Joseph “Jay” Hooley, State Street’s chief executive officer, said in an interview Tuesday he doesn’t think any of the regulatory reform will specifically target trust and custody banks like State Street, but with “meaningful changes” coming in the financial markets, there will be opportunities to add business.
“We are looking at this through the lens that this may create opportunities for processing organizations like State Street,” he said. “More transparency and more independence and more stringent regulation will mean a broader use of third-party clearing firms by large and small companies.”
Through the first nine months of this year, State Street has added $1.1 trillion new asset servicing assets, including $487 billion in the third quarter. “I think that this reflects that the market really see the value in what State Street can do, even in this market environment,” Hooley said.
The company reported Thursday that its earnings rose 65% in the third quarter as the company reduced expenses 12%. It reported a profit of $540 million, or $1.08 a share. This comes on the heels of a strong second quarter.
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Assets under management increased 9.7% from a year earlier to $1.9 trillion and 6.8% from the previous quarter.
Hooley said the results from State Street’s asset management business told “two very different stories.” On one hand, he said, investors poured $25 billion into into passive investments, including index ETFs, but this meant outflows from money funds and “less inflows” into active strategies.
“Broadly, this indicates that the market is not really ready to re-risk and as a result flows are going to more conservative-oriented products,” Hooley said.
In the ETF space, where State Street is among the largest providers, growth continues. Hooley said the company is continuing to develop new ETF, specifically in Asia and Europe.
“It is important to be first to market with ETF solutions and we have done a lot of that,” he said. “I think our Gold ETF is the latest and greatest example. We have been able to grab the lion’s share of assets in that sector. Innovation is important, but being the first one out with a new idea goes a long way in determining who is successful.”
The Boston-based company’s rival
