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Perpetual hands front office to State Street’s Charles River
State Street subsidiary Charles River Development has been appointed by Perpetual to manage front office operations for its asset management business, with Perpetual plugging in its Investment Management Solution (IMS) to manage domestic and global portfolios, order and execution, compliance, post trade processing and front office data.
The appointment is in part a legacy of Perpetual’s 2023 acquisition of Pendal, which was a client of Charles River since 2002. But Perpetual chief operating officer Craig Squires said the decision went beyond the pre-existing Pendal relationship and was made to “address the current challenges and complexities of the evolving investment management landscape”.
“This is an important partnership that ensures the streamlining and simplification of front office operations within Australia on a single OMS platform with Charles River,” Squires said. “Charles River has proven solutions supporting a multi-boutique business like Perpetual. Its multi-asset capabilities, particularly across Australian and global fixed income markets, are critical for us to grow our business globally.”
State Street acquired Charles River back in 2018, and leveraged its technology to create the Alpha front-to-back platform that is currently underpinning the investment internalisation efforts of a number of large super funds locally.
“Given their commitment to being a truly global asset management business, Charles River’s and State Street’s global network and expertise is a natural fit,” said Tim Helyar, State Street country head for Australia. We are pleased to extend Charles River into Perpetual’s Australian asset management front office.”
Perpetual’s custody arrangements – which State Street has been responsible for since RBC pulled out of the market in 2021 – were put up for review in July, with Northern Trust seen as the primary contender even as some sources expected that review to play out over the next 18 months. But ISN understands that Perpetual’s decision to attempt a demerger of its asset management business from its wealth and corporate trust businesses has temporarily kiboshed any custody changes, and that no commitment has yet been made.
