State Street appoints Picciotto to head e-finance platform rollout

State Street has appointed Christopher Picciotto to a newly created position this week, putting him in charge of the custodian bank's e-finance platform to provide enhanced services to its institutional clients in Asia.

As the head of Global Link, an open network designed to help investment managers maximize efficiency and reduce risk, Picciotto will be responsible for spearheading the regional rollout and development of the system.

Global Link currently provides research, analytics and trade execution services to 261 asset management companies in 21 countries via a range of e-finance applications and services, offering full connectivity to its institutional clients' chosen trading destinations.

According to the bank, Global Link's clients collectively manage more than half of the world's professionally managed cross-border assets.

In the new position, Picciotto will also define and execute the bank's strategy for expanding Global Link's capabilities through partnership with key institutional investor service providers in the region.

Simon Wilson-Taylor, senior vice president of State Street Global Markets, says the expansion plan is a sign of State Street's commitment to meet institutional investors' demand for quality research, analytics and trade execution and settlement services on a single network.

"Japan and Asia present tremendous opportunity for State Street as the sophisticated institutional investors of this region continue to embrace cross-border investing and market investing pensions," says Picciotto. The former managing director of State Street's Tokyo branch is confident the strong presence of State Street in Asia will help leverage the rolling out of Global Link and secure strategic relationships in the marketplace.

With offices in 24 countries, State Street currently has $6.2 trillion in assets under custody and $712 billion under management.