Aus Ethical forges Charles River-State Street management deal

Australian Ethical Investment has secured the services of State Street subsidiary, Charles River Development, to automate its front and middle-office processes across its investment suite.

The Charles River Investment Management Solution (Charles River IMS) will take on portfolio and risk management, trading, compliance, performance measurement and attribution (PMAR), investment book of record (IBOR), and transaction management for Australian Ethical.

“The cloud-based, open architecture of the Charles River IMS provides an operating model that can meet the evolving demands of many businesses,” Vinayak Bhat, Head of Asia Pacific and Middle East at Charles River, said.

“Managing an investment lifecycle on a single platform gives companies the flexibility to scale the technology and services as their business complexity and needs change. We are excited to work with Australian Ethical and support their growth.”

The front and middle office mandate appointment follows in the wake of State Street also being appointed as the back-office provider for Australian Ethical, which will see the investment manager leverage the benefits of State Street Alpha – the first front-to-back portfolio management, data and asset servicing platform from a single provider.

“We are pleased to be implementing Charles River in our front and middle office which will complement our move to State Street back office investment administration,” Australian Ethical Chief Financial Officer, Mark Simons, said.

“We see Charles River and State Street Alpha as a critical step in maturing our investment management platform end-to-end. Having seamless data management and connectivity across our portfolios will provide significant operational efficiencies and reduce risk as we continue to grow.”

“The mandate further demonstrates that State Street Alpha provides value to asset managers and owners of varying complexity and scale, who are looking to streamline their investment process to deliver efficiencies and insights across their investment operations, from portfolio construction to custody,” State Street’s Country Head, Australia, Tim Helyar, said.

“This further demonstrates the value of State Street, where we are combining integrated global capabilities with an operating model that has global scale and a strong local presence.”