State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has undergone a significant restructure, including a number of senior leadership changes, in a bid to position it for growth and product development.
Head of Asia Pacific, Lochiel Crafter, will be responsible for Australia, and Rob Goodlad, senior managing director and country head, will leave the firm.
Kevin Anderson, the current CIO and head of fixed income, will become the head of investments for Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong.
And Bernard Reilly, former head of Asia Pacific, will take up a new position of global head of strategy based in Boston.
A new position of chief investment officer of fixed income, currency and cash will be filled by Steve Meier, while the active quantitative and enhanced equity teams will be combined under CIO and global head of active quantitative equity, Ted Gekas.
“This move is preparing the company for growth,” Crafter says. “This is not about costs, but about re-allocating resources to areas for growth, as we help clients generate returns.”
SSgA is also integrating the research resources of the Advanced Research Centre inside the portfolio management teams. Crafter sees this as a significant move to enhance products, through research, and generate new products.
“We always want to find better ways to operate, and to improve the speed with which we can bring new ideas to market, and be impactful.”
While Crafter was clear that SSgA is committed to its significant passive business, there is increasing demand for active products.
“The search for return and better portfolios can take a number of different forms, active management or advanced beta or portfolio construction, like managing volatility; or new asset classes are another way of looking at it.”
SSgA will expand the depth of its fixed income strategies to extend further on the credit spectrum targeting areas such as structured credit, high yield and emerging market debt.
“There is an increasing blurring of the lines between cash and fixed income. We talk about it as a continuum rather than being distinct. In areas where there is dispersion in returns, like high yield, we see a potential to add value,” Crafter says.
SSgA will also look at how it can provide solutions to clients in active and alternative strategies
