force in the
financial world.
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