Since the emergence of “Modern Portfolio Theory” and the “Capital Asset Pricing Model” in the late 1960s, institutional investors have taken a quantitatively driven approach to portfolio construction, looking to create portfolio diversification and obtain better risk-adjusted returns by balancing their asset-class exposures. This journey has seen several important advancements in thinking about how to optimally achieve desired results.
Funds that want to take the total portfolio approach first need to get the total portfolio view. To do that they not only need data – and lots of it – but a rock-solid understanding of exactly how they’re going to use it.
State Street fills front-to-back spot in Asia
State Street has recruited a 22-year Deutsche Bank veteran, Jeslyn Tan, to fill the position as head of product management, driving the end-to-end product strategy in the Asia Pacific region.
The Singapore-based role was previously filled by Babloo Sarin, who has become head of ‘asset owner and official institution’ segments for State Street in the region.
Tan reports globally to Brenda Lyons, the global head of asset servicing product based in Boston, and regionally to Mostapha Tahiri, the chief executive for Asia Pacific, also based in Singapore.
State Street has been increasingly emphasising its front-to-back asset servicing capabilities in the past couple of years, which is a fast-growing part of its worldwide business.
John Plansky is head of State Street ‘Alpha’, overseeing the firm’s front-to-back platform from Boston. He was recruited in 2017 to run the firm’s ‘Global Exchange’ and develop the strategy for Alpha.
Alpha integrates Charles River Development, Global Markets’ products, State Street’s data services, middle- and back-office services, and third-party solutions onto the single platform.
State Street paid US$2.6 billion to buy Charles River Development in 2018 and has subsequently continued to invest in its technological developments.
After years of trying to diversify away from their reliance on core custody services and lower-margin offerings such as fund accounting and reporting, the front-to-back trend has opened new doors for each of the major custodians with Australian presences.
Tan has spent 26 years in the industry in product management roles in Asia Pacific, most recently as global head of product management for Deutsche.
