State Street Alpha^SM is the first front-to-back asset servicing platform from a single provider for institutional and wealth management firms. Alpha helps our clients manage their investment products and business lines in one place, and is at the center of our strategy. It starts with our purpose, which is to help investors around the world create better outcomes for themselves and the people they serve, and to do so with the inherent value State Street delivers as a trust bank and custodian to our clients.

In 2021, we continued to create better and deeper ways to partner with our clients and broaden our relationships, supporting their front- , middle- , and back-office needs, and providing them easy access to aggregated data, analytics, and real-time insights, so they can collaborate with confidence, work faster, and make better decisions. By outsourcing technology and operations to a strategic partner with deep expertise and global scale, our clients can remain focused on serving their clients and achieving their business goals.

DRIVING PERFORMANCE AND GROWTH

Alpha was instrumental in driving enterprise-wide growth and revenue through a strong cross-product, new business pipeline and broader market adoption in 2021. With nine new client mandates announced in 2021, as of year-end we had 19 Alpha clients, 10 of which were already live on the platform.

Alpha was also recognized with multiple industry accolades during the year, including “Best Front-to-Back Office Integration” by WatersTechnology Asia Awards; “Investment Excellence in Tech Innovation” by Global Investor Group, and “Front-to-Back Partnership of the Year” by Global Custodian.

As part of our front-office capabilities with Charles River Development, we accelerated software-as-a-service (SaaS) conversions with the adoption of new modules and migration to Microsoft Azure, increasing annual recurring revenue and reducing costs associated with migrating to the cloud.

Our growth focused on new asset classes like private market investments, as well as new partners, distribution vehicles, jurisdictions, and clients — driven by enhanced capabilities, innovative technology, and greater operating efficiencies.

STREAMLINING THE DATA ENVIRONMENT

Data is central to helping investment and wealth managers make better decisions, meet regulatory obligations, and serve their investors. In 2021, we continued to expand our Alpha Data Platform to help clients capture and leverage the growing volume, velocity, and variety of data available.

The Alpha Data Platform speeds time to insight by providing a centralized, single source of truth across the enterprise. Our scalable data cloud captures the breadth and depth of data generated across both the client’s organization and external sources.

The platform also eases the friction resulting from the extensive data movement within the industry, which requires frequent reconciliation. It leverages technology and content from industry innovators like Snowflake and Microsoft Azure, providing a simplified, cloud-enabled approach to data management.

We help clients capture and curate data across the investment process, from portfolio management to post-trade operations, and enhance it with data from hundreds of third-party providers. This empowers investment and operations teams with trusted, accurate data that helps drive new insights and efficiencies.

ALPHA FOR PRIVATE MARKETS

Converging business models, and diversification into different asset classes and geographies, have increased the complexity of portfolios and capital acceleration into private markets. Technology is a critical factor helping the modern investment manager simplify day-to-day operations and provide a holistic view of a fund’s life cycle while stripping out complexities.

During the year, we launched State Street Alpha^SM for Private Markets, which we expect will increase our market share in what is already a fast-growing servicing segment for State Street. The new solution is enabled by our July acquisition of Mercatus, a premier front- and middle-office solutions and data management provider for private market managers.

For our clients turning to private markets in pursuit of greater diversification and higher risk-adjusted returns, Alpha for Private Markets harmonizes data and provides a complete view of the investment life cycle. With scalability and flexibility at its core, it enables investment centralization, rapid response to investor demands, and the capabilities needed for tomorrow’s growth.

Integrated and interoperable, Alpha for Private Markets provides a unified portfolio view of both public and private assets. One office, total transparency, better investment decisions — all delivered on a single platform.

LOOKING AHEAD

By providing our clients with the tools they need to better leverage their data and make data-informed decisions in real time, Alpha is poised to continue fueling growth for our entire enterprise, our clients, and those they serve.

As we look forward to 2022 and beyond, we will continue to expand Alpha’s capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our clients with a focus on delivering valuable insights, services, and technology to uncover new levels of interoperability, scale, flexibility, and accelerated growth.