State Street has no discernible strategy and a largely unimpressive senior management team – no wonder it is losing ground in almost every one of its chosen markets. What, exactly, has gone wrong at State Street? It has slipped far behind BNY – and, increasingly, Citi – in terms of innovation, product development and client…
Category: Analysis
Know Your Number!
Kevin Buschhold, patient advocate, Prostate Cancer UK, aims to raise awareness for men who may be oblivious to the risk of prostate cancer. Every year 12,500 men die from prostate cancer. Yet, if detected early, the outcome could be very different, with a good chance of getting treatment and surviving this silent killer. Prostate cancer…
Simply the Best
Fifty years after the global custody business was sparked alive by both BBH and Chase, it seems appropriate to look back and identify some of the leaders who helped to transform the industry from a pure-play, back-office operational backwater to being the trusted provider of value-added services to asset owners and managers around the world.…
You May be Right…
C’est reparti! Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. One of my very favourite poems is this (I wonder why): He that buys land buys many stones, He that buys flesh buys many bones, He that buys eggs buys many shells, But he that buys good ale buys nothing else. It returns to me…
Tumblin’ Dice
Don’t say this too loudly – but are the custody banks cooling on crypto? “I rob banks because that’s where the money is.” Willie Sutton, notorious bank robber, had this simple response when asked why he robbed banks. Every financial services regulator should have this quote framed and hung in their lobby. If in doubt,…
Bad Moon Rising
Some deals look great from the start. Others, not so much. Let’s, for one moment, put aside the question of why anyone, ever, anywhere, wants to make an acquisition. For all the associated flute music about product adjacencies, new skills and new markets, scope and scale, blah, blah, blah, M&A is a messy business, often…
I Hear You Knocking
There’s a new class of industry leaders waiting in the wings. Welcome to Generation XX. Joan Kehoe, Gunjan Kedia, Fiona Horsewill, Margaret Harwood-Jones, Claire Johnson, Zena Couppey, Kathryn Purves, Karen Malone, Kim Sgarlata, Chantal Free, Beth Mueller, Francesca McDonagh, Nancy Lewis. What do all these people have in common? Apart from the obvious, they are…
All Things Must Pass
Don’t fret over the departure of Lou Maiuri from State Street. It will be BaU before you know it. A multinational corporation is similar to a giant game of Jenga. Pull a piece out, and you never know quite what is going to happen. Sell a business unit, and who knows exactly how it will…
Reelin’ in the Years
Nearly 50 years after the “invention” of global custody, it’s back in fashion. Not long after he became CEO of State Street, Marsh Carter held his first analysts’ call. “Custody,” he opined, somewhat innocently, “is a mature business.” Wall Street did not like to hear this, and hammered the State Street stock. Lesson learnt. Thirty…
Hello Goodbye
U.S. Bank has lost four senior executives in less than a year. Time for a refresh? When Joe Neuberger resigned as president of U.S. Bank’s global fund services business in late 2022 – after a 28-year career at the bank – the obvious solution was to install Christine Waldron, chief product officer for the wealth…