State Street has extended its Alpha asset servicing platform to offer front, middle and back-office capabilities for ETF issuers.
Utilising the State Street Alpha Data Platform, the updated Alpha service for ETFs combines State Street’s asset servicing with Charles River Development’s front office products to support the entire ‘lifecycle’ of an ETF.
Alpha is an open architecture structure that provides issuers a centralised platform for portfolio management, trading and compliance capabilities.
John Plansky, head of State Street Alpha, commented: “By optimising ETF workflows with consistent data, key analytics and more efficient basketing capabilities, asset managers are better equipped to drive investment decision making with access to near real-time data modernise their operating models as the ETF marketplace continues to grow.”
Frank Koudelka, global ETF product specialist at State Street, added: “State Street provides fully integrated global ETF servicing capabilities.”
Since launching the world’s first ETF – the $409bn SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) – 30 years ago, State Street and its asset management arm State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) have remained front-and-centre in ETFs, with the latter remaining the third-largest ETF issuer.
The bank noted ETFs saw over $200bn inflows globally over the first four months of 2023 – their third highest ever for that period – returning assets housed in ETFs to $10trn.
Earlier this year, the bank added a Financial Information Exchange API to its Fund Connect ETF portal, allowing platform users to send orders directly from their order management system to the ETF portal.
Last November, State Street relinquished the chance to become the world's largest custodian when it mutually agreed with brown Brother Harriman (BBH) to terminate its proposed $3.5bn acquisition of BBH's investor services division.
The recent update on State Street’s Alpha platform came a day after Goldman Sachs’ platform-as-a-service division – ETF Accelerator – listed its first four active ETFs in partnership with Brandes Investment Partners and Eagle Capital.
