The Charles River deal represents "a key milestone‚" in State Street's effort to create new business opportunities by broadening its services, CEO Jay Hooley said on an analyst call Friday. The combination of State Street's custody, accounting and middle-office data offerings with Charles River's trading data "will create an unparalleled platform for our clients that uniquely positions us as the first ever global front-, middle- and back-office solutions provider in the industry," Hooley said.
State Street officials did say they recognize that their platform will have work with those of competitors, as well as clients' proprietary technology. The company noted that it is one of the biggest custodians to connect into BlackRock's Aladdin trading system, a competitor to Charles River.
"State Street probably has more of the data than anyone else, and by acquiring Charles River, it's going to get a State Street product, service or solutions in the hands of the front office," says Tom Secaur, chief operating officer at Citisoft.