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After years of powering super returns into the double digits, US equities are walking a tightrope, and one misstep could send them plunging to earth. But the story that put them up there in the first place still holds true.
State Street’s structural shift to country CEOs
After a lengthy search, State Street has appointed a country head for Australia as part of a progressive restructure designed to move away from a business unit focus to a more holistic approach.
Tim Helyar has been recruited from J.P. Morgan, where he has spent the past 18 years, most recently as head of fund services product development for Australia and New Zealand. He starts in the new position next month.
State Street has also recruited Kevin Hardy for the Singapore office as head of that country and Southeast Asia. He was most recently the general manager of a ‘wealthtech’ firm, additive, and is a previous Singapore country head for BlackRock.
Both Helyar and Hardy report to Mostapha Tahiri, State Street’s chief executive officer for Asia Pacific. Tahiri said last week (October 20) that the changes started with the appointment, in 2019, of 30-year State Street veteran Andrew Erickson, another Australian, as chief executive for international, ex-North America, as well as chief productivity officer.
They were designed to empower the leadership for greater accountability for all of State Street’s servicing businesses, with country heads being the next step – first in Europe and then Asia Pacific over the past year.
“Clients want to see a one-stop shop,” Tahiri said. “And a leadership with the voice and empowerment across the business, working with partners and peers.”
The new structure fits well with the rapid growth of State Street’s ‘front-to-back’ asset servicing offerings, under the Alpha brand, which involve an open-architecture use of a multitude of front, middle and backoffice systems and processes.
The front-to-back trend, evident among the other big global asset servicing banks as well, has transformed the position of custodians in the asset management value chain within the past few years.
Tahiri said that State Street’s two top priorities for growth in the APAC region for the foreseeable future were Australia and Japan. The company now splits the world into four regions for deliverability responsibilities – EMEA, Latin America, APAC and North America.
Tahiri reports to both Erickson, who is based in Hong Kong, and Francisco Aristeguieta, the chief executive for State Street Institutional Services, who was the previous chief executive for international.
Several regional heads have been appointed in the past couple of years where the individuals are based in Australia. These include: Belinda Purkiss, head of global delivery for APAC; Jennifer Saunders, head of client service and the client program office for APAC; Ross Brockbank, head of Alpha Solutions for APAC; and Jason Rich, head of sector solutions for APAC.
With the latest appointments, the Australian head of institutional services position, held by Daniel Cheever, will be merged with that of the new chief executive.
“It’s a big shift in the way the business is organised; away from the silos,” Tahiri said. “The more we have developed Alpha the more we have thought that clients expect us to be one and feel empowered to be able to make change.”
