Boston-based State Street Corp. has launched a new division focused on addressing the industry’s evolving shift to digital finance.
Called State Street Digital, the new division will expand State Street’s current digital capabilities and include crypto, central bank digital currency, blockchain and tokenization, State Street said in a statement.
“The financial industry is transforming to a digital economy, and we see digital assets as one of the most significant forces impacting our industry over the next five years,” Ron O’Hanley, State Street’s chairman and CEO, said in the statement. “Digital assets are quickly becoming integrated into the existing framework of financial services, and it is critical we have the tools in place to provide our clients with solutions for both their traditional investment needs as well as their increased digital needs.”
The new division will be led by Nadine Chakar, an executive vice president at State Street with three decades of industry experience. Chakar will report to Lou Maiuri, State Street’s chief operating officer.
State Street said its proprietary GlobalLink technology platform will be an integral component of State Street Digital. It will be enhanced into a digital multi-asset platform, evolving to support crypto assets among other asset classes. State Street also said it wanted “to support our peer-to-peer ambitions by creating new liquidity venues for our clients and investors worldwide.”
“We have been developing a number of digital capabilities and other solutions as well as partnering and investing in the infrastructure that forms the foundation of State Street Digital,” Chakar said in the statement. “State Street has a major role to play in the evolution of digital market infrastructure and this new division will help us bring our expertise and resources to the conversation. As digital currencies and tokenization not only gain momentum, but transform financial infrastructure and operating models, we can help our clients bridge the gap between the industry of today and the one of tomorrow.”
State Street has taken on other initiatives in the digital servicing space. The company in 2019 launched State Street AlphaSM, which State Street said was the industry’s first front-to-back offering based on the principles of openness and interoperability.
In April, State Street announced that it had been appointed as the administrator of a planned bitcoin-backed exchange traded note initiated by Iconic Funds BTC ETN GmbH that will be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange once it is approved by the German securities regulator.
In March, State Street had announced that it was appointed as the fund administrator and transfer agent of the VanEck Bitcoin Trust a new bitcoin exchange-traded fund that is currently pending approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.