UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
Form 10-K
x | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018
OR
¨ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
Commission File No. 001-07511
STATE STREET CORPORATION
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Massachusetts | 04-2456637 | |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
One Lincoln Street Boston, Massachusetts | 02111 | |
(Address of principal executive office) | (Zip Code) | |
617-786-3000 (Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) | ||
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: | ||
(Title of Each Class) | (Name of each exchange on which registered) | |
Common Stock, $1 par value per share | New York Stock Exchange | |
Depositary Shares, each representing a 1/4,000th ownership interest in a share of Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series C, without par value per share | New York Stock Exchange | |
Depositary Shares, each representing a 1/4,000th ownership interest in a share of Fixed-to-Floating Rate Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series D, without par value per share | New York Stock Exchange | |
Depositary Shares, each representing a 1/4,000th ownership interest in a share of Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series E, without par value per share | New York Stock Exchange | |
Depositary Shares, each representing a 1/4,000th ownership interest in a share of Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series G, without par value per share | New York Stock Exchange | |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ¨ No x
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨ No x
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x No ¨
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. x
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer", "accelerated filer", "smaller reporting company", and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer x | Accelerated filer ¨ | Non-accelerated filer ¨ | Smaller reporting company ¨ | |||
Emerging growth company ¨ | ||||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). ¨
The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the per share price ($93.09) at which the common equity was last sold as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter (June 30, 2018) was approximately $33.94 billion.
The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of January 31, 2019 was 378,659,763.
Portions of the following documents are incorporated by reference into Parts of this Report on Form 10-K, to the extent noted in such Parts, as indicated below:
(1) The registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for the 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A on or before April 30, 2019 (Part III).
STATE STREET CORPORATION
ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED
December 31, 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I | ||
Item 1 | ||
Item 1A | ||
Item 1B | ||
Item 2 | ||
Item 3 | ||
Item 4 | ||
Supplemental Item | ||
PART II | ||
Item 5 | ||
Item 6 | ||
Item 7 | Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations | |
Item 7A | ||
Item 8 | ||
Item 9 | ||
Item 9A | ||
Item 9B | ||
PART III | ||
Item 10 | ||
Item 11 | ||
Item 12 | ||
Item 13 | ||
Item 14 | ||
PART IV | ||
Item 15 | Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules | |
Item 16 | Form 10-K Summary | |
EXHIBIT INDEX | ||
SIGNATURES | ||
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PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
GENERAL
State Street Corporation, referred to as the Parent Company, is a financial holding company organized in 1969 under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our executive offices are located at One Lincoln Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02111 (telephone (617) 786-3000). For purposes of this Form 10-K, unless the context requires otherwise, references to “State Street,” “we,” “us,” “our” or similar terms mean State Street Corporation and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. The Parent Company is a source of financial and managerial strength to our subsidiaries. Through our subsidiaries, including our principal banking subsidiary, State Street Bank and Trust Company, referred to as State Street Bank, we provide a broad range of financial products and services to institutional investors worldwide, with $31.62 trillion of AUC/A and $2.51 trillion of AUM as of December 31, 2018.
As of December 31, 2018, we had consolidated total assets of $244.63 billion, consolidated total deposits of $180.36 billion, consolidated total shareholders' equity of $24.79 billion and over 40,000 employees. We operate in more than 100 geographic markets worldwide, including the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
On the “Investor Relations” section of our corporate website at www.statestreet.com, we make available, free of charge, all reports we electronically file with, or furnish to, the SEC including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, as well as any amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after those documents have been filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. These documents are also accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We have included the website addresses of State Street and the SEC in this report as inactive textual references only. Information on those websites is not incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K.
We have Corporate Governance Guidelines, as well as written charters for the Examining and Audit Committee, the Executive Committee, the Executive Compensation Committee, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, the Risk Committee and the Technology and Operations Committee of our Board of Directors, or Board, and a Code of Ethics for senior financial officers, a Standard of Conduct for Directors and a Standard of Conduct for our employees. Each of these documents is posted on the "Investor Relations" section of our website under "Corporate Governance."
We provide additional disclosures required by applicable bank regulatory standards, including
supplemental qualitative and quantitative information with respect to regulatory capital (including market risk associated with our trading activities) and the liquidity coverage ratio, summary results of semi-annual State Street-run stress tests which we conduct under the Dodd-Frank Act and resolution plan disclosures required under the Dodd-Frank Act. These additional disclosures are available on the “Investor Relations” section of our website under "Filings and Reports."
We use acronyms and other defined terms for certain business terms and abbreviations, as defined on the acronyms list and glossary under Item 8 in this Form 10-K.
BUSINESS DESCRIPTION
Overview
We conduct our business primarily through State Street Bank, which traces its beginnings to the founding of the Union Bank in 1792. State Street Bank's current charter was authorized by a special Act of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1891, and its present name was adopted in 1960. State Street Bank operates as a specialized bank, referred to as a trust or custody bank, that services and manages assets on behalf of its institutional clients.
Our clients include mutual funds, collective investment funds and other investment pools, corporate and public retirement plans, insurance companies, foundations, endowments and investment managers.
LINES OF BUSINESS
We have two lines of business: Investment Servicing and Investment Management.
Investment Servicing
Our Investment Servicing line of business performs core custody and related value-added functions, such as providing institutional investors with clearing, settlement and payment services. Our financial services and products allow our large institutional investor clients to execute financial transactions on a daily basis in markets across the globe. As most institutional investors cannot economically or efficiently build their own technology and operational processes necessary to facilitate their global securities settlement needs, our role as a global trust and custody bank is generally to aid our clients to efficiently perform services associated with the clearing, settlement and execution of securities transactions and related payments.
Our Investment Servicing products and services include: custody; product and participant level accounting; daily pricing and administration; master trust and master custody; depotbank services (a fund oversight role created by regulation); record-keeping; cash management; foreign exchange, brokerage and other trading services; securities finance; our enhanced custody product, which integrates principal securities lending and custody; deposit and short-term investment
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facilities; loans and lease financing; investment manager and alternative investment manager operations outsourcing; performance, risk and compliance analytics; and financial data management to support institutional investors.
Included within our Investment Servicing line of business is Charles River Systems, Inc. (Charles River Development), which we acquired on October 1, 2018. As a result of our acquisition of Charles River Development, we are extending our core capabilities by creating a front-to-back office platform that combines our core back and middle office services with front office solutions across all asset classes for portfolio management, trading and compliance. New products and services resulting from our acquisition of Charles River Development include: portfolio modeling and construction, trade order management, investment risk and compliance and wealth management solutions.
We provide some or all of the Investment Servicing integrated products and services to clients in the U.S. and in many other markets, including, among others, Australia, Cayman Islands, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg and the U.K. As of December 31, 2018, we serviced AUC/A of approximately $23.20 trillion in the Americas, approximately $6.70 trillion in Europe and the Middle East and approximately $1.72 trillion in the Asia-Pacific region.
Investment Management
Our Investment Management line of business, through State Street Global Advisors, provides a broad range of investment management strategies and products for our clients. Our investment management strategies and products span the risk/reward spectrum, including core and enhanced indexing, multi-asset strategies, active quantitative and fundamental active capabilities and alternative investment strategies. Our AUM is currently primarily weighted to indexed strategies. In addition, we provide a breadth of services and solutions, including environmental, social and governance investing, defined benefit and defined contribution and Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO). State Street Global Advisors is also a provider of ETFs, including the SPDR® ETF brand. While management fees are primarily determined by the values of AUM and the investment strategies employed, management fees reflect other factors as well, including the benchmarks specified in the respective management agreements related to performance fees. As of December 31, 2018, State Street Global Advisors had AUM of approximately $2.51 trillion.
Additional information about our lines of business is provided under “Line of Business Information” included in our Management's Discussion and Analysis, and in Note 24 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K. Additional information about our non-U.S. activities is included in Note 26 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
COMPETITION
We operate in a highly competitive environment in all areas of our business globally. Our competitors include a broad range of financial institutions and servicing companies, including other custodial banks, deposit-taking institutions, investment management firms, insurance companies, mutual funds, broker/dealers, investment banks, benefits consultants, investment analytic businesses, business service and software companies and information services firms. As our businesses grow and markets evolve, we may encounter increasing and new forms of competition around the world.
We believe that many key factors drive competition in the markets for our business. Technological expertise, economies of scale, required levels of capital, pricing, quality and scope of services and sales and marketing are critical to our Investment Servicing line of business. For our Investment Management line of business, key competitive factors include expertise, experience, availability of related service offerings, quality of service, price, efficiency of our products and services and performance.
Our competitive success may depend on our ability to develop and market new and innovative services, to adopt or develop new technologies, to bring new services to market in a timely fashion at competitive prices, to integrate existing and future products and services effectively into an interoperable platform, to continue to expand our relationships with existing clients, and to attract new clients.
We are a systemically important financial institution (SIFI) and are subject to extensive regulation and supervision with respect to our operations and activities. Not all of our competitors have similarly been designated as systemically important nor are all of them subject to the same degree of regulation as a bank or financial holding company, and therefore some of our competitors may not be subject to the same limitations, requirements and standards with respect to their operations and activities. Most other financial institutions designated as systemically important have substantially greater financial resources and a broader base of operations than us and are, consequently, in a better competitive position to manage and bear the costs of this enhanced regulatory requirement. See "Supervision and Regulation" in this Item for more information.
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SUPERVISION AND REGULATION
We are registered with the Federal Reserve as a bank holding company pursuant to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. The Bank Holding Company Act generally limits the activities in which bank holding companies and their non-banking subsidiaries may engage to managing or controlling banks and to a range of activities that are considered to be closely related to banking. Bank holding companies that have elected to be treated as financial holding companies, such as the Parent Company, may engage in a broader range of activities considered to be "financial in nature." The regulatory limits on our activities also apply to non-banking entities that we are deemed to “control” for purposes of the Bank Holding Company Act, which may include companies of which we own or control more than 5% of a class of voting shares. The Federal Reserve may order a bank holding company to terminate any activity, or its ownership or control of a non-banking subsidiary, if the Federal Reserve finds that the activity, ownership or control constitutes a serious risk to the financial safety, soundness or stability of a banking subsidiary or is inconsistent with sound banking principles or statutory purposes. The Bank Holding Company Act also requires a bank holding company to obtain prior approval of the Federal Reserve before it acquires substantially all the assets of any bank, or ownership or control of more than 5% of the voting shares of any bank.
The Parent Company has elected to be treated as a financial holding company and, as such, may engage in a broader range of non-banking activities than permitted for bank holding companies and their subsidiaries that have not elected to become financial holding companies. Financial holding companies may engage directly or indirectly, either de novo or by acquisition, in activities that are defined by the Federal Reserve to be financial in nature, provided that the financial holding company gives the Federal Reserve after-the-fact notice of the new activities. Activities defined to be financial in nature include, but are not limited to, the following: providing financial or investment advice; underwriting; dealing in or making markets in securities; making merchant banking investments, subject to significant limitations; and any activities previously found by the Federal Reserve to be closely related to banking. In order to maintain our status as a financial holding company, we and each of our U.S. depository institution subsidiaries are expected to be well capitalized and well managed, as defined in applicable regulations and determined in part by the results of regulatory examinations, and must comply with Community Reinvestment Act obligations. Failure to maintain these standards may result in restrictions on our activities and may ultimately permit the Federal Reserve to take enforcement actions against us and restrict our ability to engage in activities defined to be financial in nature. Currently, under the
Bank Holding Company Act, we may not be able to engage in new activities or acquire shares or control of other businesses.
In response to the financial crisis, as well as other factors, such as technological and market changes, both the scope of the laws and regulations and the intensity of the supervision to which our business is subject have increased in recent years. Regulatory enforcement and fines have also increased across the banking and financial services sector. Many of these changes have occurred as a result of the Dodd-Frank Act and its implementing regulations, most of which are now in place. The U.S. President issued an executive order that sets forth principles for the reform of the federal financial regulatory framework, and, in May 2018, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA) was enacted. The EGRRCPA’s revisions to the U.S. financial regulatory framework, some of which remain subject to further rulemaking, have altered certain laws and regulations applicable to us and other major financial services firms. Irrespective of any regulatory change, we expect that our business will remain subject to extensive regulation and supervision.
In addition, increased regulatory requirements have been and are being implemented internationally with respect to financial institutions, including, but not limited to, the implementation of the Basel III final rule (refer to “Regulatory Capital Adequacy and Liquidity Standards” in this “Supervision and Regulation” section and under "Capital" in “Financial Condition” in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K for a discussion of Basel III), the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD), the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) directives, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) and the E.U. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Many aspects of our business are subject to regulation by other U.S. federal and state governmental and regulatory agencies and self-regulatory organizations (including securities exchanges), and by non-U.S. governmental and regulatory agencies and self-regulatory organizations. Some aspects of our public disclosure, corporate governance principles and internal control systems are subject to SOX, the Dodd-Frank Act and regulations and rules of the SEC and the NYSE.
Regulatory Capital Adequacy and Liquidity Standards
Basel III Final Rule
We and State Street Bank, as advanced approaches banking organizations, are subject to the Basel III framework in the U.S. Provisions of the Basel
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III final rule that became effective under a transition timetable which began in January 2014, with full implementation required beginning on January 1, 2019. Since January 2013, we have been subject to the final market risk capital rule jointly issued by U.S. banking regulators to implement the changes to the market risk capital framework in the U.S.
The Basel III final rule provides for two frameworks for the calculation of RWA for purposes of bank regulatory compliance: the “standardized” approach and the “advanced” approaches, which are applicable to advanced approaches banking organizations, like us. The standardized approach prescribes standardized risk weights for certain on- and off-balance sheet exposures in the calculation of RWA. The advanced approaches consist of the Advanced Internal Ratings-Based Approach (AIRB) used for the calculation of RWA related to credit risk, and the Advanced Measurement Approach (AMA) used for the calculation of RWA related to operational risk.
Among other things, the Basel III final rule does the following:
• | adds requirements for a minimum CET1 risk-based capital ratio of 4.5% and a minimum supplementary leverage ratio of 3% for advanced approaches banking organizations; |
• | raises the minimum tier 1 risk-based capital ratio from 4% under both Basel I and Basel II to 6%; |
• | leaves the minimum total capital ratio at 8%; |
• | implements the capital conservation and countercyclical capital buffers, referenced below, as well as a G-SIB surcharge included under "Capital" in "Financial Condition" in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K; |
• | implements the previously described standardized approach to replace the calculation of credit RWA under Basel I; and |
• | implements the advanced approaches for the calculation of credit RWA. |
Beginning January 1, 2018, the U.S. banking regulators required a minimum SLR requirement of 5% for us and the other eight U.S. G-SIBs in order to avoid any limitations on distributions and discretionary bonus payments and a minimum SLR requirement of 6% for the Insured Depository Institutions' subsidiaries (State Street Bank) of such G-SIBs. On April 11, 2018, the Federal Reserve proposed modifications to SLR that would replace the current 2% SLR buffer applicable to us with a leverage buffer equal to 50% of G-SIB capital surcharge, which is currently 1.5%. Under the proposal, our SLR buffer would become 0.75%, for a total enhanced SLR (eSLR) requirement of 3.75%, assuming that our G-SIB capital surcharge remains the same when the proposal becomes effective. As part of
the same proposal, the Federal Reserve also proposed to align the well-capitalized eSLR standard applicable to State Street Bank with the proposed SLR buffer applicable to us. Under the proposal, the well-capitalized eSLR requirement for State Street Bank would change from the current 6% to 3% plus 50% of our current G-SIB capital surcharge, for a total well-capitalized SLR requirement of 3.75%, assuming that our G-SIB capital surcharge remains the same when the proposal becomes effective. Furthermore, EGRRCPA directed the U.S. banking regulators to amend regulation to exclude certain central bank balances from the measure of total leverage exposure, the SLR denominator, for custody banks. Specifically, central bank balances would be excluded to the extent of the value of client deposits at the custody bank that are linked to fiduciary, custody or safekeeping accounts. The U.S. banking agencies have not yet issued a proposed rule implementing this provision of EGRRCPA.
In addition to SLR, we are subject to a minimum tier 1 leverage ratio of 4%, which differs from SLR primarily in that the denominator of the tier 1 leverage ratio is a quarterly average of on-balance sheet assets and does not include any off-balance sheet exposures. We are required to include SLR disclosures with our other Basel disclosures.
Under the Basel III final rule, a banking organization would be able to make capital distributions (subject to other regulatory constraints, such as regulator review of its capital plans) and discretionary bonus payments without specified limitations, as long as it maintains the required capital conservation buffer of 2.5% plus the applicable G-SIB surcharge (plus any potentially applicable countercyclical capital buffer) over the minimum required risk-based capital ratios and well capitalized leverage based requirements. Banking regulators would establish the minimum countercyclical capital buffer, which is initially set by banking regulators at zero, up to a maximum of 2.5% of total RWAs under certain economic conditions. The Federal Reserve has proposed changes to its stress testing and capital planning rules that would replace the capital conservation buffer with a Stress Capital Buffer. For additional information about the proposal, refer to “Capital Planning, Stress Tests and Dividends” in this "Supervision and Regulation" section.
Under the Basel III final rule, our total regulatory capital is composed of three tiers; CET1 capital, tier 1 capital (which includes CET1 capital), and tier 2 capital. The total of tier 1 and tier 2 capital, adjusted as applicable, is referred to as total regulatory capital.
CET1 capital is composed of core capital elements, such as qualifying common shareholders' equity and related surplus; retained earnings; the cumulative effect of foreign currency translation; and net unrealized gains (losses) on debt and equity securities classified as AFS; reduced by treasury stock.
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Goodwill and other intangible assets, net of related deferred tax liabilities, are deducted from the core CET1 capital elements. Tier 1 capital is composed of CET1 capital plus additional tier 1 capital instruments which, for us, includes six series of preferred equity. Tier 2 capital includes certain eligible subordinated long-term debt instruments. The Basel III phase-in and phase-out schedules for calculating regulatory capital that apply to State Street have concluded and our capital measures are considered fully phased-in. Minimum capital ratio, buffer, and G-SIB surcharge requirements become fully phased-in as of January 1, 2019.
Certain other items, if applicable, must be deducted from tier 1 and tier 2 capital. These items primarily include deductible investments in unconsolidated banking, financial and insurance entities where we hold more than 50% of the entities' capital; and the amount of expected credit losses that exceeds recorded allowances for loan and other credit losses. Expected credit losses are calculated for wholesale credit exposures by formula in conformity with the Basel III final rule.
On October 30, 2018, the U.S. banking regulators issued a proposal that would, among other things, implement the standardized approach for counterparty credit risk (SA-CCR), a new methodology for calculating the exposure amount for derivative contracts under the U.S. regulatory capital rules. Under the proposal, we would have the option to use the SA-CCR or the Internal Model Methodology (IMM) to measure the exposure amount of our cleared and uncleared derivative transactions, as well as the RWA amount of our central counterparty default fund contributions, under our advanced approach capital calculation. We would be required to determine the amount of these exposures using the SA-CCR under our standardized approach capital calculation. The proposal would also incorporate the SA-CCR into the calculation of our total leverage exposure for the purpose of calculating SLR. The proposal requires us to implement SA-CCR by July 1, 2020 but would permit early adoption before that date after a final rule implementing SA-CCR is effective.
As required by the Dodd-Frank Act, we and State Street Bank, as advanced approaches banking organizations, are subject to a permanent "capital floor," also referred to as the Collins Amendment, in the assessment of our regulatory capital adequacy, including the capital conservation buffer and countercyclical capital buffer described above in this "Supervision and Regulation" section. Our risk-based capital ratios for regulatory assessment purposes are the lower of each ratio calculated under the standardized approach and the advanced approaches.
Failure to meet current and future regulatory capital requirements could subject us to a variety of enforcement actions, including the termination of State Street Bank's deposit insurance by the FDIC, and to certain restrictions on our business, including those that
are described above in this “Supervision and Regulation” section.
For additional information about our regulatory capital position and our regulatory capital adequacy, as well as current and future regulatory capital requirements, refer to "Capital" in “Financial Condition" in our Management's Discussion and Analysis, and Note 16 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
Global Systemically Important Bank
In addition to the Basel III final rule, we are subject to the Federal Reserve's final rule imposing a capital surcharge on U.S. G-SIBs. The surcharge requirements within the final rule began to phase-in on January 2016 and became fully effective on January 1, 2019. The eight U.S. banks deemed to be G-SIBs, including us, are required to calculate the G-SIB surcharge annually according to two methods, and be bound by the higher of the two:
• | Method 1: Assesses systemic importance based upon five equally-weighted components: size, interconnectedness, complexity, cross-jurisdictional activity and substitutability; or |
• | Method 2: Alters the calculation from Method 1 by factoring in a wholesale funding score in place of substitutability and applying a 2x multiplier to the sum of the five components. |
Method 2 currently is the binding methodology for us and our applicable surcharge for 2019 was calculated to be 1.5%, which is based on a calculation date of December 31, 2017. Assuming a countercyclical buffer of 0%, the minimum capital ratios as of January 1, 2019, including a capital conservation buffer of 2.5% and a G-SIB surcharge of 1.5% in 2019, are 8.5% for CET1 capital, 10.0% for tier 1 risk-based capital and 12.0% for total risk-based capital, in order for us to make capital distributions and discretionary bonus payments without limitation. Further, like all other U.S. G-SIBs, we are also currently subject to a 2% leverage buffer under the Basel III final rule, subject to the Federal Reserve’s proposed changes to the SLR. If we fail to exceed the 2% leverage buffer, we will be subject to increased restrictions (depending upon the extent of the shortfall) regarding capital distributions and discretionary executive bonus payments. Not all of our competitors have similarly been designated as systemically important nor are all of them subject to the same degree of regulation as a bank or financial holding company, and therefore some of our competitors may not be subject to the same additional capital requirements.
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Total Loss-Absorbing Capacity
In 2016, the Federal Reserve released its final rule on TLAC, LTD and clean holding company requirements for U.S. domiciled G-SIBs, such as us, that are intended to improve the resiliency and resolvability of certain U.S. banking organizations through enhanced prudential standards. The TLAC final rule imposes: (1) external TLAC requirements (i.e., combined eligible tier 1 regulatory capital and LTD); (2) separate external LTD requirements; and (3) clean holding company requirements that impose restrictions on certain types of liabilities and limit non-TLAC related third party liabilities to 5% of external TLAC.
Among other things, the TLAC final rule requires us to comply with minimum requirements for external TLAC and external LTD effective January 1, 2019. Specifically, we must hold (1) combined eligible tier 1 regulatory capital and LTD in the amount equal to the greater of 21.5% of total RWA (18.0% minimum plus a 2.5% capital conservation buffer plus a G-SIB surcharge calculated for these purposes under Method 1 of 1.0%) and 9.5% of total leverage exposure (7.5% minimum plus the eSLR buffer of 2.0%), as defined by the SLR final rule; and (2) qualifying external LTD equal to the greater of 7.5% of RWA (6.0% minimum plus a G-SIB surcharge calculated for these purposes under method 2 of 1.5%) and 4.5% of total leverage exposure, as defined by the SLR final rule.
We requested and received from the Federal Reserve, a one year extension from January 1, 2019 to January 1, 2020, for compliance with the LTD SLR requirements of the rule. In granting the extension request, the Federal Reserve noted the EGRRCPA that was signed into law in May 2018, under which the Federal Reserve and the other U.S. federal banking agencies must promulgate rules to exclude certain central bank placements from the calculation of SLR for custodial banks, such as us. This regulatory change is expected to reduce the LTD we are required to hold as calculated under the current requirements.
The extension will allow us to determine the appropriate amount of LTD needed to comply with the LTD SLR requirements of the TLAC rule after the Federal Reserve and the other U.S. federal banking agencies have adopted this regulatory change. For additional information about TLAC and SLR, refer to “Basel III Final Rule" in this "Supervision and Regulation" section.
Liquidity Coverage Ratio and Net Stable Funding Ratio
In addition to capital standards, the Basel III final rule introduced two quantitative liquidity standards: the LCR and the NSFR.
We are subject to the final rule issued by the U.S. banking regulators implementing the BCBS' LCR in the U.S. The LCR is intended to promote the short-term resilience of internationally active banking
organizations, like us, to improve the banking industry's ability to absorb shocks arising from market stress over a 30 calendar day period and improve the measurement and management of liquidity risk.
The LCR measures an institution’s HQLA against its net cash outflows. We report LCR to the Federal Reserve daily. For the quarters ended December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, daily average LCR for the Parent Company was 108% and 112%, respectively. In addition, we publicly disclose certain qualitative and quantitative information about our LCR consistent with the requirements of the Federal Reserve's December 2016 final rule.
Compliance with the LCR has required that we maintain an investment portfolio that contains an adequate amount of HQLA. In general, HQLA investments generate a lower investment return than other types of investments, resulting in a negative impact on our NII and our NIM. In addition, the level of HQLA we are required to maintain under the LCR is dependent upon our client relationships and the nature of services we provide, which may change over time. Deposits resulting from certain services provided (“operational deposits”) are treated as more resilient during periods of stress than other deposits. As a result, if balances of operational deposits increased relative to our total client deposit base, we would expect to require less HQLA in order to maintain our LCR. Conversely, if balances of operational deposits decreased relative to our total client deposit base, we would expect to require more HQLA.
The BCBS has also issued final guidance with respect to the NSFR. In 2016, the OCC, Federal Reserve and FDIC issued a proposal to implement the NSFR in the U.S. that is largely consistent with the BCBS guidance. The proposal would require banking organizations to maintain an amount of available stable funding, which is calculated by applying standardized weightings to its equity and liabilities based on their expected stability, that is no less than the amount of its required stable funding, which is calculated by applying standardized weightings to its assets, derivatives exposures, and certain other off-balance sheet exposures based on their liquidity characteristics.
Capital Planning, Stress Tests and Dividends
Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the Federal Reserve has adopted capital planning and stress test requirements for large bank holding companies, including us, which form part of the Federal Reserve’s annual CCAR framework. CCAR is used by the Federal Reserve to evaluate our management of capital, the adequacy of our regulatory capital and the potential requirement for us to maintain capital levels above regulatory minimums. Under the Federal Reserve’s capital plan final rule, we must conduct periodic stress testing of our business operations and submit an annual capital plan to the Federal Reserve, taking into account
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the results of separate stress tests designed by us and by the Federal Reserve.
The capital plan must include a description of all of our planned capital actions over a nine-quarter planning horizon, including any capital qualifying instruments, any capital distributions, such as payments of dividends on, or repurchases of, our stock, and any similar action that the Federal Reserve determines could affect our consolidated capital. The capital plan must include a discussion of how we will maintain capital above the minimum regulatory capital ratios, including the minimum ratios under the Basel III final rule, and serve as a source of strength to our U.S. depository institution subsidiaries under supervisory stress scenarios. The capital plan requirements mandate that we receive no objection to our plan from the Federal Reserve before making a capital distribution. These requirements could require us to revise our stress-testing or capital management approaches, resubmit our capital plan or postpone, cancel or alter our planned capital actions. In addition, changes in our strategy, merger or acquisition activity or unanticipated uses of capital could result in a change in our capital plan and its associated capital actions, including capital raises or modifications to planned capital actions, such as repurchases of our stock, and may require resubmission of the capital plan to the Federal Reserve for its non-objection if, among other reasons, we would not meet our regulatory capital requirements after making the proposed capital distribution.
In addition to its capital planning requirements, the Federal Reserve has the authority to prohibit or to limit the payment of dividends by the banking organizations it supervises, including the Parent Company and State Street Bank, if, in the Federal Reserve’s opinion, the payment of a dividend would constitute an unsafe or unsound practice in light of the financial condition of the banking organization. All of these policies and other requirements could affect our ability to pay dividends and repurchase our stock, or require us to provide capital assistance to State Street Bank and any other banking subsidiary.
In June 2018, we received the results of the Federal Reserve’s review of our 2018 capital plan in connection with its 2018 annual CCAR process. The Federal Reserve did not object to our capital plan as part of the 2018 CCAR process, conditioned on our making enhancements to the management and analysis of counterparty exposures under stress. In connection with the capital plan, our Board approved a common stock repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to $1.2 billion of our common stock from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019 (the 2018 Program). In connection with our acquisition of Charles River Development, we did not repurchase any common stock during 2018 under the 2018 Program. We have resumed our common stock purchase
program in the first quarter of 2019 and may repurchase up to $600 million through June 30, 2019 under the 2018 Program.
Our common stock and other stock dividends, including the declaration, timing and amount thereof, remain subject to consideration and approval by our Board of Directors at the relevant times.
The Federal Reserve, under the Dodd-Frank Act, requires us to conduct semi-annual State Street-run stress tests and to publicly disclose the summary results of our State Street-run stress tests under the severely adverse economic scenario. In November 2018, we provided summary results of our 2018 mid-cycle State Street-run stress tests on the “Investor Relations” section of our corporate website. We are also required to undergo an annual supervisory stress test conducted by the Federal Reserve. The EGRRCPA modifies certain aspects of these stress-testing requirements, reducing the number of scenarios in the Federal Reserve’s supervisory stress test from three to two and modifying our obligation to perform company-run stress-tests from semi-annually to annually. The Federal Reserve issued a proposal in October 2018 that would, among other things, implement this modification.
The Dodd-Frank Act also requires State Street Bank to conduct an annual stress test. State Street Bank published a summary of its stress test results on June 21, 2018.
The Federal Reserve is currently considering making further changes to its capital planning and stress testing requirements.
On April 10, 2018, the Federal Reserve issued a proposal to integrate its annual capital planning and stress testing requirements with certain ongoing regulatory capital requirements. The proposal, which would apply to certain bank holding companies, including us, would introduce a Stress Capital Buffer (SCB) and a Stress Leverage Buffer (SLB) and related changes to the capital planning and stress testing processes. Under the proposal, the requirements would apply only with respect to the standardized approach and tier 1 leverage regulatory capital requirements.
In the standardized approach, the SCB would replace the existing capital conservation buffer. The standardized approach SCB would equal the greater of (i) the maximum decline in our CET1 capital ratio under the severely adverse scenario over the supervisory stress test measurement period, plus the sum of the ratios of the dollar amount of our planned common stock dividends to our projected RWA for each of the fourth through seventh quarters of the supervisory stress test projection period; and (ii) 2.5%. Regulatory capital requirements under the standardized approach would include the SCB, as summarized above, as well as our G-SIB capital surcharge and any applicable countercyclical capital buffer.
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Like the SCB, the SLB would be calculated based on the results of our annual supervisory stress tests. The SLB would equal the maximum decline in our tier 1 leverage ratio under the severely adverse scenario, plus the sum of the ratios of the dollar amount of our planned common stock dividends to our projected leverage ratio denominator for each of the fourth through seventh quarters of the supervisory stress test projection period. No floor would be established for the SLB, which would apply in addition to the current minimum tier 1 leverage ratio of 4%.
The proposal would make related changes to capital planning and stress testing processes for bank holding companies subject to these requirements. In particular, the proposal would limit projected capital actions to planned common stock dividends in the fourth through seventh quarters of the supervisory stress test projection period and would assume that bank holding companies maintain a constant level of assets and RWA throughout the supervisory stress test projection period.
If the proposal is adopted, limitations on capital distributions and discretionary bonus payments to executive officers would be determined by the most stringent limitation, if any, as determined under the standardized approach or the tier 1 leverage ratio, inclusive of the proposed stress buffer requirements, or the advanced approach or SLR or TLAC requirements, inclusive of applicable buffers.
In November 2018, the Federal Reserve’s Vice Chairman for Supervision stated that the Federal Reserve does not expect the proposed stress buffer requirements will go into effect before 2020. However, the Federal Reserve does expect to finalize certain elements of the proposed requirements and expects that other elements will be re-proposed and again subject to public comment.
The Volcker Rule
We are subject to the Volcker Rule and implementing regulations. The Volcker Rule prohibits banking entities, including us and our affiliates, from engaging in certain prohibited proprietary trading activities, as defined in the final Volcker Rule regulations, subject to exemptions for market-making related activities, risk-mitigating hedging, underwriting and certain other activities. The Volcker Rule also requires banking entities to either restructure or divest certain ownership interests in, and relationships with, covered funds (as such terms are defined in the final Volcker Rule regulations).
The final Volcker Rule regulations require banking entities to establish extensive programs designed to promote compliance with the restrictions of the Volcker Rule. We have established a compliance program which we believe complies with the final Volcker Rule regulations as currently in effect. Such compliance program restricts our ability in the future to service certain types of funds, in particular covered funds for
which State Street Global Advisors acts as an advisor and certain types of trustee relationships. Consequently, Volcker Rule compliance entails both the cost of a compliance program and loss of certain revenue and future opportunities.
On May 30, 2018, the Federal Reserve and the other federal financial regulatory agencies responsible for the Volcker Rule regulations released an interagency proposal that would revise certain elements of those regulations. The proposed changes focus on proprietary trading, including the metrics reporting requirements and certain requirements imposed in connection with permitted market making, underwriting and risk-mitigating hedging activities, including market-making in and underwriting of covered funds. The impact of this proposal on us will not be known with certainty until final rules are issued.
Enhanced Prudential Standards
The Dodd-Frank Act, as amended by the EGRRCPA, establishes a systemic risk regime to which large bank holding companies with $100 billion or more in consolidated assets, such as us, are subject. The Federal Reserve is required to tailor the application of the enhanced prudential standards to bank holding companies based on their size, complexity, risk profile and other factors. U.S. G-SIBs, such as us, are expected to remain subject to the most stringent requirements, including heightened capital, leverage, liquidity and risk management requirements and single-counterparty credit limits (SCCL).
The FSOC can recommend prudential standards, reporting and disclosure requirements to the Federal Reserve for SIFIs, and must approve any finding by the Federal Reserve that a financial institution poses a grave threat to financial stability and must undertake mitigating actions. The FSOC is also empowered to designate systemically important payment, clearing and settlement activities of financial institutions, subjecting them to prudential supervision and regulation, and, assisted by the Office of Financial Research within the U.S. Department of the Treasury can gather data and reports from financial institutions, including us.
Under the Federal Reserve's final rule implementing certain of the Dodd-Frank Act's enhanced prudential standards, we are required to comply with various liquidity-related risk management standards and maintain a liquidity buffer of unencumbered highly liquid assets based on the results of internal liquidity stress testing. This liquidity buffer is in addition to other liquidity requirements, such as the LCR and, when implemented, the NSFR. The final rule also establishes requirements and responsibilities for our risk committee and mandates risk management standards.
On June 14, 2018, the Federal Reserve finalized rules that would establish SCCL for large banking organizations. U.S. G-SIBs, including us, are subject to
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a limit of 15% of tier 1 capital for aggregate net credit exposures to any “major counterparty” (defined to include other U.S. G-SIBs, foreign G-SIBs and non-bank systemically important financial institutions supervised by the Federal Reserve). In addition we are subject to a limit of 25% of tier 1 capital for aggregate net credit exposures to any other unaffiliated counterparty. We must comply with the final SCCL rules beginning on January 1, 2020.
The Federal Reserve has established a final rule that imposes contractual requirements on certain “qualified financial contracts” to which U.S. G-SIBs, including us, and their subsidiaries are parties. Under the final rule, certain qualified financial contracts generally must expressly provide that transfer restrictions and default rights against a U.S. G-SIB, or subsidiary of a U.S. G-SIB, are limited to the same extent as they would be under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act and their implementing regulations. In addition, certain qualified financial contracts may not, among other things, permit the exercise of any cross-default right against a U.S. G-SIB or subsidiary of a U.S. G-SIB based on an affiliate’s entry into insolvency, resolution or similar proceedings, subject to certain creditor protections. There is a phased-in compliance schedule based on counterparty type, and the first compliance date was January 1, 2019.
In addition, the Federal Reserve has proposed rules that would create an early-remediation regime to address financial distress or material management weaknesses determined with reference to four levels of early remediation, including heightened supervisory review, initial remediation, recovery, and resolution assessment, with specific limitations and requirements tied to each level.
The systemic-risk regime also provides that for U.S. G-SIBs deemed to pose a grave threat to U.S. financial stability, the Federal Reserve, upon an FSOC vote, must limit that institution’s ability to merge, restrict its ability to offer financial products, require it to terminate activities, impose conditions on activities or, as a last resort, require it to dispose of assets. Upon a grave threat determination by the FSOC, the Federal Reserve must issue rules that require financial institutions subject to the systemic-risk regime to maintain a debt-to-equity ratio of no more than 15 to 1 if the FSOC considers it necessary to mitigate the risk of the grave threat. The Federal Reserve also has the ability to establish further standards, including those regarding contingent capital, enhanced public disclosures and limits on short-term debt, including off-balance sheet exposures.
Resolution Planning
We are required to periodically submit a plan for rapid and orderly resolution in the event of material financial distress or failure, commonly referred to as a
resolution plan or a living will, to the Federal Reserve and the FDIC under Section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Act. Through resolution planning, we seek, in the event of our insolvency, to maintain State Street Bank’s role as a key infrastructure provider within the financial system, while minimizing risk to the financial system and maximizing value for the benefit of our stakeholders. We have and will continue to focus management attention and resources to meet regulatory expectations with respect to resolution planning.
We submitted our 2017 resolution plan describing our preferred resolution strategy to the Federal Reserve and FDIC on June 30, 2017. On December 19, 2017, the Federal Reserve and FDIC announced that they had completed their review and had not identified deficiencies or specific shortcomings. Nonetheless, the agencies identified four common areas in which more work may need to be done by all firms, including us, to continue to improve resolvability: intra-group liquidity; internal loss-absorbing capacity; derivatives; and payment, clearing and settlement activities. Our next resolution plan is due July 1, 2019.
In the event of material financial distress or failure, our preferred resolution strategy is the SPOE Strategy. The SPOE Strategy provides that prior to the bankruptcy of the Parent Company and pursuant to a support agreement among the Parent Company, SSIF (a direct subsidiary of the Parent Company), our Beneficiary Entities (as defined below) and certain of our other entities, SSIF is obligated, up to its available resources, to recapitalize and/or provide liquidity to State Street Bank and the other entities benefiting from such capital and/or liquidity support (collectively with State Street Bank, “Beneficiary Entities”), in amounts designed to prevent the Beneficiary Entities from themselves entering into resolution proceedings. Following the recapitalization of, or provision of liquidity to the Beneficiary Entities, the Parent Company would enter into a bankruptcy proceeding under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Beneficiary Entities and our other subsidiaries would be transferred to a newly organized holding company held by a reorganization trust for the benefit of the Parent Company’s claimants.
Under the support agreement, the Parent Company has pre-funded SSIF by contributing certain of its assets (primarily its liquid assets, cash deposits, investments in intercompany debt, investments in marketable securities and other cash and non-cash equivalent investments) to SSIF contemporaneous with entering into the support agreement and will continue to contribute such assets, to the extent available, on an on-going basis. In consideration for these contributions, SSIF has agreed in the support agreement to provide capital and liquidity support to the Parent Company and all of the Beneficiary Entities in accordance with the Parent Company’s capital and liquidity policies. Under the support agreement, the Parent Company is only
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permitted to retain cash needed to meet its upcoming obligations and to fund expected expenses during a potential bankruptcy proceeding. SSIF has provided the Parent Company with a committed credit line and issued (and may issue) one or more promissory notes to the Parent Company (the "Parent Company Funding Notes") that together are intended to allow the Parent Company to continue to meet its obligations throughout the period prior to the occurrence of a "Recapitalization Event" (as defined below). The support agreement does not contemplate that SSIF is obligated to maintain any specific level of resources and SSIF may not have sufficient resources to implement the SPOE Strategy.
In the event a Recapitalization Event occurs, the obligations outstanding under the Parent Company Funding Notes would automatically convert into or be exchanged for capital contributed to SSIF. The obligations of the Parent Company and SSIF under the support agreement are secured through a security agreement that grants a lien on the assets that the Parent Company and SSIF would use to fulfill their obligations under the support agreement to the Beneficiary Entities. SSIF is a distinct legal entity separate from the Parent Company and the Parent Company’s other affiliates.
In accordance with our policies, we are required to monitor, on an ongoing basis, the capital and liquidity needs of State Street Bank and our other Beneficiary Entities. To support this process, we have established a trigger framework that identifies key actions that would need to be taken or decisions that would need to be made if certain events tied to our financial condition occur. In the event that we experience material financial distress, the support agreement requires us to model and calculate certain capital and liquidity triggers on a regular basis to determine whether or not the Parent Company should commence preparations for a bankruptcy filing and whether or not a Recapitalization Event has occurred.
Upon the occurrence of a Recapitalization Event: (1) SSIF would not be authorized to provide any further liquidity to the Parent Company; (2) the Parent Company would be required to contribute to SSIF any remaining assets it is required to contribute to SSIF under the support agreement (which specifically exclude amounts designated to fund expected expenses during a potential bankruptcy proceeding); (3) SSIF would be required to provide capital and liquidity support to the Beneficiary Entities to support such entities’ continued operation to the extent of its available resources and consistent with the support agreement; and (4) the Parent Company would be expected to commence Chapter 11 proceedings under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. No person or entity, other than a party to the support agreement, should rely, including in evaluating any of our entities from a creditor's perspective or determining whether to enter into a contractual relationship with any of our entities,
on any of our affiliates being or remaining a Beneficiary Entity or receiving capital or liquidity support pursuant to the support agreement.
A “Recapitalization Event” is defined under the support agreement as the earlier occurrence of one or more capital and liquidity thresholds being breached or the authorization by the Parent Company's Board of Directors for the Parent Company to commence bankruptcy proceedings. These thresholds are set at levels intended to provide for the availability of sufficient capital and liquidity to enable an orderly resolution without extraordinary government support. The SPOE Strategy and the obligations under the support agreement may result in the recapitalization of State Street Bank and the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings by the Parent Company at an earlier stage of financial stress than might otherwise occur without such mechanisms in place. An expected effect of the SPOE Strategy and applicable TLAC regulatory requirements is that our losses will be imposed on the Parent Company shareholders and the holders of long-term debt and other forms of TLAC securities currently outstanding or issued in the future by the Parent Company, as well as on any other Parent Company creditors, before any of its losses are imposed on the holders of the debt securities of the Parent Company's operating subsidiaries or any of their depositors or creditors, or before U.S. taxpayers are put at risk.
There can be no assurance that credit rating agencies, in response to our resolution plan or the support agreement, will not downgrade, place on negative watch or change their outlook on our debt credit ratings, generally or on specific debt securities. Any such downgrade, placement on negative watch or change in outlook could adversely affect our cost of borrowing, limit our access to the capital markets or result in restrictive covenants in future debt agreements and could also adversely impact the trading prices, or the liquidity, of our outstanding debt securities.
State Street Bank is also required to submit periodically to the FDIC a plan for resolution in the event of its failure, referred to as an IDI plan. The FDIC’s Chairman has indicated that until the FDIC’s revisions to its IDI plan requirements are finalized, no IDI plans will be required to be filed.
Orderly Liquidation Authority
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, certain financial companies, including bank holding companies such as us, and certain covered subsidiaries, can be subjected to the orderly liquidation authority. The U.S. Treasury Secretary, in consultation with the U.S. President, must first make certain extraordinary financial distress and systemic risk determinations, and action must be recommended by two-thirds of the FDIC Board and two-thirds of the Federal Reserve Board. Absent such actions, we, as a bank holding company, would remain subject to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
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The orderly liquidation authority went into effect in 2010, and rulemaking is proceeding in stages, with some regulations now finalized and others planned but not yet proposed. If we were subject to the orderly liquidation authority, the FDIC would be appointed as the receiver of State Street Bank, which would give the FDIC considerable powers to resolve us, including: (1) the power to remove officers and directors responsible for our failure and to appoint new directors and officers; (2) the power to assign assets and liabilities to a third party or bridge financial company without the need for creditor consent or prior court review; (3) the ability to differentiate among creditors, including by treating junior creditors better than senior creditors, subject to a minimum recovery right to receive at least what they would have received in bankruptcy liquidation; and (4) broad powers to administer the claims process to determine distributions from the assets of the receivership to creditors not transferred to a third party or bridge financial institution.
In 2013, the FDIC released its proposed SPOE strategy for resolution of a SIFI under the orderly liquidation authority. The FDIC’s release outlines how it would use its powers under the orderly liquidation authority to resolve a SIFI by placing its top-tier U.S. holding company in receivership and keeping its operating subsidiaries open and out of insolvency proceedings by transferring the operating subsidiaries to a new bridge holding company, recapitalizing the operating subsidiaries and imposing losses on the shareholders and creditors of the holding company in receivership according to their statutory order of priority.
Derivatives
Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act imposed a comprehensive regulatory structure on the OTC derivatives market, including requirements for clearing, exchange trading, capital, margin, reporting and record-keeping. Title VII also requires certain persons to register as a major swap participant, a swap dealer or a securities-based swap dealer. The CFTC, the SEC, and other U.S. regulators have largely implemented key provisions of Title VII, although certain final regulations have only been in place a short period of time and others have not been finalized. Through this rulemaking process, these regulators collectively have adopted or proposed, among other things, regulations relating to reporting and record-keeping obligations, margin and capital requirements, the scope of registration and the central clearing and exchange trading requirements for certain OTC derivatives. The CFTC has also issued rules to enhance the oversight of clearing and trading entities. The CFTC, along with other regulators, including the Federal Reserve, have also issued final rules with respect to margin requirements for uncleared derivatives transactions.
State Street Bank has registered provisionally with the CFTC as a swap dealer. As a provisionally
registered swap dealer, State Street Bank is subject to significant regulatory obligations regarding its swap activity and the supervision, examination and enforcement powers of the CFTC and other regulators. The CFTC has granted State Street Bank a limited-purpose swap dealer designation. Under this limited-purpose designation, interest rate swap activity engaged in by State Street Bank’s Global Treasury group is not subject to certain of the swap regulatory requirements otherwise applicable to swaps entered into by a registered swap dealer, subject to a number of conditions. For all other swap transactions, our swap activities remain subject to all applicable swap dealer regulations.
Subsidiaries
The Federal Reserve is the primary federal banking agency responsible for regulating us and our subsidiaries, including State Street Bank, with respect to both our U.S. and non-U.S. operations.
Our banking subsidiaries are subject to supervision and examination by various regulatory authorities. State Street Bank is a member of the Federal Reserve System, its deposits are insured by the FDIC and it is subject to applicable federal and state banking laws and to supervision and examination by the Federal Reserve, as well as by the Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks, the FDIC, and the regulatory authorities of those states and countries in which State Street Bank operates a branch. Our other subsidiary trust companies are subject to supervision and examination by the OCC, the Federal Reserve or by the appropriate state banking regulatory authorities of the states in which they are organized and operate. Our non-U.S. banking subsidiaries are subject to regulation by the regulatory authorities of the countries in which they operate.
We and our subsidiaries that are not subsidiaries of State Street Bank are affiliates of State Street Bank under federal banking laws, which impose restrictions on various types of transactions, including loans, extensions of credit, investments or asset purchases by or from State Street Bank, on the one hand, to us and those of our subsidiaries, on the other. Transactions of this kind between State Street Bank and its affiliates are limited with respect to each affiliate to 10% of State Street Bank’s capital and surplus, as defined by the aforementioned banking laws, and to 20% in the aggregate for all affiliates, and in some cases are also subject to strict collateral requirements. Derivatives, securities borrowing and securities lending transactions between State Street Bank and its affiliates became subject to these restrictions pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd-Frank Act also expanded the scope of transactions required to be collateralized. In addition, the Volcker Rule generally prohibits similar transactions between the Parent Company or any of its affiliates and covered funds for which we or any of our affiliates serve
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as the investment manager, investment adviser, commodity trading advisor or sponsor and other covered funds organized and offered pursuant to specific exemptions in the final Volcker Rule regulations.
Federal law also requires that certain transactions by a bank with affiliates be on terms and under circumstances, including credit standards, that are substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the bank, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions involving other non-affiliated companies. Alternatively, in the absence of comparable transactions, the transactions must be on terms and under circumstances, including credit standards, that in good faith would be offered to, or would apply to, non-affiliated companies.
State Street Bank is also prohibited from engaging in certain tie-in arrangements in connection with any extension of credit or lease or sale of property or furnishing of services. Federal law provides for a depositor preference on amounts realized from the liquidation or other resolution of any depository institution insured by the FDIC.
Our subsidiaries, State Street Global Advisors FM and State Street Global Advisors Ltd., act as investment advisers to investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. State Street Global Advisors FM, incorporated in Massachusetts in 2001 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and is registered with the CFTC as a commodity trading adviser and pool operator. State Street Global Advisors Ltd., incorporated in 1990 as a U.K. limited company and domiciled in the U.K., is also registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. State Street Global Advisors Ltd. is also authorized and regulated by the U.K. FCA and is an investment firm under the MiFID. Our subsidiary, State Street Global Advisors Asia Limited, a Hong Kong incorporated company, is registered as an investment adviser with the SEC and additionally is licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong to perform a variety of activities, including asset management. State Street Global Advisors Asia Limited also holds permits as a qualified foreign institutional Investor (QFII) and a renminbi qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII), approved by the Securities Regulatory Commission in the People’s Republic of China, and in Korea is registered with the Financial Services Commission as a cross-border investment advisory company and a cross-border discretionary investment management company. In addition, a major portion of our investment management activities are conducted by State Street Global Advisors Trust Company, which is a subsidiary of State Street Bank and a Massachusetts chartered trust company subject to the supervision of the Massachusetts
Commissioner of Banks and the Federal Reserve with respect to these activities. Many aspects of our investment management activities are subject to federal and state laws and regulations primarily intended to benefit the investment holder, rather than our shareholders.
These laws and regulations generally grant supervisory agencies and bodies broad administrative powers, including the power to limit or restrict us from conducting our investment management activities in the event that we fail to comply with such laws and regulations, and examination authority. Our business related to investment management and trusteeship of collective trust funds and separate accounts offered to employee benefit plans is subject to ERISA, and is regulated by the U.S. DOL.
We have three subsidiaries that operate as a U.S. broker/dealer and are registered as such with the SEC, are subject to regulation by the SEC (including the SEC's net capital rule) and are members of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a self-regulatory organization. State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC operates as a limited purpose broker/dealer that provides distributing and related marketing activities for U.S. mutual funds and ETFs associated with State Street Global Advisors. State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC also may privately offer certain State Street Global Advisors advised funds. State Street Global Markets LLC is a U.S. broker/dealer that provides agency execution services. We also acquired Charles River Brokerage, LLC, a U.S. broker/dealer, as part of our acquisition of Charles River Development. In addition, we have a subsidiary, SwapEX, LLC, registered with the CFTC in the U.S. as a swap execution facility.
Our businesses, including our investment management and securities businesses, are also regulated extensively by non-U.S. governments, securities exchanges, self-regulatory organizations, central banks and regulatory bodies, especially in those jurisdictions in which we maintain an office. For instance, among others, the U.K. FCA and the U.K. PRA regulate our activities in the U.K.; the Central Bank of Ireland regulates our activities in Ireland; the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority regulates our activities in Germany; the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier regulates our activities in Luxembourg; our German banking group is also subject to direct supervision by the European Central Bank under the ECB Single Supervisory Mechanism; the Securities and Futures Commission regulates our asset management activities in Hong Kong; the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission regulate our activities in Australia; and the Financial Services Agency and the Bank of Japan regulate our activities in Japan. We have established policies, procedures and systems designed to comply with the requirements of
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these organizations. However, as a global financial services institution, we face complexity, costs and risks related to regulation.
The majority of our non-U.S. asset servicing operations are conducted pursuant to the Federal Reserve's Regulation K through State Street Bank’s Edge Act subsidiary or through international branches of State Street Bank. An Edge Act corporation is a corporation organized under federal law that conducts foreign business activities. In general, banks may not make investments in their Edge Act corporations (and similar state law corporations) that exceed 20% of their capital and surplus, as defined, and the investment of any amount in excess of 10% of capital and surplus requires the prior approval of the Federal Reserve.
In addition to our non-U.S. operations conducted pursuant to Regulation K, we also make new investments abroad directly (through us or through our non-banking subsidiaries) pursuant to the Federal Reserve's Regulation Y, or through international bank branch expansion, neither of which is subject to the investment limitations applicable to Edge Act subsidiaries.
Additionally, Massachusetts has its own bank holding company statute, under which we, among other things, may be required to obtain prior approval by the Massachusetts Board of Bank Incorporation for an acquisition of more than 5% of any additional bank's voting shares, or for other forms of bank acquisitions.
Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Transparency
We and certain of our subsidiaries are subject to the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, and related regulations, which contain AML and financial transparency provisions and which require implementation of an AML compliance program, including processes for verifying client identification and monitoring client transactions and detecting and reporting suspicious activities. AML laws outside the U.S. contain similar requirements. We have implemented policies, procedures and internal controls that are designed to promote compliance with applicable AML laws and regulations. AML laws and regulations applicable to our operations may be more stringent than similar requirements applicable to our non-regulated competitors or financial institutions principally operating in other jurisdictions. Compliance with applicable AML and related requirements is a common area of review for financial regulators, and any failure by us to comply with these requirements could result in fines, penalties, lawsuits, regulatory sanctions, difficulties in obtaining governmental approvals, restrictions on our business activities or harm to our reputation.
In 2015, we entered into a written agreement with the Federal Reserve and the Massachusetts Division of Banks relating to deficiencies identified in our
compliance programs with the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act, AML regulations and U.S. economic sanctions regulations promulgated by OFAC. As part of this agreement, we have been required to, among other things, implement improvements to our compliance programs. If we fail to comply with the terms of the written agreement, we may become subject to fines and other regulatory sanctions, which may have a material adverse effect on us.
Deposit Insurance
The Dodd-Frank Act made permanent the general $250,000 deposit insurance limit for insured deposits. The FDIC’s DIF is funded by assessments on FDIC-insured depository institutions. The FDIC assesses DIF premiums based on an insured depository institution's average consolidated total assets, less the average tangible equity of the insured depository institution during the assessment period. For larger institutions, such as State Street Bank, assessments are determined based on regulatory ratings and forward-looking financial measures to calculate the assessment rate, which is subject to adjustments by the FDIC, and the assessment base.
The FDIC is required to determine whether and to what extent adjustments to the assessment base are appropriate for “custody banks" that satisfy specified institutional eligibility criteria. The FDIC has concluded that certain liquid assets could be excluded from the deposit insurance assessment base of custody banks. This has the effect of reducing the amount of DIF insurance premiums due from custody banks. State Street Bank qualifies as a custody bank for this purpose. The custody bank assessment adjustment may not exceed total transaction account deposits identified by the institution as being directly linked to a fiduciary or custody and safekeeping asset.
Prompt Corrective Action
The FDIC Improvement Act of 1991 requires the appropriate federal banking regulator to take “prompt corrective action” with respect to a depository institution if that institution does not meet certain capital adequacy standards, including minimum capital ratios. While these regulations apply only to banks, such as State Street Bank, the Federal Reserve is authorized to take appropriate action against a parent bank holding company, such as our Parent Company, based on the under-capitalized status of any banking subsidiary. In certain instances, we would be required to guarantee the performance of a capital restoration plan if one of our banking subsidiaries were undercapitalized.
Support of Subsidiary Banks
Under Federal Reserve regulations, a bank holding company such as our Parent Company is required to act as a source of financial and managerial strength to its banking subsidiaries. This requirement was added to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act by the
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Dodd-Frank Act. This means that we have a statutory obligation to commit resources to State Street Bank and any other banking subsidiary in circumstances in which we otherwise might not do so absent such a requirement. In the event of bankruptcy, any commitment by us to a federal bank regulatory agency to maintain the capital of a banking subsidiary will be assumed by the bankruptcy trustee and will be entitled to a priority payment.
Insolvency of an Insured U.S. Subsidiary Depository Institution
If the FDIC is appointed the conservator or receiver of an FDIC-insured U.S. subsidiary depository institution, such as State Street Bank, upon its insolvency or certain other events, the FDIC has the ability to transfer any of the depository institution’s assets and liabilities to a new obligor without the approval of the depository institution’s creditors, enforce the terms of the depository institution’s contracts pursuant to their terms or repudiate or disaffirm contracts or leases to which the depository institution is a party. Additionally, the claims of holders of deposit liabilities and certain claims for administrative expenses against an insured depository institution would be afforded priority over other general unsecured claims against such an institution, including claims of debt holders of the institution and, under current interpretation, depositors in non-U.S. branches and offices, in the liquidation or other resolution of such an institution by any receiver. As a result, such persons would be treated differently from and could receive, if anything, substantially less than the depositors in U.S. offices of the depository institution.
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES
Economic policies of the U.S. government and its agencies influence our operating environment. Monetary policy conducted by the Federal Reserve directly affects the level of interest rates, which may affect overall credit conditions of the economy. Monetary policy is applied by the Federal Reserve through open market operations in U.S. government securities, changes in reserve requirements for depository institutions, and changes in the discount rate and availability of borrowing from the Federal Reserve. Government regulation of banks and bank holding companies is intended primarily for the protection of depositors of the banks, rather than for the shareholders of the institutions and therefore may, in some cases, be adverse to the interests of those shareholders. We are similarly affected by the economic policies of non-U.S. government agencies, such as the ECB.
CYBER RISK MANAGEMENT
In October 2016, the Federal Reserve, FDIC and OCC issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding enhanced cyber risk management standards, which would apply to a wide range of large financial
institutions and their third-party service providers, including us and our banking subsidiaries. The proposed standards would expand existing cybersecurity regulations and guidance to focus on cyber risk governance and management; management of internal and external dependencies; and incident response, cyber resilience and situational awareness. In addition, the proposal contemplates more stringent standards for institutions with systems that are critical to the financial sector.
Further discussion of cyber security risk management is provided in "Information Technology Risk Management" included in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K.
STATISTICAL DISCLOSURE BY BANK HOLDING COMPANIES
The following information, included under Items 6, 7 and 8 in this Form 10-K, is incorporated by reference herein:
“Selected Financial Data” table (Item 6) - presents return on average common equity, return on average assets, common dividend payout and equity-to-assets ratios.
“Distribution of Average Assets, Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity; Interest Rates and Interest Differential” table (Item 8) - presents consolidated average balance sheet amounts, related fully taxable-equivalent interest earned and paid, related average yields and rates paid and changes in fully taxable-equivalent interest income and interest expense for each major category of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities.
“Investment Securities” section included in our Management's Discussion and Analysis (Item 7) and Note 3, “Investment Securities,” to the consolidated financial statements (Item 8) - disclose information regarding book values, market values, maturities and weighted-average yields of securities (by category).
“Loans and Leases” section included in our Management’s Discussion and Analysis (Item 7) and Note 4, “Loans and Leases,” to the consolidated financial statements (Item 8) - disclose our policy for placing loans and leases on non-accrual status and distribution of loans, loan maturities and sensitivities of loans to changes in interest rates.
“Loans and Leases” and “Cross-Border Outstandings” sections of Management’s Discussion and Analysis (Item 7) - disclose information regarding our cross-border outstandings and other loan concentrations.
“Credit Risk Management” section included in Management’s Discussion and Analysis (Item 7) and Note 4, “Loans and Leases,” to the consolidated financial statements (Item 8) - present the allocation of the allowance for loan and lease losses, and a description of factors which influenced management’s
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judgment in determining amounts of additions or reductions to the allowance, if any, charged or credited to results of operations.
“Distribution of Average Assets, Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity; Interest Rates and Interest Differential” table (Item 8) - discloses deposit information.
Note 8, “Short-Term Borrowings,” to the consolidated financial statements (Item 8) - discloses information regarding our short-term borrowings.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Forward-Looking Statements
This Form 10-K, as well as other reports and proxy materials submitted by us under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, registration statements filed by us under the Securities Act of 1933, our annual report to shareholders and other public statements we may make, may contain statements (including statements in our Management's Discussion and Analysis included in such reports, as applicable) that are considered “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of U.S. securities laws, including statements about our goals and expectations regarding our business, financial and capital condition, results of operations, strategies, cost savings and transformation initiatives, investment portfolio performance, dividend and stock purchase programs, outcomes of legal proceedings, market growth, acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures, client growth and new technologies, services and opportunities, as well as industry, governmental, regulatory, economic and market trends, initiatives and developments, the business environment and other matters that do not relate strictly to historical facts.
Terminology such as “plan,” “expect,” “intend,” “objective,” “forecast,” “outlook,” “believe,” “priority,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “seek,” “may,” “will,” “trend,” “target,” “strategy” and “goal,” or similar statements or variations of such terms, are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms.
Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, which change over time, are based on management's expectations and assumptions at the time the statements are made, and are not guarantees of future results. Management's expectations and assumptions, and the continued validity of the forward-looking statements, are subject to change due to a broad range of factors affecting the U.S. and global economies, regulatory environment and the equity, debt, currency and other financial markets, as well as factors specific to State Street and its subsidiaries, including State Street Bank. Factors that could cause changes in the expectations or assumptions on which forward-looking statements are based cannot be foreseen with certainty and include,
but are not limited to:
• | the financial strength of the counterparties with which we or our clients do business and to which we have investment, credit or financial exposures or to which our clients have such exposures as a result of our acting as agent, including as an asset manager or securities lending agent; |
• | increases in the volatility of, or declines in the level of, our NII, changes in the composition or valuation of the assets recorded in our consolidated statement of condition (and our ability to measure the fair value of investment securities) and changes in the manner in which we fund those assets; |
• | the volatility of servicing fee, management fee, trading fee and securities finance revenues due to, among other factors, the value of equity and fixed-income markets, market interest and foreign exchange rates, the volume of client transaction activity, competitive pressures in the investment servicing and asset management industries, and the timing of revenue recognition with respect to processing fees and other revenues; |
• | the liquidity of the U.S. and international securities markets, particularly the markets for fixed-income securities and inter-bank credits; the liquidity of the assets on our balance sheet and changes or volatility in the sources of such funding, particularly the deposits of our clients; and demands upon our liquidity, including the liquidity demands and requirements of our clients; |
• | the level and volatility of interest rates, the valuation of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies in which we record revenue or accrue expenses and the performance and volatility of securities, credit, currency and other markets in the U.S. and internationally; and the impact of monetary and fiscal policy in the U.S. and internationally on prevailing rates of interest and currency exchange rates in the markets in which we provide services to our clients; |
• | the credit quality, credit-agency ratings and fair values of the securities in our investment securities portfolio, a deterioration or downgrade of which could lead to other-than-temporary impairment of such securities and the recognition of an impairment loss in our consolidated statement of income; |
• | our ability to attract deposits and other low-cost, short-term funding; our ability to manage the level and pricing of such deposits and the relative portion of our deposits that are determined to be operational under regulatory guidelines; and our ability to deploy deposits in a profitable manner consistent with our liquidity needs, regulatory requirements and risk profile; |
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• | the manner and timing with which the Federal Reserve and other U.S. and non-U.S. regulators implement or reevaluate the regulatory framework applicable to our operations (as well as changes to that framework), including implementation or modification of the Dodd-Frank Act and related stress testing and resolution planning requirements, implementation of international standards applicable to financial institutions, such as those proposed by the Basel Committee and European legislation (such as UCITS V, the Money Market Fund Regulation and MiFID II / MiFIR); among other consequences, these regulatory changes impact the levels of regulatory capital, long-term debt and liquidity we must maintain, acceptable levels of credit exposure to third parties, margin requirements applicable to derivatives, restrictions on banking and financial activities and the manner in which we structure and implement our global operations and servicing relationships. In addition, our regulatory posture and related expenses have been and will continue to be affected by heightened standards and changes in regulatory expectations for global systemically important financial institutions applicable to, among other things, risk management, liquidity and capital planning, resolution planning and compliance programs, as well as changes in governmental enforcement approaches to perceived failures to comply with regulatory or legal obligations; |
• | adverse changes in the regulatory ratios that we are, or will be, required to meet, whether arising under the Dodd-Frank Act or implementation of international standards applicable to financial institutions, such as those proposed by the Basel Committee, or due to changes in regulatory positions, practices or regulations in jurisdictions in which we engage in banking activities, including changes in internal or external data, formulae, models, assumptions or other advanced systems used in the calculation of our capital or liquidity ratios that cause changes in those ratios as they are measured from period to period; |
• | requirements to obtain the prior approval or non-objection of the Federal Reserve or other U.S. and non-U.S. regulators for the use, allocation or distribution of our capital or other specific capital actions or corporate activities, including, without limitation, acquisitions, investments in subsidiaries, dividends and stock repurchases, without which our growth plans, distributions to shareholders, share repurchase programs or other capital or corporate initiatives may be restricted; |
• | changes in law or regulation, or the enforcement of law or regulation, that may adversely affect our |
business activities or those of our clients or our counterparties, and the products or services that we sell, including, without limitation, additional or increased taxes or assessments thereon, capital adequacy requirements, margin requirements and changes that expose us to risks related to the adequacy of our controls or compliance programs;
• | economic or financial market disruptions in the U.S. or internationally, including those which may result from recessions or political instability; for example, the U.K.'s exit from the European Union or actual or potential changes in trade policy, such as tariffs or bilateral and multilateral trade agreements; |
• | our ability to create cost efficiencies through changes in our operational processes and to further digitize our processes and interfaces with our clients, any failure of which, in whole or in part, may among other things, reduce our competitive position, diminish the cost-effectiveness of our systems and processes or provide an insufficient return on our associated investment; |
• | our ability to promote a strong culture of risk management, operating controls, compliance oversight, ethical behavior and governance that meets our expectations and those of our clients and our regulators, and the financial, regulatory, reputational and other consequences of our failure to meet such expectations; |
• | the impact on our compliance and controls enhancement programs associated with the appointment of a monitor under the deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ and compliance consultant appointed under a settlement with the SEC, including the potential for such monitor and compliance consultant to require changes to our programs or to identify other issues that require substantial expenditures, changes in our operations, payments to clients or reporting to U.S. authorities; |
• | the results of our review of our billing practices, including additional findings or amounts we may be required to reimburse clients, as well as potential consequences of such review, including damage to our client relationships or our reputation and adverse actions or penalties imposed by governmental authorities; |
• | our ability to expand our use of technology to enhance the efficiency, accuracy and reliability of our operations and our dependencies on information technology; to replace and consolidate systems, particularly those relying upon older technology, and to adequately incorporate resiliency and business continuity into our systems management; to implement robust management processes into our technology development and maintenance programs; and to |
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control risks related to use of technology, including cyber-crime and inadvertent data disclosures;
• | our ability to address threats to our information technology infrastructure and systems (including those of our third-party service providers), the effectiveness of our and our third party service providers' efforts to manage the resiliency of the systems on which we rely, controls regarding the access to, and integrity of, our and our clients' data, and complexities and costs of protecting the security of such systems and data; |
• | the results of, and costs associated with, governmental or regulatory inquiries and investigations, litigation and similar claims, disputes, or civil or criminal proceedings; |
• | changes or potential changes in the amount of compensation we receive from clients for our services, and the mix of services provided by us that clients choose; |
• | the large institutional clients on which we focus are often able to exert considerable market influence and have diverse investment activities, and this, combined with strong competitive market forces, subjects us to significant pressure to reduce the fees we charge, to potentially significant changes in our AUC/A or our AUM in the event of the acquisition or loss of a client, in whole or in part, and to potentially significant changes in our revenue in the event a client re-balances or changes its investment approach, re-directs assets to lower- or higher-fee asset classes or changes the mix of products or services that it receives from us; |
• | the potential for losses arising from our investments in sponsored investment funds; |
• | the possibility that our clients will incur substantial losses in investment pools for which we act as agent, the possibility of significant reductions in the liquidity or valuation of assets underlying those pools and the potential that clients will seek to hold us liable for such losses; and the possibility that our clients or regulators will assert claims that our fees, with respect to such investment products, are not appropriate; |
• | our ability to anticipate and manage the level and timing of redemptions and withdrawals from our collateral pools and other collective investment products; |
• | the credit agency ratings of our debt and depositary obligations and investor and client perceptions of our financial strength; |
• | adverse publicity, whether specific to us or regarding other industry participants or industry-wide factors, or other reputational harm; |
• | our ability to control operational risks, data security breach risks and outsourcing risks, our ability to |
protect our intellectual property rights, the possibility of errors in the quantitative models we use to manage our business and the possibility that our controls will prove insufficient, fail or be circumvented;
• | changes or potential changes to the competitive environment, due to, among other things, regulatory and technological changes, the effects of industry consolidation and perceptions of us, as a suitable service provider or counterparty; |
• | our ability to complete acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures, including, without limitation, our ability to obtain regulatory approvals, the ability to arrange financing as required and the ability to satisfy closing conditions; |
• | the risks that our acquired businesses, including, without limitation, our acquisition of Charles River Development, and joint ventures will not achieve their anticipated financial, operational and product innovation benefits or will not be integrated successfully, or that the integration will take longer than anticipated; that expected synergies will not be achieved or unexpected negative synergies or liabilities will be experienced; that client and deposit retention goals will not be met; that other regulatory or operational challenges will be experienced; and that disruptions from the transaction will harm our relationships with our clients, our employees or regulators; |
• | our ability to integrate Charles River Development's front office software solutions with our middle and back office capabilities to develop a front-to-middle-to-back office platform that is competitive, generates revenues in line with our expectations and meets our clients' requirements; |
• | our ability to recognize evolving needs of our clients and to develop products that are responsive to such trends and profitable to us; the performance of and demand for the products and services we offer; and the potential for new products and services to impose additional costs on us and expose us to increased operational risk; |
• | our ability to grow revenue, manage expenses, attract and retain highly skilled people and raise the capital necessary to achieve our business goals and comply with regulatory requirements and expectations; |
• | changes in accounting standards and practices; and |
• | the impact of the U.S. tax legislation enacted in 2017, and changes in tax legislation and in the interpretation of existing tax laws by U.S. and non-U.S. tax authorities that affect the amount of taxes due. |
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Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in our forward-looking statements and from our historical financial results due to the factors discussed in this section and elsewhere in this Form 10-K or disclosed in our other SEC filings. Forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K should not be relied on as representing our expectations or assumptions as of any time subsequent to the time this Form 10-K is filed with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to revise our forward-looking statements after the time they are made. The factors discussed herein are not intended to be a complete statement of all risks and uncertainties that may affect our businesses. We cannot anticipate all developments that may adversely affect our business or operations or our consolidated results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.
Forward-looking statements should not be viewed as predictions, and should not be the primary basis on which investors evaluate State Street. Any investor in State Street should consider all risks and uncertainties disclosed in our SEC filings, including our filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in particular our annual reports on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our current reports on Form 8-K, or registration statements filed under the Securities Act of 1933, all of which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or on the “Investor Relations” section of our corporate website at www.statestreet.com.
Risk Factors
In the normal course of our business activities, we are exposed to a variety of risks. The following is a discussion of risk factors applicable to us. Additional information about our risk management framework is included under “Risk Management” in Management’s Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K. Additional risks beyond those described in our Management's Discussion and Analysis or in the following discussion may apply to our activities or operations as currently conducted, or as we may conduct them in the future, or in the markets in which we operate or may in the future operate.
Credit and Counterparty, Liquidity and Market Risks
We assume significant credit risk to counterparties, many of which are major financial institutions. These financial institutions and other counterparties may also have substantial financial dependencies with other financial institutions and sovereign entities. These credit exposures and concentrations could expose us to financial loss.
The financial markets are characterized by extensive interdependencies among numerous parties, including banks, central banks, broker/dealers, insurance companies and other financial institutions.
These financial institutions also include collective investment funds, such as mutual funds, UCITS and hedge funds that share these interdependencies. Many financial institutions, including collective investment funds, also hold, or are exposed to, loans, sovereign debt, fixed-income securities, derivatives, counterparty and other forms of credit risk in amounts that are material to their financial condition. As a result of our own business practices and these interdependencies, we and many of our clients have concentrated counterparty exposure to other financial institutions and collective investment funds, particularly large and complex institutions, sovereign issuers, mutual funds, UCITS and hedge funds. Although we have procedures for monitoring both individual and aggregate counterparty risk, significant individual and aggregate counterparty exposure is inherent in our business, as our focus is on servicing large institutional investors.
In the normal course of our business, we assume concentrated credit risk at the individual obligor, counterparty or group level. Such concentrations may be material and can often exceed 10% of our consolidated total shareholders' equity. Our material counterparty exposures change daily, and the counterparties or groups of related counterparties to which our risk exposure exceeds 10% of our consolidated total shareholders' equity are also variable during any reported period; however, our largest exposures tend to be to other financial institutions.
Concentration of counterparty exposure presents significant risks to us and to our clients because the failure or perceived weakness of our counterparties (or in some cases of our clients' counterparties) has the potential to expose us to risk of financial loss. Changes in market perception of the financial strength of particular financial institutions or sovereign issuers can occur rapidly, are often based on a variety of factors and are difficult to predict.
This was observed during the financial crisis that began in 2007-2008, when economic, market, political and other factors contributed to the perception of many financial institutions and sovereign issuers as being less credit worthy. This led to credit downgrades of numerous large U.S. and non-U.S. financial institutions and several sovereign issuers (which exposure stressed the perceived creditworthiness of financial institutions, many of which invest in, accept collateral in the form of, or value other transactions based on the debt or other securities issued by sovereigns) and substantially reduced value and liquidity in the market for their credit instruments. These or other factors could again contribute to similar consequences or other market risks associated with reduced levels of liquidity. As a result, we may be exposed to increased counterparty risks, either resulting from our role as principal or because of commitments we make in our capacity as agent for some of our clients.
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Additional areas where we experience exposure to credit risk include:
• | Short-term credit. The degree of client demand for short-term credit tends to increase during periods of market turbulence, which may expose us to further counterparty- related risks. For example, investors in collective investment vehicles for which we act as custodian may experience significant redemption activity due to adverse market or economic news. Our relationship with our clients and the nature of the settlement process for some types of payments may result in the extension of short-term credit in such circumstances. We also provide committed lines of credit to support such activity. For some types of clients, we provide credit to allow them to leverage their portfolios, which may expose us to potential loss if the client experiences investment losses or other credit difficulties. |
• | Industry and country risks. In addition to our exposure to financial institutions, we are from time to time exposed to concentrated credit risk at an industry or country level. This concentration risk also applies to groups of unrelated counterparties that may have similar investment strategies involving one or more particular industries, regions, or other characteristics. These unrelated counterparties may concurrently experience adverse effects to their performance, liquidity or reputation due to events or other factors affecting such investment strategies. Though potentially not material individually (relative to any one such counterparty), our credit exposures to such a group of counterparties could expose us to a single market or political event or a correlated set of events that, in the aggregate, could have a material adverse impact on our business. |
• | Subcustodian risks. Our use of unaffiliated subcustodians exposes us to credit risk, in addition to other risks, such as operational risk, dependencies on credit extensions and risks of the legal systems of the jurisdictions in which the subcustodians operate, each of which may be material. Our operating model exposes us to risk of unaffiliated sub-custodians to a degree greater than some of our competitors who have banking operations in more jurisdictions than us. Our sub-custodians operate in all jurisdictions in which our clients invest, including emerging and other underdeveloped markets that entail heightened risks. These risks are amplified due to changing regulatory requirements with respect to our financial exposures in the event those subcustodians are unable to return a client’s assets, including, |
in some regulatory regimes, such as the E.U.'s UCITS V directive, requirements that we be responsible for resulting losses suffered by our clients. We may agree to similar or more stringent standards with clients that are not subject to such regulations.
• | Settlement risks. We are exposed to settlement risks, particularly in our payments and foreign exchange activities. Those activities may lead to extension of credit and consequent losses in the event of a counterparty breach, failure to provide credit extensions or an operational error. Due to our membership in several industry clearing or settlement exchanges, we may be required to guarantee obligations and liabilities, or provide financial support, in the event that other members do not honor their obligations or default. Moreover, not all of our counterparty exposure is secured, and even when our exposure is secured, the realizable value of the collateral may have declined by the time we exercise our rights against that collateral. This risk may be particularly acute if we are required to sell the collateral into an illiquid or temporarily-impaired market or with respect to clients protected by sovereign immunity. We are exposed to risk of short-term credit or overdraft of our clients in connection with the process to facilitate settlement of trades and related foreign exchange activities, particularly when contractual settlement has been agreed with our clients. The occurrence of overdrafts at peak volatility could create significant credit exposure to our clients depending upon the value of such clients' collateral at the time. |
• | Securities lending and repurchase agreement indemnification. On behalf of clients enrolled in our securities lending program, we lend securities to banks, broker/dealers and other institutions. In the event of a failure of the borrower to return such securities, we typically agree to indemnify our clients for the amount by which the fair market value of those securities exceeds the proceeds of the disposition of the collateral recalled from the borrower in connection with such transaction. We also lend and borrow securities as riskless principal, and in connection with those transactions receive a security interest in securities held by the borrowers in their securities portfolios and advance cash or securities as collateral to securities lenders. Borrowers are generally required to provide collateral equal to a contractually agreed percentage equal to or in excess of the fair market value of the loaned securities. As the fair market value of the loaned securities or |
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collateral changes, additional collateral is provided by the borrower or collateral is returned to the borrower. In addition, our agency securities lending clients often purchase securities or other financial instruments from financial counterparties, including broker/dealers, under repurchase arrangements, frequently as a method of reinvesting the cash collateral they receive from lending their securities. Under these arrangements, the counterparty is obligated to repurchase these securities or financial instruments from the client at the same price (plus an agreed rate of return) at some point in the future. The value of the collateral is intended to exceed the counterparty's payment obligation, and collateral is adjusted daily to account for shortfall under, or excess over, the agreed-upon collateralization level. As with the securities lending program, we agree to indemnify our clients from any loss that would arise on a default by the counterparty under these repurchase arrangements if the proceeds from the disposition of the securities or other financial assets held as collateral are less than the amount of the repayment obligation by the client's counterparty. In such instances of counterparty default, for both securities lending and repurchase agreements, we, rather than our client, are exposed to the risks associated with collateral value.
• | Stable value arrangements. We enter into stable value wrap derivative contracts with unaffiliated stable value funds that allow a stable value fund to provide book value coverage to its participants. During the financial crisis, the book value of obligations under many of these contracts exceeded the market value of the underlying portfolio holdings. Concerns regarding the portfolio of investments protected by such contracts, or regarding the investment manager overseeing such an investment option, may result in redemption demands from stable value products covered by benefit-responsive contracts at a time when the portfolio's market value is less than its book value, potentially exposing us to risk of loss. |
• | U.S. municipal obligations remarketing credit facilities. We provide credit facilities in connection with the remarketing of U.S. municipal obligations, potentially exposing us to credit exposure to the municipalities issuing such bonds and contingent liquidity risk. |
• | Senior secured bank loans. In recent years, we have increased our investment in senior secured bank loans, both in the U.S. and in Europe. We invest in these loans to non-investment grade borrowers through |
participation in loan syndications in the non-investment grade lending market. We rate these loans as "speculative" under our internal risk-rating framework, and these loans have significant exposure to credit losses relative to higher-rated loans. We are therefore at a higher risk of default with respect to these investments relative to other of our investments activities. In addition, unlike other financial institutions that may have an active role in managing individual loan compliance, our investment in these loans is generally as a passive investor with limited control. As this portfolio grows and becomes more seasoned, our allowance for loan losses related to these loans may increase through additional provisions for credit losses.
• | Commercial Real Estate. We have recently launched an initiative financing commercial and multi-family properties, which serve as collateral for our loans. Although collateralized, these loans may become under-secured if the value of the collateral was over-estimated or changes. Loan payments are dependent on the successful operation and management of the underlying collateral property to generate sufficient cash flow to repay the loan in a timely fashion. A material decline in real estate markets or economic conditions could negatively impact value or property performance, which could adversely impact timely loan repayment, which may result in increased provision for losses on loans, and actual losses, either of which would have an adverse impact on our net income. We seek to minimize these risks by maintaining lending policies and procedures and underwriting standards, however, there can be no assurance that these will protect us from credit-related losses or delinquencies. |
• | Unavailability of netting. We are generally not able to net exposures across counterparties that are affiliated entities and may not be able in all circumstances to net exposures to the same legal entity across multiple products. As a consequence, we may incur a loss in relation to one entity or product even though our exposure to an entity's affiliates or across product types is over-collateralized. In some cases, for example in our securities finance and foreign exchange activities, we are able to enter into netting agreements that allow us to net offsetting exposures and payment obligations against one another. In the event we become unable, due to operational constraints, actions by regulators, changes in accounting principles, law or regulation (or related interpretations) or other factors, to net some or all of our offsetting exposures and payment |
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obligations under those agreements, we would be required to gross up our assets and liabilities on our statement of condition and our calculation of RWA, accordingly. This would result in a potentially material increase in our regulatory ratios, including LCR, and present increased credit, liquidity, asset-and-liability management and operational risks, some of which could be material.
Under evolving regulatory restrictions on credit exposure we may be required to limit our exposures to specific issuers or counterparties or groups of counterparties, including, without limitation, financial institutions and sovereign issuers, to levels that we may currently exceed. These credit exposure restrictions under such evolving regulations have and may further adversely affect certain of our businesses, may require that we expand our credit exposure to a broader range of issuers and counterparties, including issuers and counterparties that represent increased credit risk and may require that we modify our operating models or the policies and practices we use to manage our consolidated statement of condition. The effects of these considerations may increase when evaluated under a stressed environment in stress testing, including CCAR. In addition, we are an adherent to the ISDA 2015 Universal Resolution Stay Protocol and as such are subject to restrictions against the exercise of rights and remedies against fellow adherents, including, without limitation, other major financial institutions, in the event they or an affiliate of theirs enters into resolution. Although our overall business is subject to these factors, several of our activities are particularly sensitive to them including, without limitation, our currency trading business and our securities finance business.
Given the limited number of strong counterparties in the current market, we are not able to mitigate all of our and our clients' counterparty credit risk.
Our investment securities portfolio, consolidated financial condition and consolidated results of operations could be adversely affected by changes in market factors including, without limitation, interest rates, credit spreads and credit performance.
Our investment securities portfolio represented approximately 36% of our total assets as of December 31, 2018. The gross interest income associated with our investment portfolio represented approximately 13% of our total gross revenue for the year ended December 31, 2018 and has represented as much as 31% of our total gross revenue in the fiscal years since 2007. As such, our consolidated financial condition and results of operations are materially exposed to the risks associated with our investment portfolio, including, without limitation, changes in interest rates, credit spreads, credit performance (including, without
limitation, risk of default), credit ratings, our access to liquidity, foreign exchange markets and mark- to-market valuations, and our ability to profitably manage changes in repayment rates of principal with respect to our portfolio securities. Despite recent increases to interest rates in the U.S., the continued low interest rate environment that has persisted since the financial crisis began in mid-2007 limits our ability to achieve a NIM consistent with our historical averages. Any further increases in interest rates in the U.S. have the potential to improve NII and NIM over time. However, any such improvement could be mitigated due to a greater disparity between interest rates in the U.S. and international markets, especially to the extent that interest rates remain low in Europe and Japan. Higher interest rates could also reduce mark-to-market valuations further. In addition, recently introduced regulatory liquidity standards, such as the LCR, require that we maintain minimum levels of HQLA in our investment portfolio, which generally generate lower rates of return than other investment assets. This has resulted in increased levels of HQLA as a percentage of our investment portfolio and an associated negative impact on our NII and our NIM. As a result we may not be able to attain our historical levels of NII and NIM. For additional information regarding these liquidity requirements, refer to the “Liquidity Coverage Ratio and Net Stable Funding Ratio” section of “Supervision and Regulation” in Business in this Form 10-K. We may enter into derivative transactions to hedge or manage our exposure to interest rate risk, as well as other risks, such as foreign exchange risk and credit risk. Derivative instruments that we hold for these or other purposes may not achieve their intended results and could result in unexpected losses or stresses on our liquidity or capital resources.
Our investment securities portfolio represents a greater proportion of our consolidated statement of condition and our loan and lease portfolios represent a smaller proportion (approximately 11% of our total assets as of December 31, 2018), in comparison to many other major financial institutions. In some respects, the accounting and regulatory treatment of our investment securities portfolio may be less favorable to us than a more traditional held-for-investment lending portfolio. For example, under the Basel III final rule, after-tax changes in the fair value of AFS investment securities, such as those which represent a majority of our investment portfolio, are included in tier 1 capital. Since loans held for investment are not subject to a fair value accounting framework, changes in the fair value of loans (other than incurred credit losses) are not similarly included in the determination of tier 1 capital under the Basel III final rule. Due to this differing treatment, we may experience increased variability in our tier 1 capital relative to other major financial institutions whose loan-and-lease portfolios represent a larger proportion of their
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consolidated total assets than ours.
Additional risks associated with our investment portfolio include:
• | Asset class concentration. Our investment portfolio continues to have significant concentrations in several classes of securities, including, without limitation, agency residential MBS, commercial MBS and other ABS, and securities with concentrated exposure to consumers. These classes and types of securities experienced significant liquidity, valuation and credit quality deterioration during the financial crisis that began in mid-2007. We also hold non-U.S. MBS and ABS with exposures to European countries, whose sovereign-debt markets have experienced increased stress at times since 2011 and may continue to experience stress in the future. For further information, refer to the risk factor titled “Our businesses have significant European operations, and disruptions in European economies could have an adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations or financial condition". Further, we hold a portfolio of U.S. state and municipal bonds, the value of which may be affected by the budget deficits that a number of states and municipalities currently face, resulting in risks associated with this portfolio. |
• | Effects of market conditions. If market conditions deteriorate, our investment portfolio could experience a decline in market value, whether due to a decline in liquidity or an increase in the yield required by investors to hold such securities, regardless of our credit view of our portfolio holdings. For example, we recorded significant losses not related to credit in connection with the consolidation of our off-balance sheet asset-backed commercial paper conduits in 2009 and the repositioning of our investment portfolio in 2010. In addition, in general, deterioration in credit quality, or changes in management's expectations regarding repayment timing or in management's investment intent to hold securities to maturity, in each case with respect to our portfolio holdings, could result in OTTI. Similarly, if a material portion of our investment portfolio were to experience credit deterioration, our capital ratios as calculated pursuant to the Basel III final rule could be adversely affected. This risk is greater with portfolios of investment securities that contain credit risk than with holdings of U.S. Treasury securities. |
• | Effects of interest rates. Our investment portfolio is further subject to changes in both U.S. and non-U.S. (primarily in Europe) interest |
rates, and could be negatively affected by changes in those rates, whether or not expected. This is particularly true in the case of a quicker-than-anticipated increase in interest rates, which would decrease market values in the near-term, or monetary policy that results in persistently low or negative rates of interest on certain investments. The latter has been the case, for example, with respect to ECB monetary policy, including negative interest rates in some jurisdictions, with associated negative effects on our investment portfolio reinvestment, NII and NIM. The effect on our NII has been exacerbated by the effects in recent fiscal years of the strong U.S. dollar relative to other currencies, particularly the Euro. If European interest rates remain low or decrease and the U.S. dollar strengthens relative to the Euro, the negative effects on our NII likely will continue or increase. The overall level of NII can also be impacted by the size of our deposit base, as further increases in interest rates could lead to reduced deposit levels and also lower overall NII. Further, a reduction in deposit levels could increase the requirements under the regulatory liquidity standards requiring us to invest a greater proportion of our investment portfolio holdings in HQLA that have lower yields than other investable assets. See also, “Our business activities expose us to interest rate risk” in this section.
Our business activities expose us to interest rate risk.
In our business activities, we assume interest rate risk by investing short-term deposits received from our clients in our investment portfolio of longer- and intermediate-term assets. Our NII and NIM are affected by among other things, the levels of interest rates in global markets, changes in the relationship between short- and long-term interest rates, the direction and speed of interest rate changes and the asset and liability spreads relative to the currency and geographic mix of our interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. These factors are influenced, among other things, by a variety of economic and market forces and expectations, including, without limitation, monetary policy and other activities of central banks, such as the Federal Reserve and ECB, that we do not control. Our ability to anticipate changes in these factors or to hedge the related on- and off-balance sheet exposures, and the cost of any such hedging activity, can significantly influence the success of our asset-and-liability management activities and the resulting level of our NII and NIM. The impact of changes in interest rates and related factors will depend on the relative duration and fixed- or floating-rate nature of our assets and liabilities. Sustained lower interest rates, a flat or inverted yield
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curve and narrow credit spreads generally have a constraining effect on our NII. In addition, our ability to change deposit rates in response to changes in interest rates and other market and related factors is limited by client relationship considerations. For additional information about the effects on interest rates on our business, refer to the Market Risk Management section, "Asset-and-Liability Management Activities" in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K.
If we are unable to effectively manage our liquidity, including by continuously attracting deposits and other short-term funding, our consolidated financial condition, including our regulatory capital ratios, our consolidated results of operations and our business prospects, could be adversely affected.
Liquidity management, including on an intra-day basis, is critical to the management of our consolidated statement of condition and to our ability to service our client base. We generally use our liquidity to:
• | meet clients' demands for return of their deposits; |
• | extend credit to our clients in connection with our investor services businesses; and |
• | fund the pool of long- and intermediate-term assets that are included in the investment securities carried in our consolidated statement of condition. |
Because the demand for credit by our clients, particularly settlement related extensions of credit, is difficult to predict and control, and may be at its peak at times of disruption in the securities markets, and because the average maturity of our investment securities portfolio is longer than the contractual maturity of our client deposit base, we need to continuously attract, and are dependent on access to, various sources of short-term funding. During periods of market disruption, the level of client deposits held by us has in recent years tended to increase; however, since such deposits are considered to be transitory, we have historically deposited so-called excess deposits with U.S. and non-U.S. central banks and in other highly liquid but low-yielding instruments. These levels of excess client deposits, as a consequence, have increased our NII but have adversely affected our NIM.
In managing our liquidity, our primary source of short-term funding is client deposits, which are predominantly transaction-based deposits by institutional investors. Our ability to continue to attract these deposits, and other short-term funding sources such as certificates of deposit, is subject to variability based on a number of factors, including, without limitation, volume and volatility in global financial markets, the relative interest rates that we are prepared to pay for these deposits, the perception of safety of these deposits or short-term obligations relative to
alternative short-term investments available to our clients, including, without limitation, the capital markets, and the classification of certain deposits for regulatory purposes and related discussions we may have from time to time with clients regarding better balancing our clients' cash management needs with our economic and regulatory objectives.
The Parent Company is a non-operating holding company and generally maintains only limited cash and other liquid resources at any time primarily to meet anticipated near-term obligations. To effectively manage our liquidity we routinely transfer assets among affiliated entities, subsidiaries and branches. Internal or external factors, such as regulatory requirements and standards, including, without limitation, resolution planning, influence our liquidity management and may limit our ability to effectively transfer liquidity internally which could, among other things, restrict our ability to fund operations, dividends or stock repurchases, require us to seek external and potentially more costly capital and impact our liquidity position.
In addition, while not obligations of ours, the investment products that we manage for third parties may be exposed to liquidity risks. These products may be funded on a short-term basis, or the clients participating in these products may have a right to the return of cash or assets on limited notice. These business activities include, among others, securities finance collateral pools, money market and other short-term investment funds and liquidity facilities utilized in connection with municipal bond programs. If clients demand a return of their cash or assets, particularly on limited notice, and these investment pools do not have the liquidity to support those demands, we could be forced to sell investment securities held by these asset pools at unfavorable prices, damaging our reputation as an asset manager and potentially exposing us to claims related to our management of the pools.
The availability and cost of credit in short-term markets are highly dependent on the markets' perception of our liquidity and creditworthiness. Our efforts to monitor and manage our liquidity risk, including on an intra-day basis, may not be successful or sufficient to deal with dramatic or unanticipated changes in the global securities markets or other event-driven reductions in liquidity. As a result of such events, among other things, our cost of funds may increase, thereby reducing our NII, or we may need to dispose of a portion of our investment securities portfolio, which, depending on market conditions, could result in a loss from such sales of investment securities being recorded in our consolidated statement of income.
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Our business and capital-related activities, including our ability to return capital to shareholders and repurchase our capital stock, may be adversely affected by our implementation of regulatory capital and liquidity standards that we must meet or in the event our capital plan or post-stress capital ratios are determined to be insufficient as a result of regulatory capital stress testing.
Basel III and Dodd-Frank Act
We are required to calculate our risk-based capital ratios under both the Basel III advanced approaches and the Basel III standardized approach, and we are subject to the more stringent of the risk-based capital ratios calculated under the advanced approaches and those calculated under the standardized approach in the assessment of our capital adequacy.
In implementing various aspects of these capital regulations, we are making interpretations of the regulatory intent. The Federal Reserve may determine that we are not in compliance with the capital rules and may require us to take actions to come into compliance that could adversely affect our business operations, our regulatory capital structure, our capital ratios or our financial performance, or otherwise restrict our growth plans or strategies. In addition, banking regulators could change the Basel III final rule or their interpretations as they apply to us, including, without limitation, changes to these standards or interpretations made in regulations implementing provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which could adversely affect us and our ability to comply with the Basel III final rule.
Along with the Basel III final rule, banking regulators also introduced additional requirements, such as the SLR, LCR and the proposed NSFR, each of which presents compliance risks.
For example, the specification of the various elements of the NSFR in the final rule could have a material effect on our business activities, including, without limitation, the management and composition of our investment securities portfolio and our ability to extend credit through committed facilities, loans to our clients or our principal securities lending activities. In addition, further capital and liquidity requirements are under consideration by U.S. and international banking regulators. Any of these rules could have a material effect on our capital and liquidity planning and related activities, including, without limitation, the management and composition of our investment securities portfolio and our ability to extend committed contingent credit facilities to our clients. The full effects of these rules, and of other regulatory initiatives related to capital or liquidity, on us and State Street Bank are subject to further regulatory guidance, action or rule-making.
Systemic Importance
As a G-SIB, we generally expect to be held to the most stringent provisions under the Basel III final rule. For example, we are subject to the Federal Reserve's final rules on the implementation of capital surcharges for U.S. G-SIBs, and on TLAC, LTD and clean holding company requirements for U.S. G-SIBs which we refer to as the "TLAC final rule". For additional information on these requirements, refer to the “Regulatory Capital Adequacy and Liquidity Standards” section under “Supervision and Regulation” in Business in this Form 10-K.
Not all of our competitors have similarly been designated as systemically important nor are all of them subject to the same degree of regulation as a bank or financial holding company, and therefore some of our competitors are not subject to the same additional capital requirements.
Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review
We are required by the Federal Reserve to conduct periodic stress testing of our business operations and to develop an annual capital plan as part of the Federal Reserve's CCAR process. That process, the severity and other characteristics of which may evolve from year-to-year, is used by the Federal Reserve to evaluate our management of capital, the adequacy of our regulatory capital and the requirement for us to maintain capital above our minimum regulatory capital requirements under stressed economic conditions. The results of the CCAR process are difficult to predict due, among other things, to the Federal Reserve's use of proprietary stress models that differ from our internal models. The amounts of the planned capital actions in our capital plan in any year, including, without limitation, stock repurchases and dividends, may be substantially reduced from the amounts included in prior capital plans. These reductions may reflect changes in one or more different factors, including, without limitation, our business prospects and related capital needs, our capital position, proposed acquisitions or other uses of capital, the models used in our capital planning process, the supervisory models used by the Federal Reserve to stress our balance sheet, the Federal Reserve’s hypothetical economic scenarios for the CCAR process, the Federal Reserve’s CCAR instructions and the Federal Reserve’s supervisory expectations for the capital planning process. The Federal Reserve may object to our capital plan or impose conditions on us in connection with a non-objection to our capital plan, or we may decide that we need to adjust our capital plan to avoid an objection by the Federal Reserve. Any of these potential events potentially could require us, as applicable, to revise our stress-testing or capital management approaches, resubmit our capital plan or postpone, cancel or alter our planned capital actions. In addition, changes in our business strategy, merger or acquisition activity or uses
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of capital could result in a change in our capital plan and its associated capital actions, and may require us to resubmit our capital plan to the Federal Reserve for its non-objection. We are also subject to asset quality reviews and stress testing by the ECB and in the future we may be subject to similar reviews and testing by other regulators.
Our implementation of capital and liquidity requirements, including our capital plan, may not be approved or may be objected to by the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Reserve may impose capital requirements in excess of our expectations or require us to maintain levels of liquidity that are higher than we may expect and which may adversely affect our consolidated revenues. In the event that our implementation of capital and liquidity requirements under regulatory initiatives or our current capital structure are determined not to conform with current and future capital requirements, our ability to deploy capital in the operation of our business or our ability to distribute capital to shareholders or to repurchase our capital stock may be constrained, and our business may be adversely affected. In addition, we may choose to forgo business opportunities, due to their impact on our capital plan or stress tests, including, without limitation, CCAR. Likewise, in the event that regulators in other jurisdictions in which we have banking subsidiaries determine that our capital or liquidity levels do not conform with current and future regulatory requirements, our ability to deploy capital, our levels of liquidity or our business operations in those jurisdictions may be adversely affected.
For additional information about the above matters, refer to “Regulatory Capital Adequacy and Liquidity Standards” section under "Supervision and Regulation" in Business and “Capital” section under "Financial Condition" in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K.
Fee revenue represents a significant majority of our consolidated revenue and is subject to decline, among other things, in the event of a reduction in, or changes to, the level or type of investment activity by our clients.
We rely primarily on fee-based services to derive our revenue. This contrasts with commercial banks that may rely more heavily on interest-based sources of revenue, such as loans. During 2018 total fee revenue represented approximately 78% of our total revenue. Fee revenue generated by our Investment Servicing and Investment Management businesses is augmented by foreign exchange trading services, securities finance and processing fees and other revenue.
The level of these fees is influenced by several factors, including, without limitation, the mix and volume of our AUC/A and our AUM, the value and type of securities positions held (with respect to assets under custody) and the volume of our clients' portfolio
transactions, and the types of products and services used by our clients. For example, reductions in the level of economic and capital markets activity tend to have a negative effect on our fee revenue, as these often result in reduced asset valuations and transaction volumes. They may also result in investor preference trends towards asset classes and markets deemed more secure, such as cash or non-emerging markets, with respect to which our fee rates are often lower.
In addition, our clients include institutional investors, such as mutual funds, collective investment funds, UCITS, hedge funds and other investment pools, corporate and public retirement plans, insurance companies, foundations, endowments and investment managers. Economic, market or other factors that reduce the level or rates of savings in or with those institutions, either through reductions in financial asset valuations or through changes in investor preferences, could materially reduce our fee revenue and have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations.
Our businesses have significant European operations, and disruptions in European economies could have an adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations or financial condition.
While the European economy continued to expand in 2018, growth moderated from 2017 levels and concerns remain with regard to sovereign debt sustainability, interdependencies among financial institutions and sovereigns, the unwinding of ECB quantitative easing measures and political and other risks, including the rise of populist governments and terrorist threats in one or more European nations. In addition, continued divergence between the pace of monetary tightening in the U.S. and Europe, as well as the weakening of the external environment for Europe, specifically with regard to weaker external trade, have led to increased uncertainty around the sustainability of recent economic progress in Europe.
In addition, the United Kingdom's potential exit from the E.U., or Brexit, and related developments present risks, including the potential impact on economic activity in the E.U. and the U.K. and the future relationship between the E.U. and the U.K. and the resulting arrangements around market access for financial services. Given the scope of our European operations, economic or market uncertainty, volatility, illiquidity or disruption resulting from these and related factors could have a material adverse impact on our consolidated results of operations or financial condition. In order to conform to restrictions on activity between the E.U. and the U.K. following Brexit, we are implementing organizational, operational and governance changes to our European businesses, some of which are subject to regulatory approvals or other execution risks. If we experience delays or other
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challenges in implementing these changes, we may incur additional costs or inefficiencies associated with our European activities, client dissatisfaction or other difficulties in executing our regional strategy.
Geopolitical and economic conditions and developments could adversely affect us, particularly if we face increased uncertainty and unpredictability in managing our businesses.
Global financial markets can suffer from substantial volatility, illiquidity and disruption, particularly as a result of geopolitical disruptions and as global monetary authorities begin to withdraw monetary policy easing measures. If such volatility, illiquidity or disruption were to result in an adverse economic environment in the U.S. or internationally or result in a lack of confidence in the financial stability of major developed or emerging markets, such developments could have an adverse effect on our business, as well as the businesses of our clients and our significant counterparties and could also increase the difficulty and unpredictability of aligning our business strategies, our infrastructure and our operating costs in light of current and future market and economic conditions. These risks could be compounded by tighter monetary conditions, disruptions to free trade and political uncertainty in the U.S. and internationally.
Market disruptions can adversely affect our consolidated results of operations if the value of our AUC/A or AUM decline, while the costs of providing the related services remain constant or increase. These factors could reduce the profitability of our asset-based fee revenue and could also adversely affect our transaction-based revenue, such as revenues from securities finance and foreign exchange activities, and the volume of transactions that we execute for or with our clients. Further, the degree of volatility in foreign exchange rates can affect our foreign exchange trading revenue. In general, increased currency volatility tends to increase our market risk but also increases our opportunity to generate foreign exchange revenue. Conversely, periods of lower currency volatility tend to decrease our market risk but also decrease our foreign exchange revenue.
In addition, as our business grows globally and a significant percentage of our revenue is earned (and of our expenses paid) in currencies other than U.S. dollars, our exposure to foreign currency volatility could affect our levels of consolidated revenue, our consolidated expenses and our consolidated results of operations, as well as the value of our investment in our non-U.S. operations and our non-U.S. investment portfolio holdings. The extent to which changes in the strength of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies affect our consolidated results of operations, including, without limitation, the degree of any offset between increases or decreases to both revenue and expenses, will depend upon the nature and scope of our operations
and activities in the relevant jurisdictions during the relevant periods, which may vary from period to period.
As our product offerings expand, in part as we seek to take advantage of perceived opportunities arising under various regulatory reforms and resulting market changes, the degree of our exposure to various market and credit risks will evolve, potentially resulting in greater revenue volatility. We also will need to make additional investments to develop the operational infrastructure and to enhance our compliance and risk management capabilities to support these businesses, which may increase the operating expenses of such businesses or, if our control environment fails to keep pace with product expansion, result in increased risk of loss from such businesses.
We may need to raise additional capital or debt in the future, which may not be available to us or may only be available on unfavorable terms.
We may need to raise additional capital in order to maintain our credit ratings, in response to regulatory changes, including capital rules, or for other purposes, including, without limitation, financing acquisitions and joint ventures. For example, in December 2018, we issued additional long-term debt in order to meet requirements under the Federal Reserve’s TLAC final rule, and in September 2018 and July 2018 we issued preferred stock and common stock, respectively, to finance our acquisition of Charles River Development.
However, our ability to access the capital markets, if needed, on a timely basis or at all will depend on a number of factors, such as the state of the financial markets and securities law requirements and standards. In the event of rising interest rates, disruptions in financial markets, negative perceptions of our business or our financial strength, or other factors that would increase our cost of borrowing, we cannot be sure of our ability to raise additional capital, if needed, on terms acceptable to us. Any diminished ability to raise additional capital, if needed, could adversely affect our business and our ability to implement our business plan, capital plan and strategic goals, including, without limitation, the financing of acquisitions and joint ventures and our efforts to maintain regulatory compliance.
Any downgrades in our credit ratings, or an actual or perceived reduction in our financial strength, could adversely affect our borrowing costs, capital costs and liquidity position and cause reputational harm.
Major independent rating agencies publish credit ratings for our debt obligations based on their evaluation of a number of factors, some of which relate to our performance and other corporate developments, including, without limitation, financings, acquisitions and joint ventures, and some of which relate to general industry conditions. We anticipate that the rating agencies will continue to review our ratings regularly
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based on our consolidated results of operations and developments in our businesses, including, without limitation, regulatory considerations such as resolution planning. One or more of the major independent credit rating agencies have in the past downgraded, and may in the future downgrade, our credit ratings, or have negatively revised their outlook for our credit ratings. The current market and regulatory environment and our exposure to financial institutions and other counterparties, including, without limitation, sovereign entities, increase the risk that we may not maintain our current ratings, and we cannot provide assurance that we will continue to maintain our current credit ratings. Downgrades in our credit ratings may adversely affect our borrowing costs, our capital costs and our ability to raise capital and, in turn, our liquidity. A failure to maintain an acceptable credit rating may also preclude us from being competitive in various products.
Additionally, our counterparties, as well as our clients, rely on our financial strength and stability and evaluate the risks of doing business with us. If we experience diminished financial strength or stability, actual or perceived, due to, including, without limitation, the effects of market or regulatory developments, announced or rumored business developments, consolidated results of operations, a decline in our stock price or a downgrade to our credit rating, our counterparties may be less willing to enter into transactions, secured or unsecured, with us; our clients may reduce or place limits on the level of service we provide to them or seek to transfer the business, in whole or in part, to other service providers; or our prospective clients may select other service providers, all of which may have adverse effects on our business and reputation.
The risk that we may be perceived as less creditworthy than other market participants is higher as a result of recent market developments which include, without limitation, an environment in which the consolidation, and in some instances failure, of financial institutions, including major global financial institutions, has resulted in a smaller number of much larger counterparties and competitors. If our counterparties perceive us to be a less viable counterparty, our ability to enter into financial transactions on terms acceptable to us or our clients, on our or our clients' behalf, will be materially compromised. If our clients reduce their deposits with us or select other service providers for all or a portion of the services we provide to them, our revenues will decrease accordingly.
Operational, Business and Reputational Risks
We face extensive and changing government regulation in the U.S. and in non-U.S. jurisdictions in which we operate, which may increase our costs and expose us to risks related to compliance.
Most of our businesses are subject to extensive regulation by multiple regulatory bodies, and many of the clients to which we provide services are themselves subject to a broad range of regulatory requirements. These regulations may affect the scope of, and the manner and terms of delivery of, our services. As a financial institution with substantial international operations, we are subject to extensive regulation and supervisory oversight, both inside and outside of the U.S. This regulation and supervisory oversight affects, among other things, the scope of our activities and client services, our capital and organizational structure, our ability to fund the operations of our subsidiaries, our lending practices, our dividend policy, our common stock purchase actions, the manner in which we market our services, our acquisition activities and our interactions with foreign regulatory agencies and officials.
In particular, we are registered with the Federal Reserve as a bank holding company pursuant to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. The Bank Holding Company Act generally limits the activities in which we and our non-banking subsidiaries may engage to managing or controlling banks and to activities considered to be closely related to banking. As a bank holding company that has elected to be treated as a financial holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act, we and some of our non-banking subsidiaries may also engage in a broader range of activities considered to be “financial in nature.” Financial holding company status may be denied if we and our banking subsidiaries do not remain well capitalized and well managed or fail to comply with Community Reinvestment Act obligations. Currently, under the Bank Holding Company Act, we may not be able to engage in new activities or acquire shares or control of other businesses.
The U.S. President issued an executive order that sets forth principles for the reform of the federal financial regulatory framework, and, in May 2018, the United States enacted EGRRCPA. The EGRRCPA’s revisions to the U.S. financial regulatory framework, some of which remain subject to further rulemaking, have altered certain laws and regulations applicable to us and other major financial firms. It is too early to assess whether there will be any more changes to the regulatory environment or further rebalancing of the post financial crisis framework and what the impact will be on our results of operations or financial condition, including, without limitation, increased expenses or changes in the demand for our services, or on the U.S.-domestic or global economies or financial markets. We
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expect that our business will remain subject to extensive regulation and supervision. Several other aspects of the regulatory environment in which we operate, and related risks, are discussed below. Additional information is provided under "Supervision and Regulation” in Business in this Form 10-K.
Resolution Planning
We are required to periodically submit a plan for rapid and orderly resolution in the event of material financial distress or failure commonly referred to as a resolution plan or a living will to the Federal Reserve and the FDIC under Section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Act. Through resolution planning, we seek, in the event of insolvency, to maintain State Street Bank’s role as a key infrastructure provider within the financial system, while minimizing risk to the financial system and maximizing value for the benefit of our stakeholders. Significant management attention and resources are required in an effort to meet regulatory expectations with respect to resolution planning.
In the event of material financial distress or failure, our preferred resolution strategy is the SPOE Strategy. Our resolution plan, including our implementation of the SPOE strategy with a secured support agreement, involves important risks, including that: (1) the SPOE Strategy and the obligations under the support agreement may result in the recapitalization of State Street Bank and the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings by the Parent Company at an earlier stage of financial stress than might otherwise occur without such mechanisms in place; (2) an expected effect of the SPOE Strategy, together with applicable TLAC regulatory requirements, is that our losses will be imposed on Parent Company shareholders and the holders of long-term debt and other forms of TLAC securities currently outstanding or issued in the future by the Parent Company, as well as on any other Parent Company creditors, before any of its losses are imposed on the holders of the debt securities of State Street Bank or certain of the Parent Company’s other operating subsidiaries or any of their depositors or creditors or before U.S. taxpayers are put at risk; (3) there can be no assurance that there would be sufficient recapitalization resources available to ensure that State Street Bank and our other material entities are adequately capitalized following the triggering of the requirements to provide capital and/or liquidity under the support agreement; and (4) there can be no assurance that credit rating agencies, in response to our resolution plan or the support agreement, will not downgrade, place on negative watch or change their outlook on our debt credit ratings, generally or on specific debt securities. Additional information about the SPOE Strategy, including related risks, is provided under "Resolution Planning" in Business in this Form 10-K.
Systemic Importance
Our qualification in the U.S. as a SIFI, and our designation by the FSB as a G-SIB, to which certain regulatory capital surcharges may apply, subjects us to incrementally higher capital and prudential requirements, increased scrutiny of our activities and potential further regulatory requirements or increased regulatory expectations than those applicable to some of the financial institutions with which we compete as a custodian or asset manager. This qualification and designation also has significantly increased, and may continue to increase, our expenses associated with regulatory compliance, including personnel and systems, as well as implementation and related costs to enhance our programs.
Global and Non-U.S. Regulatory Requirements
The breadth of our business activities, together with the scope of our global operations and varying business practices in relevant jurisdictions, increase the complexity and costs of meeting our regulatory compliance obligations, including in areas that are receiving significant regulatory scrutiny. We are, therefore, subject to related risks of non-compliance, including fines, penalties, lawsuits, regulatory sanctions, difficulties in obtaining governmental approvals, limitations on our business activities or reputational harm, any of which may be significant. For example, the global nature of our client base requires us to comply with complex laws and regulations of multiple jurisdictions relating to economic sanctions and money laundering. In addition, we are required to comply not only with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, but also with the applicable anti-corruption laws of other jurisdictions in which we operate. Further, our global operating model requires that we comply with outsourcing oversight requirements, including with respect to affiliated entities, and data security standards of multiple jurisdictions and enable our clients to comply with outsourcing and data security requirements imposed upon them. Regulatory scrutiny of compliance with these and other laws and regulations is increasing and may, in some respects, impede the implementation of our global operating model that is central to both delivery of client service requirements and cost efficiency. We sometimes face inconsistent laws and regulations across the various jurisdictions in which we operate. The evolving regulatory landscape may interfere with our ability to conduct our operations, with our pursuit of a common global operating model or with our ability to compete effectively with other financial institutions operating in those jurisdictions or which may be subject to different regulatory requirements than apply to us. In particular, non-U.S. regulations and initiatives that may be inconsistent or conflict with current or proposed regulations in the U.S. could create increased compliance and other costs that would adversely affect our business, operations or profitability. Geopolitical events such as the U.K.’s planned exit from
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the European Union also have the potential to increase the complexity and cost of regulatory compliance.
In addition to U.S. regulatory initiatives, we are further affected by non-U.S. regulatory initiatives, including, without limitation, the proposed Risk Reduction Package, the Investment Firm Review, the review of EMIR, the Shareholder Rights Directive, as well as regulatory initiatives finalized and/or implemented over the last few years such as the GDPR, UCITS V, Money Market Funds Regulation MiFID II and MiFIR. Recent, proposed or potential regulations in the U.S. and E.U. with respect to short-term wholesale funding, such as repurchase agreements or securities lending, or other “shadow banking” activities, could also adversely affect not only our own operations but also the operations of the clients to which we provide services. In addition, anti-competitive, governance and other concerns with passive investment strategies have become the focus of legislative and regulatory debate which could significantly impact both our asset management business and the clients that we service.
Consequences of Regulatory Environment and Compliance Risks
Domestic and international regulatory reform could limit our ability to pursue certain business opportunities, increase our regulatory capital requirements, alter the risk profile of certain of our core activities and impose additional costs on us, otherwise adversely affect our business, our consolidated results of operations or financial condition and have other negative consequences, including, without limitation, a reduction of our credit ratings. Different countries may respond to the market and economic environment in different and potentially conflicting manners, which could increase the cost of compliance for us.
The evolving regulatory environment, including changes to existing regulations and the introduction of new regulations, may also contribute to decisions we may make to suspend, reduce or withdraw from existing businesses, activities, markets or initiatives. In addition to potential lost revenue associated with any such suspensions, reductions or withdrawals, any such suspensions, reductions or withdrawals may result in significant restructuring or related costs or exposures.
If we do not comply with governmental regulations, we may be subject to fines, penalties, lawsuits, delays, or difficulties in obtaining regulatory approvals or restrictions on our business activities or harm to our reputation, which may significantly and adversely affect our business operations and, in turn, our consolidated results of operations. The willingness of regulatory authorities to impose meaningful sanctions, and the level of fines and penalties imposed in connection with regulatory violations, have increased substantially since the financial crisis. Regulatory agencies may, at times, limit our ability to disclose their findings, related actions or remedial measures. Similarly, many of our
clients are subject to significant regulatory requirements and retain our services in order for us to assist them in complying with those legal requirements. Changes in these regulations can significantly affect the services that we are asked to provide, as well as our costs.
Adverse publicity and damage to our reputation arising from the failure or perceived failure to comply with legal, regulatory or contractual requirements could affect our ability to attract and retain clients. If we cause clients to fail to comply with any regulatory requirements, we may be liable to them for losses and expenses that they incur. In recent years, regulatory oversight and enforcement have increased substantially, imposing additional costs and increasing the potential risks associated with our operations. If this regulatory trend continues, it could continue to adversely affect our operations and, in turn, our consolidated results of operations and financial condition.
For additional information, see the risk factor, “Our businesses may be adversely affected by government enforcement and litigation.”
We are subject to enhanced external oversight as a result of certain agreements entered into in connection with the resolution of prior regulatory or governmental matters.
In June 2015, we entered into a written agreement with the Federal Reserve and the Massachusetts Division of Banks relating to deficiencies identified in our compliance programs with the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act, AML regulations and U.S. economic sanctions regulations promulgated by OFAC. As part of this agreement, we have been required to, among other things, implement improvements to our compliance programs.
Separately, in connection with the resolution of certain proceedings relating to our having charged six clients of our transition management business during 2010 and 2011 amounts in excess of the contractual terms, in January 2017, we entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice and the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts under which we agreed to retain an independent compliance and ethics monitor for a term of three years (subject to extension) to, among other things, review and monitor the effectiveness of our compliance controls and business ethics and make related recommendations, and in September 2017, we entered into a settlement agreement with the SEC that also requires us to retain an independent ethics and compliance consultant. We have retained a monitor who is fulfilling our obligations under both the deferred prosecution agreement and the SEC settlement. Responding to the monitor's requests entails significant cost and management attention and we are, in general, required to implement remediation plans to address any of the monitor's recommendations. These
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recommendations may require substantial cost and effort to remediate and, even when consistent with our own control enhancement objectives, may reflect differences in approach, timing and cost than we may independently intend. Under the deferred prosecution agreement we also have a heightened obligation promptly to report issues involving potential or alleged fraudulent activities to the DOJ.
As a result of the enhanced inspections and monitoring activities to which we are subject under these agreements, governmental authorities may identify areas in which we may need to take actions, which may be significant, to enhance our regulatory compliance or risk management practices. Such remedial actions may entail significant cost, management attention, and systems development and such efforts may affect our ability to expand our business until such remedial actions are completed. These actions may be in addition to remedial measures required by the Federal Reserve and other financial regulators following examinations as a result of increased prudential expectations regarding our compliance programs, culture and risk management. Our failure to implement enhanced compliance and risk management procedures in a manner and in a time frame deemed to be responsive by the applicable regulatory authority could adversely impact our relationship with such regulatory authority and could lead to restrictions on our activities or other sanctions. Moreover, the identification of new or additional facts and circumstances suggesting inappropriate or non-compliant conduct, whether identified by the monitor or a regulatory authority, in the course of an inspection, or independently by us could lead to new governmental proceedings or the re-opening of matters that were previously resolved. The presence of the monitor, as well as governmental programs rewarding whistleblowing, may also increase the instances of current or former employees alleging that certain practices are inconsistent with our legal or regulatory obligations.
Our businesses may be adversely affected by government enforcement and litigation.
The businesses in which we operate are highly-regulated and subject to extensive external scrutiny that may be directed generally to participants in the businesses or markets in which we are involved or may be specifically directed at us, including as a result of whistleblower and qui tam claims. In the course of our business, we are frequently subject to various regulatory, governmental and law enforcement inquiries, investigative demands and subpoenas, and from time to time, our clients, or the government on its own behalf or on behalf of our clients or others, make claims and take legal action relating to, among other things, our performance of our fiduciary, contractual or regulatory responsibilities. Often, the announcement of any such matters, or of any settlement of a claim or
action, whether it involves us or others in our industry, may spur the initiation of similar claims by other clients or governmental parties. Regulatory authorities have, and are likely to continue to, initiate cross industry reviews when a material issue is identified at a financial institution. Such inquiries involve costs and management time and may lead to proceedings relating to our own activities.
Regardless of the outcome of any governmental enforcement or litigation matter, responding to such matters is time-consuming and expensive and can divert the attention of senior management. Governmental enforcement and litigation matters can involve claims for disgorgement, demands for substantial monetary damages, the imposition of civil or criminal penalties, and the imposition of remedial sanctions or other required changes in our business practices, any of which could result in increased expenses, loss of client demand for our products or services, or harm to our reputation. The exposure associated with any proceedings that may be threatened, commenced or filed against us could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations for the period in which we establish a reserve with respect to such potential liability or upon our reputation. In government settlements since the financial crisis, the fines imposed by authorities have increased substantially and may exceed in some cases the profit earned or harm caused by the regulatory or other breach. For example, in connection with the resolution of the transition management matter, we agreed to pay a fine of £22.9 million (approximately $37.8 million) to the U.K. FCA in 2014 and fines of $32.3 million to each of the DOJ and the SEC in 2017. As a further example, we paid an aggregate of $575 million in 2016 to resolve a series of investigations and governmental and private claims alleging that our indirect foreign exchange rates prior to 2008 were not adequately disclosed or were otherwise improper. These matters have also resulted in regulatory focus on the manner in which we charge clients and related disclosures. This focus may lead to increased and prolonged governmental inquiries and client, qui tam and whistleblower claims associated with the amount and disclosure of compensation we receive for our products and services.
Moreover, U.S. and certain international governmental authorities have increasingly brought criminal actions against financial institutions, and criminal prosecutors have increasingly sought and obtained criminal guilty pleas, deferred prosecution agreements or other criminal sanctions from financial institutions. For example, in 2017 we entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with the resolution of the transition management matter, and such agreement could increase the likelihood that governmental authorities will seek criminal sanctions
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against us in pending or future legal proceedings. See “We are subject to various legal proceedings relating to the manner in which we have invoiced certain expenses, and the outcome of such proceedings could materially adversely affect our results of operations or harm our business or reputation.” Government authorities may also pursue criminal claims against current or former employees, and these matters can, among other things, involve continuing reputational harm to us. For example, four of our former employees were indicted by U.S. prosecutors on charges of criminal conspiracy in connection with their involvement in the transition management matter. Two of these individuals pled guilty, and a third was convicted in 2018.
In many cases, we are required or may choose to report inappropriate or non-compliant conduct to the authorities, and our failure or delay to do so may represent an independent regulatory violation or be treated as an indication of non-cooperation with governmental authorities. Even when we promptly report a matter, we may nonetheless experience regulatory fines, liabilities to clients, harm to our reputation or other adverse effects. Moreover, our settlement or other resolution of any matter with any one or more regulators or other applicable party may not forestall other regulators or parties in the same or other jurisdictions from pursuing a claim or other action against us with respect to the same or a similar matter.
For more information about current contingencies relating to legal proceedings, see Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K. The resolution of certain pending or potential legal or regulatory matters could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations for the period in which the relevant matter is resolved or an accrual is determined to be required, on our consolidated financial condition or on our reputation.
In view of the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of legal and regulatory matters, we cannot provide assurance as to the outcome of any pending or potential matter or, if determined adversely against us, the costs associated with any such matter, particularly where the claimant seeks very large or indeterminate damages or where the matter presents novel legal theories, involves a large number of parties, involves the discretion of governmental authorities in seeking sanctions or negotiated resolution or is at a preliminary stage. We may be unable to accurately estimate our exposure to the risks of legal and regulatory contingencies when we record reserves for probable and estimable loss contingencies. As a result, any reserves we establish may not be sufficient to cover our actual financial exposure. Similarly, our estimates of the aggregate range of reasonably possible loss for legal and regulatory contingencies are based upon then-available information and are subject to significant judgment and a variety of assumptions and known and unknown uncertainties. The matters underlying the
estimated range will change from time to time, and actual results may vary significantly from the estimate at any time.
We are subject to various legal proceedings relating to the manner in which we have invoiced certain expenses, and the outcome of such proceedings could materially adversely affect our results of operations, or harm our business or reputation.
In 2015, we determined we had incorrectly invoiced some of our Investment Servicing clients for certain expenses. We have reimbursed most of our affected customers for what we determined to be the overcharges and we have implemented enhancements to our billing processes. In connection with our enhancements to our billing processes, we continue to review historical billing practices and may from time to time identify additional required remediation. We identified, at the end of 2017, an additional area of past incorrect billing for certain mailing services expenses arising in our retirement services business. The accrual for loss contingencies at December 31, 2018 included an estimate of the amount we anticipate reimbursing clients due to that error. We currently expect the cumulative total of our payments to customers for these invoicing errors, including the error in the retirement services business, to be at least $380 million, all of which has been paid or is accrued. However, we may identify additional remediation costs. See the risk factor “Our efforts to improve our billing processes and practices are ongoing and may result in the identification of additional billing errors.”
In 2017, a purported class action was commenced against us alleging that our invoicing practices violated duties owed to retirement plan customers under ERISA. In addition, we have received a purported class action demand letter alleging that our invoicing practices were unfair and deceptive under Massachusetts law. A class of customers, or particular customers, may assert that we have not paid to them all amounts incorrectly invoiced, and may seek double or treble damages under Massachusetts law.
We are also cooperating with investigations by governmental and regulatory authorities on these matters, including the civil and criminal divisions of the DOJ, the SEC, the DOL and the Massachusetts Attorney General, which could result in significant fines or other sanctions, civil and criminal, against us. If these governmental or regulatory authorities were to conclude that all or a portion of the billing errors merited civil or criminal sanctions, any fine or other penalty could be a significant percentage, or a multiple of, the portion of the overcharging serving as the basis of such a claim or of the full amount overcharged. The governmental and regulatory authorities have significant discretion in civil and criminal matters as to the fines and other penalties they may seek to impose. The severity of such fines or other penalties could take into account factors
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such as the amount and duration of our incorrect invoicing, the government’s or regulator's assessment of the conduct of our employees, as well as prior conduct such as that which resulted in our January 2017 deferred prosecution agreement in connection with transition management services and our settlement of civil claims regarding our indirect foreign exchange business. The staff of the SEC has informed us that it intends to ask the SEC for permission to bring an action against us asserting that we overcharged clients that are registered investment companies for custody expenses in violation of §§ 31(a), 34(b) and 37 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, and Rules 31a-1(a) and 31a-1(b) thereunder. We have submitted to the staff of the SEC a response, which included a settlement proposal that the staff has indicated is too low, and we remain in discussions with the staff as to a possible settlement. Our aggregate accruals for loss contingencies for legal and regulatory matters as of December 31, 2018 include the amount of penalties reflected in our most recent settlement proposal. There can be no assurance that any settlement, whether with the SEC or other governmental authorities, will be reached or, if so, the amount of the settlement or its impact on other claims relating to these matters. In the first half of 2019, it is likely that discussions will commence with the DOJ regarding a potential resolution of their investigation regarding this matter, which will then enable us to better assess the potential penalties and/or sanctions they will be seeking. The aggregate amount of penalties that may potentially be imposed upon us in connection with the resolution of all outstanding investigations into our historical billing practices could be multiples of the potential penalties being discussed with the staff of the SEC.
The outcome of any of these proceedings and, in particular, any criminal sanction could materially adversely affect our results of operations and could have significant collateral consequences for our business and reputation.
Our efforts to improve our billing processes and practices are ongoing and may result in the identification of additional billing errors.
In 2015, we determined we had incorrectly invoiced some of our Investment Servicing clients for certain expenses. In 2016, we began the process of remediating these errors, improving our billing processes and controls in the asset servicing business and other businesses, and testing these improved billing processes and controls. As a result of such review, we may modify, enhance, and, where necessary, replace our existing global billing processes and implement and test controls for the new system. The objectives of this billing transformation process are to obtain greater billing accuracy and consistency across business lines. Our goal is for this billing transformation process to be completed over the next three or more years, but there can be no assurance as
to when we will complete this process or that it will allow us to meet the objectives we have set for it. Because of the scale of our business, implementing enhanced billing controls will be expensive and time consuming, may not succeed in identifying and remediating all weaknesses and inefficiencies in our billing processes and cannot be implemented in all our business units concurrently. Accordingly, the costs of the billing transformation process, and the costs to remediate billing errors which may be discovered in that process, would likely be incurred over a period that we are now unable accurately to determine. As we work through this process, we have discovered and may continue to discover areas where we believe our billing processes need improvement, where we believe we have made billing errors with respect to particular customers and categories of fees and expenses, and where we believe billing arrangements between ourselves and particular customers should be clarified. For example, we identified at the end of 2017 an additional area of past incorrect billing for certain mailing services expenses in our retiree services business and will be reimbursing the amounts associated with this issue to affected clients. Such discoveries may lead to increased expense and decreased revenues, the need to remediate prior billing errors, government investigations, or litigation that may materially impact our business, financial results and reputation.
Any failures of or damage to, attack on or unauthorized access to our information technology systems or facilities or disruptions to our continuous operations, including the systems, facilities or operations of third parties with which we do business, such as resulting from cyber-attacks, could result in significant limits on our ability to conduct our business activities, costs and reputational damage.
Our businesses depend on information technology infrastructure, both internal and external, to, among other things, record and process a large volume of increasingly complex transactions and other data, in many currencies, on a daily basis, across numerous and diverse markets and jurisdictions. In recent years, several financial services firms have suffered successful cyber-attacks launched both domestically and from abroad, resulting in the disruption of services to clients, loss or misappropriation of sensitive or private data and reputational harm. We also have been subjected to cyber-attacks, and although we have not to our knowledge suffered a material breach or suspension of our systems, it is possible that we could suffer such a breach or suspension in the future. Cyber-threats are sophisticated and continually evolving. We may not implement effective systems and other measures to effectively prevent or mitigate the full diversity of cyber-threats or improve and adapt such systems and measures as such threats evolve and advance.
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Our computer, communications, data processing, networks, backup, business continuity, disaster recovery or other operating, information or technology systems, facilities and activities may suffer disruptions or otherwise fail to operate properly or become disabled, overloaded or damaged as a result of a number of factors, including, without limitation, events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, which could adversely affect our ability to process transactions, provide services or maintain systems availability, maintain compliance and internal controls or otherwise appropriately conduct our business activities. For example, there could be sudden increases in transaction or data volumes, electrical or telecommunications outages, natural disasters, cyber-attacks or employee or contractor error or malfeasance. We may not successfully prevent, respond to, recover from or learn from any such disruptions or failures.
The third parties with which we do business, which facilitate our business activities, to whom we outsource operations or other activities, from whom we receive products or services or with whom we otherwise engage or interact, including, without limitation, financial intermediaries and technology infrastructure and service providers, are also susceptible to the foregoing risks (including the third parties with which they are similarly interconnected or on which they otherwise rely), and our or their business operations and activities may therefore be adversely affected, perhaps materially, by failures, terminations, errors or malfeasance by, or attacks or constraints on, one or more financial, technology, infrastructure or government institutions or intermediaries with whom we or they are interconnected or conduct business.
In particular, we, like other financial services firms, will continue to face increasing cyber threats, including, without limitation, computer viruses, malicious code, distributed denial of service attacks, phishing attacks, ransomware, information security breaches or employee or contractor error or malfeasance that could result in the unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, loss or destruction of our, our clients' or other parties' confidential, personal, proprietary or other information or otherwise disrupt, compromise or damage our or our clients' or other parties' business assets, operations and activities. Our status as a global SIFI likely increases the risk that we are targeted by such cyber- security threats. In addition, some of our service offerings, such as data warehousing, may also increase the risk we are, and the consequences of being, so targeted. We therefore could experience significant related costs and exposures, including, without limitation, lost or constrained ability to provide our services or maintain systems availability to clients, regulatory inquiries, enforcements, actions and fines, litigation, damage to our reputation or property and enhanced competition.
Due to our dependence on technology and the important role it plays in our business operations, we must persist in improving and updating our information technology infrastructure, among other things, (1) as some of our systems are approaching the end of their useful life, are redundant or do not share data without reconciliation; (2) to be more efficient, meet client expectations and support opportunities of growth; and (3) to enhance resiliency and maintain business continuity. Updating these systems involves material costs and often involves implementation, integration and security risks, including, without limitation, risks that we may not adequately anticipate the market or technological trends or client needs or experience unexpected challenges that could cause financial, reputational and operational harm. However, failing to properly respond to and invest in changes and advancements in technology can limit our ability to attract and retain clients, prevent us from offering similar products and services as those offered by our competitors, impair our ability to maintain continuous operations and inhibit our ability to meet regulatory requirements.
Any theft, loss or other misappropriation or inadvertent disclosure of, or inappropriate access to, the confidential information we possess could have an adverse impact on our business and could subject us to regulatory actions, litigation and other adverse effects.
Our businesses and relationships with clients are dependent on our ability to maintain the confidentiality of our and our clients' trade secrets and confidential information (including, without limitation, client transactional and holdings data and personal data about our employees, our clients and our clients' clients). Unauthorized access, or failure of our controls with respect to granting access to our systems, may occur, potentially resulting in theft, loss, or other misappropriation of such information. In addition, our or our vendors’ personnel have in the past and may in the future inadvertently disclose client or other confidential information. Any theft, loss, other misappropriation or inadvertent disclosure of confidential information could have a material adverse impact on our competitive position, our relationships with our clients and our reputation and could subject us to regulatory inquiries, enforcement and fines, civil litigation and possible financial liability or costs. To the extent any of these events involve personally sensitive information, the risks of enhanced regulatory scrutiny and the potential financial liabilities are exacerbated, particularly under data protection regulations such as the GDPR.
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We are subject to variability in our assets under custody and/or administration and assets under management, and in our financial results, due to the significant size of many of our institutional clients, and are also subject to significant pricing pressure due to the considerable market influence exerted by those clients.
Our clients include institutional investors, such as mutual funds, collective investment funds, UCITS, hedge funds and other investment pools, corporate and public retirement plans, insurance companies, foundations, endowments and investment managers. In both our asset servicing and asset management businesses, we endeavor to attract institutional investors controlling large and diverse pools of assets, as those clients typically have the opportunity to benefit from the full range of our expertise and service offerings. Due to the large pools of assets controlled by these clients, the loss or gain of one client, or even a portion of the assets controlled by one client, could have a significant effect on our AUC/A or our AUM, as applicable, in the relevant period. Loss of all or a portion of the servicing of a client's assets can occur for a variety of reasons. For example, as previously reported, as a result of a decision to diversify providers, in 2018 one of our large clients moved the servicing for a portion of its assets, largely common trust funds, to another provider. The transition represented approximately $1 trillion in assets with respect to which we will no longer derive revenue. Our AUM or AUC/A are also affected by decisions by institutional owners to favor or disfavor certain investment instruments or categories. Similarly, if one or more clients change the asset class in which a significant portion of assets are invested (e.g., by shifting investments from emerging markets to the U.S.), those changes could have a significant effect on our results of operations in the relevant period, as our fee rates often change based on the type of asset classes we are servicing or managing. In 2018, several industry-wide and company specific trends continued to impact AUC/A and AUM asset levels. As our fee revenue is significantly impacted by our levels of AUC/A and AUM, changes in levels of different asset classes could have a corresponding significant effect on our results of operations in the relevant period. Large institutional clients also, by their nature, are often able to exert considerable market influence, and this, combined with strong competitive forces in the markets for our services, has resulted in, and may continue to result in, significant pressure to reduce the fees we charge for our services in both our asset servicing and asset management lines of business. Our strategy of focusing our efforts on the segments of the market for investor services represented by very large asset managers and asset owners causes us to be particularly impacted by this industry trend. Many of these large clients are also under competitive and regulatory pressures that are driving them to manage the
expenses that they and their investment products incur more aggressively, which in turn exacerbates their pressures on our fees.
Our business may be negatively affected by adverse business decisions or our failure to properly implement or execute strategic programs and priorities.
In order to maintain and grow our business, we must make strategic decisions about our current and future business plans and effectively execute upon those plans. Strategic initiatives that we are currently developing or executing against include cost initiatives, enhancements and efficiencies to our operational processes, improvements to existing and new service offerings, targeting for sales growth certain segments of the markets for investor services and asset management, and enhancements to existing and development of new information technology and other systems. Implementing strategic programs and creating cost efficiencies involves certain strategic, technological and operational risks.
Strategic Risk
In late 2015, we announced Beacon, a multi-year program to create cost efficiencies through changes in our operational processes and to further digitize our processes and interfaces with our clients. In 2019, we announced that, having completed our Beacon program, we were launching an additional effort to reduce expenses through resource discipline, automation and process re-engineering. We may undertake additional strategic initiatives on cost management, operating effectiveness or other matters of varying sizes, some of which may be material. Operational process and information technology transformations, such as Beacon and the recently announced expense initiative, as well as future strategic initiatives we may undertake, entail significant risks. The new program, and any future strategic initiatives we implement, may prove to be inadequate to achieve its objectives, may not achieve the anticipated automation or process re-engineering, may not be successfully implemented or meet client expectations and may not be responsive to industry, technological or market changes. These programs also may result in increased or unanticipated costs, may result in earnings volatility, may take longer than anticipated to implement and may result in increases in operating losses, inadvertent data disclosures or other operating errors. In implementing these programs, we may have material dependencies on third parties. In addition, our efforts to manage expenses may be matched or exceeded by our competitors. Any failure to implement any strategic initiative on cost management, operational effectiveness or other matters we may undertake, in whole or in part may, among other things, reduce our competitive position, diminish the cost effectiveness of our systems and processes or provide an insufficient
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return on our associated investment. The success of expense management programs and our other strategic plans could also be affected by market disruptions and unanticipated changes in the overall market for financial services and the global economy. We also may not be able to abandon or alter these plans without significant loss, as the implementation of our decisions may involve significant capital outlays, often far in advance of when we expect to generate any anticipated revenues, realize expected cost savings or achieve desired operational efficiencies. Accordingly, our business, our consolidated results of operations and our consolidated financial condition may be adversely affected by any failure or delay in our strategic decisions, including the program or elements thereof. For additional information about the program, see "Expenses" in “Consolidated Results of Operations” included in our Management’s Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K.
Information Technology Obsolescence and Operational Transformation
Many features of our initiatives include investment in systems integration and new technologies and also the development of new, and the evolution of existing, methods and tools to accelerate the pace of innovation, the introduction of new services and enhancements to the security of our data systems. The transition to new operating processes and technology infrastructure may cause disruptions in our relationships with clients and employees or loss of institutional understanding and may present other unanticipated technical or operational hurdles. In addition, the relocation to or expansion of servicing activities and other operations in different geographic regions or vendors may entail client, regulatory and other third party data use, storage and security challenges, as well as other regulatory compliance, business continuity and other considerations. As a result, we may not achieve some or all of the cost savings or other benefits anticipated and may experience unanticipated challenges from clients, regulators or other parties or reputational harm. In addition, some systems development initiatives may not have access to significant resources or management attention and, consequently, may be delayed or unsuccessful. Many of our systems require enhancements to meet the requirements of evolving regulation, to enhance resiliency and decommission obsolete technologies, to permit us to optimize our use of capital or to reduce the risk of operating error. In addition, the implementation of our front to back office platform and integration of Charles River Development will require substantial systems development and expense. We may not have the resources to pursue all of these objectives simultaneously.
Development and completion of new products and services, including without limitation, our interoperable front-to-back servicing platform, may impose additional costs on us, involve dependencies on third parties and may expose us to increased operational and model risk.
Our financial performance depends, in part, on our ability to develop and market new and innovative services and to adopt or develop new technologies that differentiate our products or provide cost efficiencies, while avoiding increased related expenses. This dependency is exacerbated in the current “FinTech” environment, where financial institutions are investing significantly in evaluating new technologies, such as distributed ledger technology (“Blockchain"), and developing potentially industry-changing new products, services and industry standards. For example, in 2018, we acquired Charles River Development, and we are leveraging the capabilities we acquired in that transaction to create an interoperable front-to-back office servicing platform combining the offerings within our Investment Servicing business line. The introduction of new products and services can require significant time and resources, including regulatory approvals and the development and implementation of technical, control and model validation requirements. New products and services, such as an interoperable front-to-back office servicing platform, often also involve dependencies on third parties to, among other things, access innovative technologies, develop new distribution channels or form collaborative product and service offerings, and can require complex strategic alliances and joint venture relationships. Substantial risks and uncertainties are associated with the introduction of new products and services, strategic alliances and joint ventures including rapid technological change in the industry, our ability to access technical and other information from our clients, the significant and ongoing investments required to bring new products and services to market in a timely manner at competitive prices, the sharing of benefits in those relationships, conflicts with existing business partners and clients and sales and other materials that fully and accurately describe the product or service and its underlying risks and are compliant with applicable regulations. Our failure to manage these risks and uncertainties also exposes us to enhanced risk of operational lapses which may result in the recognition of financial statement liabilities. Regulatory and internal control requirements, capital requirements, competitive alternatives, vendor relationships and shifting market preferences may also determine if such initiatives can be brought to market in a manner that is timely and attractive to our clients. Failure to successfully manage all of the above risks in the development and implementation of new products or services, including, without limitation, completion of our interoperable front-to-back office servicing platform, could have a material
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adverse effect on our business and reputation, consolidated results of operations or financial condition.
Acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures and divestitures pose risks for our business.
As part of our business strategy, we acquire complementary businesses and technologies, enter into strategic alliances and joint ventures and divest portions of our business. We undertake transactions of varying sizes to, among other reasons, expand our geographic footprint, access new clients, technologies or services, develop closer or more collaborative relationships with our business partners, bolster existing servicing capabilities, efficiently deploy capital or leverage cost savings or other business or financial opportunities. We may not achieve the expected benefits of these transactions, which could result in increased costs, lowered revenues, ineffective deployment of capital, regulatory concerns, exit costs or diminished competitive position or reputation.
Transactions of this nature also involve a number of risks and financial, accounting, tax, regulatory, strategic, managerial, operational, cultural and employment challenges, which could adversely affect our consolidated results of operations and financial condition. For example, the businesses that we acquire or our strategic alliances or joint ventures may under-perform relative to the price paid or the resources committed by us; we may not achieve anticipated revenue growth or cost savings; or we may otherwise be adversely affected by acquisition-related charges. The intellectual property of an acquired business may be an important component of the value that we agree to pay for such a business. However, such acquisitions are subject to the risks that the acquired business may not own the intellectual property that we believe we are acquiring, that the intellectual property is dependent on licenses from third parties, that the acquired business infringes on the intellectual property rights of others, that the technology does not have the acceptance in the marketplace that we anticipated or that the technology requires significant investment to remain competitive. Further, past acquisitions have resulted in the recognition of goodwill and other significant intangible assets in our consolidated statement of condition. For example, we recorded goodwill and intangible assets of approximately $2.46 billion associated with our acquisition of Charles River Development in 2018. These assets are not eligible for inclusion in regulatory capital under applicable requirements. In addition, we may be required to record impairment in our consolidated statement of income in future periods if we determine that the value of these assets has declined.
Through our acquisitions or joint ventures, we may also assume unknown or undisclosed business, operational, tax, regulatory and other liabilities, fail to properly assess known contingent liabilities or assume
businesses with internal control deficiencies. While in most of our transactions we seek to mitigate these risks through, among other things, due diligence, indemnification provisions or insurance, these or other risk-mitigating provisions we put in place may not be sufficient to address these liabilities and contingencies and involve credit and execution risks associated with successfully seeking recourse from a third party, such as the seller or an insurance provider. Other major financial services firms have recently paid significant penalties to resolve government investigations into matters conducted in significant part by acquired entities.
Various regulatory approvals or consents, formal or informal, are generally required prior to closing of these transactions, which may include approvals or non-objections from the Federal Reserve and other domestic and non-U.S. regulatory authorities. These regulatory authorities may impose conditions on the completion of the acquisition or require changes to its terms that materially affect the terms of the transaction or our ability to capture some of the opportunities presented by the transaction, or may not approve the transaction. Any such conditions, or any associated regulatory delays, could limit the benefits of the transaction. Acquisitions or joint ventures we announce may not be completed if we do not receive the required regulatory approvals, if regulatory approvals are significantly delayed or if other closing conditions are not satisfied.
The integration and the retention and development of the benefits of our acquisitions results in risks to our business and other uncertainties.
In recent years, we have undertaken several acquisitions, including our 2018 acquisition of Charles River Development and our 2016 acquisition of the GEAM business. The integration of acquisitions presents risks that differ from the risks associated with our ongoing operations. Integration activities are complicated and time consuming and can involve significant unforeseen costs. We may not be able to effectively assimilate services, technologies, key personnel or businesses of acquired companies into our business or service offerings as anticipated, and we may not achieve related revenue growth or cost savings. We also face the risk of being unable to retain, or cross-sell our products or services to, the clients of acquired companies or joint ventures and the risk of being unable to cross-sell acquired products or services to our existing clients. In particular, some clients, including significant clients, of an acquired business may have the right to transition their business to other providers on short notice for convenience, fiduciary or other reasons and may take the opportunity of the acquisition or market, commercial, relationship, service satisfaction or other developments following the acquisition to terminate, reduce or renegotiate the fees or other terms of our relationship. Any such client
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losses, reductions or renegotiations likely will reduce the expected benefits of the acquisition, including, without limitation, revenues, cross-selling opportunities and market share or cause impairment to goodwill and other intangibles, which effects could be material, and we may not have recourse against the seller of the business or the client. The risk of client loss is even greater where the client is a competitor of ours. Acquisitions of technology firms can involve extensive information technology integration, with associated risk of defects, and product enhancement and development activities, the costs of which can be difficult to estimate, as well as heightened cultural and compliance concerns in integrating an unregulated firm into a bank regulatory environment. Acquisitions of Investment Servicing businesses entail information technology systems conversions, which involve operational risks.
With any acquisition, the integration of the operations and resources of the businesses could result in the loss of key employees, the disruption of our and the acquired company's ongoing businesses or inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures or policies that could adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with clients or employees, maintain regulatory compliance or to achieve the anticipated benefits of the acquisition. Integration efforts may also divert management attention and resources.
Our acquisition of Charles River Development and the integration of its business, operations and employees with our own may be more difficult, costly or time consuming than expected, and the anticipated benefits and cost synergies of the acquisition may not be fully realized, which could adversely impact our business operations, financial condition and results of operations.
We completed our acquisition of Charles River Development on October 1, 2018. The success of the acquisition, including the achievement of anticipated growth opportunities and cost synergies of the acquisition, is subject to a number of uncertainties and will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully combine and integrate Charles River Development’s business into our business in an efficient and effective manner. The combined company may face significant challenges in implementing such integration, including without limitation, challenges related to:
• | integrating Charles River Development's business into our own in a manner that permits the combined company to achieve the cost and operating synergies anticipated to result from the acquisition, which could result in the anticipated benefits of the acquisition not being realized partly or wholly in the time frame currently anticipated or at all; |
• | retaining Charles River Development’s clients, some of which are our competitors; |
• | retaining key management and technical personnel; |
• | integrating Charles River Development’s software solutions with our existing products and services and related operations and systems, including performance, risk and compliance analytics, investment manager operations outsourcing, accounting, administration and custody; |
• | accelerating the development of enhancements to the features and functions of Charles River Development’s software solutions; |
• | coordinating and integrating our internal operations, compensation programs, policies and procedures, and corporate structures; |
• | potential unknown liabilities and unforeseen or increased costs and expenses; |
• | the possibility of faulty assumptions underlying expectations regarding potential synergies and the integration process; |
• | incurring significant acquisition-related costs and expenses associated with combining our operations; and |
• | performance shortfalls as a result of the diversion of management’s attention and resources caused by integrating the companies’ operations. |
Any of these factors could result in our failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisition, on the expected timeline or at all, and could adversely impact our business operations, financial condition and results of operations.
Cost shifting to non-U.S. jurisdictions and outsourcing may expose us to increased operational risk and reputational harm and may not result in expected cost savings.
We manage expenses by migrating certain business processes and business support functions to lower-cost geographic locations, such as India, Poland and China, and by outsourcing to vendors in various jurisdictions and to joint ventures. This effort exposes us to the risk that we may not maintain service quality, control and effective management or business resiliency within these operations during and after transitions. These migrations also involve risks that our outsourcing vendors or joint ventures may not comply with their servicing and other contractual obligations to us, including, without limitation, with respect to indemnification and information security, and to the risk that we may not satisfy applicable regulatory responsibilities regarding the management and oversight of third parties and outsourcing providers. Our geographic footprint also exposes us to the relevant macroeconomic, political, legal and similar risks generally involved in doing business in the jurisdictions
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in which we establish lower-cost locations or joint ventures or in which our outsourcing vendors locate their operations. The increased elements of risk that arise from certain operating processes being conducted in some jurisdictions could lead to an increase in reputational risk. During periods of transition of operations, greater operational risk and client concerns exist with respect to maintaining a high level of service delivery and business resiliency. The extent and pace at which we are able to move functions to lower-cost locations, joint ventures and outsourcing providers may also be affected by political, regulatory and client acceptance issues, including with respect to data use, storage and security. Such relocation or outsourcing of functions also entails costs, such as technology, real estate and restructuring expenses, which may offset or exceed the expected financial benefits of the relocation or outsourcing. In addition, the financial benefits of lower-cost locations and of outsourcings may diminish over time or could be offset in the event that the U.S. or other jurisdictions impose tax, trade barrier or other measures which seek to discourage the use of lower cost jurisdictions.
The market transition away from broad use of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as an interest rate benchmark may impose additional costs on us and may expose us to increased operational, model and financial risk.
Globally, regulators have advised large banks to assess the risks and to prepare for transition from LIBOR to alternative rates ahead of year end 2021. Our financial performance depends, in part, on our ability to adapt to market changes promptly, while avoiding increased related expenses or operational errors. Substantial risks and uncertainties are associated with the market transition away from the use of LIBOR as a critical interest rate benchmark used to determine amounts payable, under and the value of, financial instruments and contracts.
Due to our dependencies on LIBOR, the failure or inability to timely plan and implement a LIBOR transition program to maintain operational continuity and minimize economic impact for our clients, ourselves and other stakeholders could negatively impact our business and financial performance. Those dependencies include, without limitation, LIBOR-based securities and loans held in our investment portfolio, LIBOR-based preferred stock and long-term debt issued by us and LIBOR-based client fee schedules and deposit pricing. Also, our internal models which support decision making and risk management will require adjustments, which may cause weaknesses in the underlying model, inadequate assumptions or lead to reliance on poor or inaccurate data. Assets held by our customers in their investment portfolios or in the investment portfolios we manage for others have LIBOR-based terms. We need to enhance our processes and systems to account for the new
alternative rates-based instruments as they come to market, the transition of LIBOR-based instruments to their fallback language and uncertainty as to how such instruments should be valued where such fallback language is unclear. These process and systems requirements could adversely impact our business, which in some instances is dependent on critical inputs from third parties, who themselves must timely adapt to the market changes and failure to implement the terms of those instruments in a manner consistent with customer expectation could lead to disputes and operational issues. Failure or perceived failure to adequately prepare for LIBOR transition could affect our ability to attract and retain clients. Uncertainty relative to external developments necessary for the market transition away from LIBOR but outside of our control could further increase the costs and risks of the transition for us or our subsidiaries and have an adverse impact on our operational and financial performance.
Our calculations of credit, market and operational risk exposures, total RWA and capital ratios for regulatory purposes depend on data inputs, formulae, models, correlations and assumptions that are subject to change over time, which changes, in addition to our consolidated financial results, could materially impact our risk exposures, our total RWA and our capital ratios from period to period.
To calculate our credit, market and operational risk exposures, our total RWA and our capital ratios for regulatory purposes, the Basel III final rule involves the use of current and historical data, including our own loss data and similar information from other industry participants, market volatility measures, interest rates and spreads, asset valuations, credit exposures and the creditworthiness of our counterparties. These calculations also involve the use of quantitative formulae, statistical models, historical correlations and significant assumptions. We refer to the data, formulae, models, correlations and assumptions, as well as our related internal processes, as our “advanced systems.” While our advanced systems are generally quantitative in nature, significant components involve the exercise of judgment based on, among other factors, our and the financial services industry's evolving experience. Any of these judgments or other elements of our advanced systems may not, individually or collectively, precisely represent or calculate the scenarios, circumstances, outputs or other results for which they are designed or intended. Collectively, they represent only our estimate of associated risk.
In addition, our advanced systems are subject to update and periodic revalidation in response to changes in our business activities and our historical experiences, forces and events experienced by the market broadly or by individual financial institutions, changes in regulations and regulatory interpretations and other factors, and are also subject to continuing regulatory
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review and approval. For example, a significant operational loss experienced by another financial institution, even if we do not experience a related loss, could result in a material change in the output of our advanced systems and a corresponding material change in our risk exposures, our total RWA and our capital ratios compared to prior periods. An operational loss that we experience could also result in a material change in our capital requirements for operational risk under the advanced approaches, depending on the severity of the loss event, its characterization among the seven Basel-defined UOM, and the stability of the distributional approach for a particular UOM, and without direct correlation to the effects of the loss event, or the timing of such effects, on our results of operations. Due to the influence of changes in our advanced systems, whether resulting from changes in data inputs, regulation or regulatory supervision or interpretation, specific to us or more general market, or individual financial institution-specific, activities or experiences, or other updates or factors, we expect that our advanced systems and our credit, market and operational risk exposures, our total RWA and our capital ratios calculated under the Basel III final rule will change, and may be volatile, over time, and that those latter changes or volatility could be material as calculated and measured from period to period.
Our businesses may be negatively affected by adverse publicity or other reputational harm.
Our relationship with many of our clients is predicated on our reputation as a fiduciary and a service provider that adheres to the highest standards of ethics, service quality and regulatory compliance. Adverse publicity, regulatory actions or fines, litigation, operational failures or the failure to meet client expectations or fiduciary or other obligations could materially and adversely affect our reputation, our ability to attract and retain clients or key employees or our sources of funding for the same or other businesses. For example, over the past several years we have experienced adverse publicity with respect to our indirect foreign exchange trading, and this adverse publicity has contributed to a shift of client volume to other foreign exchange execution methods. Similarly, governmental actions and reputational issues in our transition management business in the U.K. have adversely affected our revenue from that business and, with criminal convictions or guilty pleas of three of our former employees in 2018 and the deferred prosecution agreement we entered into with the DOJ in early 2017 and the related SEC settlement, these effects have the potential to continue. The client invoicing matter we announced in late 2015 has the potential to result in similar effects. For additional information about these matters, see the risk factor "Our businesses may be adversely affected by government enforcement and litigation."
Preserving and enhancing our reputation also
depends on maintaining systems, procedures and controls that address known risks and regulatory requirements, as well as our ability to timely identify, understand and mitigate additional risks that arise due to changes in our businesses and the marketplaces in which we operate, the regulatory environment and client expectations.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property, and we are subject to claims of third-party intellectual property rights.
Our potential inability to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology effectively may allow competitors to duplicate our technology and products and may adversely affect our ability to compete with them. To the extent that we do not protect our intellectual property effectively through patents, maintaining trade secrets or other means, other parties, including, without limitation, former employees, with knowledge of our intellectual property may seek to exploit our intellectual property for their own or others' advantage. In addition, we may infringe on claims of third-party patents, and we may face intellectual property challenges from other parties, including without limitation, clients or service providers with whom we may engage in the development or implementation of other products, , services or solutions or to whose information we may have access for limited permitted purposes but with whom we also compete. The risk of such infringement is enhanced in the current competitive “Fintech” environment, particularly with respect to our development of new products and services containing significant technology elements and dependencies, any of which could become the subject of an infringement claim. We may not be successful in defending against any such challenges or in obtaining licenses to avoid or resolve any intellectual property disputes. Third-party intellectual rights, valid or not, may also impede our deployment of the full scope of our products and service capabilities in all jurisdictions in which we operate or market our products and services.
Our controls and procedures may fail or be circumvented, our risk management policies and procedures may be inadequate, and operational risks could adversely affect our consolidated results of operations.
We may fail to identify and manage risks related to a variety of aspects of our business, including, but not limited to, operational risk, interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, trading risk, fiduciary risk, legal and compliance risk, liquidity risk and credit risk. We have adopted various controls, procedures, policies and systems to monitor and manage risk. While we currently believe that our risk management process is effective, we cannot provide assurance that those controls, procedures, policies and systems will always be adequate to identify and manage internal and external
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risks, including, without limitation, risks related to service providers, in our various businesses. The risk of individuals, either employees or contractors, engaging in conduct harmful or misleading to clients or to us, such as consciously circumventing established control mechanisms to exceed trading or investment management limitations, committing fraud or improperly selling products or services to clients, is particularly challenging to manage through a control framework. The financial and reputational impact of control or conduct failures can be significant. Persistent or repeated issues with respect to controls or individual conduct may raise concerns among regulators regarding our culture, governance and control environment. While we seek to contractually limit our financial exposure to operational risk, the degree of protection that we are able to achieve varies, and our potential exposure may be greater than the revenue we anticipate that we will earn from servicing our clients.
In addition, our businesses and the markets in which we operate are continuously evolving. We may fail to identify or fully understand the implications of changes in our businesses or the financial markets and fail to adequately or timely enhance our risk framework to address those changes. If our risk framework is ineffective, either because it fails to keep pace with changes in the financial markets, regulatory or industry requirements, our businesses, our counterparties, clients or service providers or for other reasons, we could incur losses, suffer reputational damage or find ourselves out of compliance with applicable regulatory or contractual mandates or expectations.
Operational risk is inherent in all of our business activities. As a leading provider of services to institutional investors, we provide a broad array of services, including, without limitation, research, investment management, trading services and investment servicing that expose us to operational risk. In addition, these services generate a broad array of complex and specialized servicing, confidentiality and fiduciary requirements, many of which involve the opportunity for human, systems or process errors. We face the risk that the control policies, procedures and systems we have established to comply with our operational requirements will fail, will be inadequate or will become outdated. We also face the potential for loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, employee supervision or monitoring mechanisms, service-provider processes or other systems or controls, which could materially affect our future consolidated results of operations. Given the volume and magnitude of transactions we process on a daily basis, operational losses represent a potentially significant financial risk for our business. Operational errors that result in us remitting funds to a failing or bankrupt entity may be irreversible, and may subject us to losses.
We may also be subject to disruptions from
external events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, which could cause delays or disruptions to operational functions, including, without limitation, information processing and financial market settlement functions. In addition, our clients, vendors and counterparties could suffer from such events. Should these events affect us, or the clients, vendors or counterparties with which we conduct business, our consolidated results of operations could be negatively affected. When we record balance sheet accruals for probable and estimable loss contingencies related to operational losses, we may be unable to accurately estimate our potential exposure, and any accruals we establish to cover operational losses may not be sufficient to cover our actual financial exposure, which could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations.
The quantitative models we use to manage our business may contain errors that result in inadequate risk assessments, inaccurate valuations or poor business decisions, and lapses in disclosure controls and procedures or internal control over financial reporting could occur, any of which could result in material harm.
We use quantitative models to help manage many different aspects of our businesses. As an input to our overall assessment of capital adequacy, we use models to measure the amount of credit risk, market risk, operational risk, interest rate risk and liquidity risk we face. During the preparation of our consolidated financial statements, we sometimes use models to measure the value of asset and liability positions for which reliable market prices are not available. We also use models to support many different types of business decisions including, without limitation, trading activities, hedging, asset-and-liability management and whether to change business strategy. Weaknesses in the underlying model, inadequate model assumptions, normal model limitations, inappropriate model use, weaknesses in model implementation or poor data quality, could result in unanticipated and adverse consequences, including, without limitation, material loss and material non-compliance with regulatory requirements or expectations. Because of our widespread usage of models, potential weaknesses in our model risk management practices pose an ongoing risk to us.
We also may fail to accurately quantify the magnitude of the risks we face. Our measurement methodologies rely on many assumptions and historical analyses and correlations. These assumptions may be incorrect, and the historical correlations on which we rely may not continue to be relevant. Consequently, the measurements that we make for regulatory purposes may not adequately capture or express the true risk profiles of our businesses. Moreover, as businesses and markets evolve, our measurements may not accurately reflect this evolution. While our risk
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measures may indicate sufficient capitalization, they may underestimate the level of capital necessary to conduct our businesses.
Additionally, our disclosure controls and procedures may not be effective in every circumstance, and, similarly, it is possible we may identify a material weakness or significant deficiency in internal control over financial reporting. Any such lapses or deficiencies may materially and adversely affect our business and consolidated results of operations or consolidated financial condition, restrict our ability to access the capital markets, require us to expend significant resources to correct the lapses or deficiencies, expose us to regulatory or legal proceedings, subject us to fines, penalties or judgments or harm our reputation.
We may incur losses arising from our investments in sponsored investment funds, which could be material to our consolidated results of operations in the periods incurred.
In the normal course of business, we manage various types of sponsored investment funds through State Street Global Advisors. The services we provide to these sponsored investment funds generate management fee revenue, as well as servicing fees from our other businesses. From time to time, we may invest in the funds, which we refer to as seed capital, in order for the funds to establish a performance history for newly launched strategies. These funds may meet the definition of variable interest entities, as defined by U.S. GAAP, and if we are deemed to be the primary beneficiary of these funds, we may be required to consolidate these funds in our consolidated financial statements under U.S. GAAP. The funds follow specialized investment company accounting rules which prescribe fair value for the underlying investment securities held by the funds.
In the aggregate, we expect any financial losses that we realize over time from these seed investments to be limited to the actual amount invested in the consolidated fund. However, in the event of a fund wind-down, gross gains and losses of the fund may be recognized for financial accounting purposes in different periods during the time the fund is consolidated but not wholly owned. Although we expect the actual economic loss to be limited to the amount invested, our losses in any period for financial accounting purposes could exceed the value of our economic interests in the fund and could exceed the value of our initial seed capital investment.
In instances where we are not deemed to be the primary beneficiary of the sponsored investment fund, we do not include the funds in our consolidated financial statements. Our risk of loss associated with investment in these unconsolidated funds primarily represents our seed capital investment, which could become realized as a result of poor investment performance. However, the amount of loss we may recognize during any period
would be limited to the carrying amount of our investment.
Our reputation and business prospects may be damaged if our clients incur substantial losses in investment pools in which we act as agent or are restricted in redeeming their interests in these investment pools.
We manage assets on behalf of clients in several forms, including, without limitation, in collective investment pools, money market funds, securities finance collateral pools, cash collateral and other cash products and short-term investment funds. Our management of collective investment pools on behalf of clients exposes us to reputational risk and operational losses. If our clients incur substantial investment losses in these pools, receive redemptions as in-kind distributions rather than in cash, or experience significant under-performance relative to the market or our competitors' products, our reputation could be significantly harmed, which harm could significantly and adversely affect the prospects of our associated business units. Because we often implement investment and operational decisions and actions over multiple investment pools to achieve scale, we face the risk that losses, even small losses, may have a significant effect in the aggregate.
Within our Investment Management business, we manage investment pools, such as mutual funds and collective investment funds that generally offer our clients the ability to withdraw their investments on short notice, generally daily or monthly. This feature requires that we manage those pools in a manner that takes into account both maximizing the long-term return on the investment pool and retaining sufficient liquidity to meet reasonably anticipated liquidity requirements of our clients. The importance of maintaining liquidity varies by product type, but it is a particularly important feature in money market funds and other products designed to maintain a constant net asset value of $1.00. In the past, we have imposed restrictions on cash redemptions from the agency lending collateral pools, as the per-unit market value of those funds' assets had declined below the constant $1.00 the funds employ to effect purchase and redemption transactions. Both the decline of the funds' net asset value below $1.00 and the imposition of restrictions on redemptions had a significant client, reputational and regulatory impact on us, and the recurrence of such or similar circumstances in the future could adversely impact our consolidated results of operations and financial condition. We have also in the past continued to process purchase and redemption of units of investment products designed to maintain a constant net asset value at $1.00 although the fair market value of the fund’s assets were less than $1.00. If in the future we were to continue to process purchases and redemptions from such products at $1.00 when the fair market value of our collateral pools' assets is less than $1.00, we could be exposed to significant liability.
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If higher than normal demands for liquidity from our clients were to occur, managing the liquidity requirements of our collective investment pools could become more difficult. If such liquidity problems were to recur, our relationships with our clients may be adversely affected, and, we could, in certain circumstances, be required to consolidate the investment pools into our consolidated statement of condition; levels of redemption activity could increase; and our consolidated results of operations and business prospects could be adversely affected. In addition, if a money market fund that we manage were to have unexpected liquidity demands from investors in the fund that exceeded available liquidity, the fund could be required to sell assets to meet those redemption requirements, and selling the assets held by the fund at a reasonable price, if at all, may then be difficult.
Because of the size of the investment pools that we manage, we may not have the financial ability or regulatory authority to support the liquidity or other demands of our clients. Any decision by us to provide financial support to an investment pool to support our reputation in circumstances where we are not statutorily or contractually obligated to do so could result in the recognition of significant losses, could adversely affect the regulatory view of our capital levels or plans and could, in some cases, require us to consolidate the investment pools into our consolidated statement of condition. Any failure of the pools to meet redemption requests, or under- performance of our pools relative to similar products offered by our competitors, could harm our business and our reputation.
Competition for our employees is intense, and we may not be able to attract and retain the highly skilled people we need to support our business.
Our success depends, in large part, on our ability to attract and retain key people. Competition for the best people in most activities in which we engage can be intense, and we may not be able to hire people or retain them, particularly in light of challenges associated with evolving compensation restrictions applicable, or which may become applicable, to banks and some asset managers and that potentially are not applicable to other financial services firms in all jurisdictions or to technology firms, generally. The unexpected loss of services of key personnel in business units, control functions, information technology, operations or other areas could have a material adverse impact on our business because of their skills, their knowledge of our markets, operations and clients, their years of industry experience and, in some cases, the difficulty of promptly finding qualified replacement personnel. Similarly, the loss of key employees, either individually or as a group, could adversely affect our clients' perception of our ability to continue to manage certain types of investment management mandates to provide other services to them or to maintain a culture of innovation and proficiency.
We are subject to intense competition in all aspects of our business, which could negatively affect our ability to maintain or increase our profitability.
The markets in which we operate across all facets of our business are both highly competitive and global. These markets are changing as a result of new and evolving laws and regulations applicable to financial services institutions. Regulatory-driven market changes cannot always be anticipated, and may adversely affect the demand for, and profitability of, the products and services that we offer. In addition, new market entrants and competitors may address changes in the markets more rapidly than we do, or may provide clients with a more attractive offering of products and services, adversely affecting our business. Our efforts to develop and market new products, particularly in the “Fintech” sector, may position us in new markets with pre-existing competitors with strong market position. We have also experienced, and anticipate that we will continue to experience, significant pricing pressure in many of our core businesses, particularly our custodial and investment management services. This pricing pressure has and may continue to impact our revenue growth and operational margins and may limit the positive impact of new client demand and growth in AUC/A. Many of our businesses compete with other domestic and international banks and financial services companies, such as custody banks, investment advisors, broker/dealers, outsourcing companies and data processing companies. Further consolidation within the financial services industry could also pose challenges to us in the markets we serve, including, without limitation, potentially increased downward pricing pressure across our businesses.
Some of our competitors including, without limitation, our competitors in core services, have substantially greater capital resources than we do or are not subject to as stringent capital or other regulatory requirements as are we. In some of our businesses, we are service providers to significant competitors. These competitors are in some instances significant clients, and the retention of these clients involves additional risks, such as the avoidance of actual or perceived conflicts of interest and the maintenance of high levels of service quality and intra-company confidentiality. The ability of a competitor to offer comparable or improved products or services at a lower price would likely negatively affect our ability to maintain or increase our profitability. Many of our core services are subject to contracts that have relatively short terms or may be terminated by our client after a short notice period. In addition, pricing pressures as a result of the activities of competitors, client pricing reviews, and rebids, as well as the introduction of new products, may result in a reduction in the prices we can charge for our products and services.
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Long-term contracts expose us to pricing and performance risk.
We enter into long-term contracts to provide middle office or investment manager and alternative investment manager operations outsourcing services to clients, including, without limitation, services related to certain trading activities, cash reporting, settlement and reconciliation activities, collateral management and information technology development. We also may enter into longer-term arrangements with respect to custody, fund administration and depository services. These arrangements generally set forth our fee schedule for the term of the contract and, absent a change in service requirements, do not permit us to re-price the contract for changes in our costs or for market pricing. The long-term contracts for these relationships require, in some cases, considerable up-front investment by us, including, without limitation, technology and conversion costs, and carry the risk that pricing for the products and services we provide might not prove adequate to generate expected operating margins over the term of the contracts.
The profitability of these contracts is largely a function of our ability to accurately calculate pricing for our services, efficiently assume our contractual responsibilities in a timely manner, control our costs and maintain the relationship with the client for an adequate period of time to recover our up-front investment. Our estimate of the profitability of these arrangements can be adversely affected by declines in the assets under the clients' management, whether due to general declines in the securities markets or client-specific issues. In addition, the profitability of these arrangements may be based on our ability to cross-sell additional services to these clients, and we may be unable to do so. In addition, such contracts may permit early termination or reduction in services in the event that certain service levels are not met, which termination or service reduction may result in loss of upfront investment in onboarding the client.
Performance risk exists in each contract, given our dependence on successful conversion and implementation onto our own operating platforms of the service activities provided. Our failure to meet specified service levels or implementation timelines may also adversely affect our revenue from such arrangements, or permit early termination of the contracts by the client. If the demand for these types of services were to decline, we could see our revenue decline.
Changes in accounting standards may adversely affect our consolidated financial statements.
New accounting standards, or changes to existing accounting standards, resulting both from initiatives of the FASB as well as changes in the interpretation of existing accounting standards, by the FASB or the SEC or otherwise reflected in U.S. GAAP, potentially could affect our consolidated results of operations, cash flows
and financial condition. These changes can materially affect how we record and report our consolidated results of operations, cash flows, financial condition and other financial information. In some cases, we could elect, or be required, to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, resulting in the revised treatment of certain transactions or activities, and, in some cases, the revision of our consolidated financial statements for prior periods. For additional information regarding changes in accounting standards, refer to the “Recent Accounting Developments” section of Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
Changes in tax laws, rules or regulations, challenges to our tax positions with respect to historical transactions, and changes in the composition of our pre-tax earnings may increase our effective tax rate and thus adversely affect our consolidated financial statements.
Our businesses can be directly or indirectly affected by new tax legislation, the expiration of existing tax laws or the interpretation of existing tax laws worldwide. On December 22, 2017, the United States enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), generally effective January 2018. This decreased the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, repealed the corporate alternative minimum tax and replaced the existing worldwide tax system with a modified territorial system. The modified territorial system eliminates income tax on foreign dividends and introduces new provisions that generate incremental tax on foreign earnings, base erosion payments and limit the benefit of foreign tax credits.
The U.S. Treasury has yet to issue final guidance for key provisions of the TCJA, including the Base Erosion and Anti-abuse tax, Global Intangible Low-taxed Income and foreign tax credit provisions. Depending on how those provisions are ultimately implemented, our effective tax rate could be adversely affected.
U.S. state governments, including Massachusetts, and jurisdictions around the world continue to review proposals to amend tax laws, rules and regulations applicable to our businesses that could have a negative impact on our capital or after-tax earnings. In the normal course of our business, we are subject to review by U.S. and non-U.S. tax authorities. A review by any such authority could result in an increase in our recorded tax liability. In addition to the aforementioned risks, our effective tax rate is dependent on the nature and geographic composition of our pre-tax earnings and could be negatively affected by changes in these factors.
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We may incur losses as a result of unforeseen events including, without limitation, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, the emergence of a pandemic or acts of embezzlement.
Acts of terrorism, natural disasters or the emergence of a pandemic could significantly affect our business. We have instituted disaster recovery and continuity plans to address risks from terrorism, natural disasters and pandemic; however, anticipating or addressing all potential contingencies is not possible for events of this nature. Acts of terrorism, either targeted or broad in scope, or natural disasters could damage our physical facilities, harm our employees and disrupt our operations. A pandemic, or concern about a possible pandemic, could lead to operational difficulties and impair our ability to manage our business. Acts of terrorism, natural disasters and pandemics could also negatively affect our clients, counterparties and service providers, as well as result in disruptions in general economic activity and the financial markets.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Our headquarters is located at State Street Financial Center, One Lincoln Street, Boston, Massachusetts, a 36-story leased office building. Various divisions of our two lines of business, as well as support functions, occupy space in this building. We occupy four buildings located in Quincy, Massachusetts, one of which we own and three of which we lease, along with the Channel Center, another leased office building located in Boston, all of which function as our principal facilities.
We occupy a total of approximately 8.0 million square feet of office space and related facilities worldwide, of which approximately 7.0 million square feet are leased. The following table provides information on certain of our office space and related facilities:
Principal Properties(1) | City | State/ Country | Owned/ Leased | |||
U.S. and Canada: | ||||||
State Street Financial Center | Boston | MA | Leased | |||
Channel Center | Boston | MA | Leased | |||
Summer Street | Boston | MA | Leased | |||
District Avenue | Burlington | MA | Leased | |||
Crown Colony Drive | Quincy | MA | Leased | |||
Heritage Drive | Quincy | MA | Leased | |||
John Adams Building | Quincy | MA | Owned | |||
Josiah Quincy Building | Quincy | MA | Leased | |||
Grafton Data Center | Grafton | MA | Owned | |||
Westborough Data Center | Westborough | MA | Owned | |||
Summer Street | Stamford | CT | Leased | |||
Pennsylvania Avenue | Kansas City | MO | Leased | |||
College Road East | Princeton | NJ | Leased | |||
Avenue of the Americas | New York | NY | Leased | |||
Adelaide Street East | Toronto | Canada | Leased | |||
Europe, Middle East and Africa: | ||||||
Churchill Place | London | England | Leased | |||
Brienner Strasse | Munich | Germany | Leased | |||
Sir John Rogerson's Quay | Dublin | Ireland | Leased | |||
Via Ferrante Aporti | Milan | Italy | Leased | |||
Kirchberg | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Leased | |||
Titanium Tower | Gdansk | Poland | Leased | |||
BIG | Krakow | Poland | Leased | |||
Bonarka | Krakow | Poland | Leased | |||
CBK | Krakow | Poland | Leased | |||
Asia Pacific: | ||||||
George Street | Sydney | Australia | Leased | |||
San Dun | Hangzhou | China | Leased | |||
Tian Tang | Hangzhou | China | Leased | |||
Ecoworld 6B | Bangalore | India | Leased | |||
Knowledge City Salarpuria | Hyderabad | India | Leased | |||
RMZ Ecoworld 7 | Bangalore | India | Leased | |||
(1) We lease other properties in the above regions which consists of 41 locations in the U.S. and Canada, 39 locations in EMEA and 37 locations in APAC.
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
The information required by this Item is provided under "Legal and Regulatory Matters" in Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
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EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT
The following table presents certain information with respect to each of our executive officers as of February 21, 2019.
Name | Age | Position | |||
Ronald P. O'Hanley | 62 | Chief Executive Officer and President | |||
Eric W. Aboaf | 54 | Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer | |||
Ian W. Appleyard | 54 | Executive Vice President, Global Controller and Chief Accounting Officer | |||
Jeffrey N. Carp | 62 | Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary | |||
Jeff D. Conway | 53 | Executive Vice President, Global Head of Operations and Business Transformation | |||
Andrew J. Erickson | 49 | Executive Vice President, Head of Global Services | |||
Hannah M. Grove | 55 | Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer | |||
Kathryn M. Horgan | 53 | Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources and Citizenship Officer | |||
Karen C. Keenan | 56 | Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer | |||
Andrew P. Kuritzkes | 58 | Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer | |||
Louis D. Maiuri | 54 | Executive Vice President, Head of Global Markets and Global Exchange | |||
Donna M. Milrod | 51 | Executive Vice President and Head of Global Clients Division | |||
Elizabeth Nolan | 56 | Executive Vice President, Chief Executive Officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa | |||
Antoine Shagoury | 48 | Executive Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer | |||
Cyrus Taraporevala | 52 | President and Chief Executive Officer, State Street Global Advisors | |||
All executive officers are appointed by the Board of Directors and hold office at the discretion of the Board. No family relationships exist among any of our directors and executive officers.
In accordance with the Chief Executive Officer succession plan previously announced in November 2018, Mr. O'Hanley succeeded Joseph L. Hooley as Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2019.
Mr. O'Hanley joined State Street in April 2015 and since January 1, 2019 has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to this role Mr. O'Hanley served as President and Chief Operating Officer from November 2017 to December 2018 and served as Vice Chairman from January 1, 2017 to November 2017. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of State Street Global Advisors, the investment management arm of State Street Corporation from April 2015 to November 2017. Prior to joining State Street, Mr. O'Hanley was president of Asset Management & Corporate Services for Fidelity Investments, a financial and mutual fund services corporation, from 2010 to February 2014. From 1997 to 2010, Mr. O'Hanley served in various positions at Bank of New York Mellon, a global banking and financial services corporation, serving as president and chief executive officer of BNY Asset Management in Boston from 2007 to 2010.
Mr. Aboaf joined State Street in December 2016 as Executive Vice President and has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since February 2017. Prior to joining State Street, Mr. Aboaf served as chief financial officer of Citizens Financial Group, a financial services and retail banking firm, from April 2015 to December 2016, with responsibility for all finance functions and corporate development. From 2003 to March 2015, he served in several senior management positions for Citigroup, a
global investment banking and financial services corporation, including as global treasurer and as the chief financial officer of the institutional client group, which included the custody business.
Mr. Appleyard joined State Street in May 2018 as Executive Vice President, Global Controller and Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to joining State Street, Mr. Appleyard served as managing director in group finance for Credit Suisse, a provider of financial services, from May 2013 to April 2018 and held several senior management positions with Credit Suisse after joining in September 2008. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr. Appleyard held senior positions at HSBC and JPMorgan.
Mr. Carp joined State Street in 2006 as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Later in 2006, he was also appointed Secretary. From 2004 to 2005, Mr. Carp served as executive vice president and general counsel of Massachusetts Financial Services, an investment management and research company. From 1989 until 2004, Mr. Carp was a senior partner at the law firm of Hale and Dorr LLP, where he was an attorney since 1982. Mr. Carp served as State Street's interim chief risk officer from February 2010 until September 2010.
Mr. Conway joined State Street more than 30 years ago and serves as Executive Vice President and head of Global Delivery. Prior to his current role, he was Chief Executive Officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa from March 2015 until December 2017. Prior to that role, Mr. Conway held several other management positions within the Company, including leading Global Exchange from April 2013 to March 2015. From 2007 to April 2013, Mr. Conway served as the global head of our Investment Management Services business.
State Street Corporation | 47
Mr. Erickson joined State Street in April 1991 and since November 2017 has served as Executive Vice President and head of our Global Services business. Prior to this role and commencing in June 2016, he served as Executive Vice President and head of Investment Services business in the Americas. Prior to that role, Mr. Erickson was the head of our Global Services business in Asia Pacific from April 2014 to June 2016 and prior to that was head of North Asia for Global Services from 2010 to April 2014. Mr. Erickson has also held several other positions within State Street during his over 25 years with the Company.
Ms. Grove joined State Street in 1998 and currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, a role she has been in since 2008. Prior to this role, Ms. Grove served as Senior Vice President for State Street’s Global Marketing division. Prior to joining State Street, Ms. Grove was the marketing director for World Times' Money Matters Institute, a collaboration between the United Nations and the World Bank that sought to foster sustainable development in emerging economies.
Ms. Horgan joined State Street in April 2009 and has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources and Citizenship Officer since March 2017. Prior to March 2017, she served as Executive Vice President from 2012, and Chief Operating Officer, from 2011, for State Street's Global Human Resources division. Prior to that role, Ms. Horgan served as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for State Street Global Advisors. Prior to joining State Street, Ms. Horgan was the executive vice president of human resources for Old Mutual Asset Management, a global, diversified multi-boutique asset management company, from 2006 to 2009.
Ms. Keenan joined State Street in July 2007 as part of the acquisition of Investors Financial Services (IBT) and since June 2016 has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, managing cross-organizational initiatives, overseeing data strategy projects, overseeing the Compliance Department and leading key components of regulatory initiatives. Prior to this role, from July 2015 to June 2016, Ms. Keenan led the Global Markets division worldwide, following her role as the head of Global Markets in EMEA from 2012 to 2016. From 2010 to 2012, Ms. Keenan served as the Chief Strategy Officer for Global Markets. While with IBT, she served as chief financial officer during its initial public offering and its early years as a public company.
Mr. Kuritzkes joined State Street in 2010 as Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer. Prior to joining State Street, Mr. Kuritzkes was a partner at Oliver, Wyman & Company, an international management consulting firm, and led the firm’s Public Policy practice in North America. He joined Oliver, Wyman & Company in 1988, was a managing director in the firm’s London office from 1993 to 1997, and
served as vice chairman of Oliver, Wyman & Company globally from 2000 until the firm’s acquisition by MMC in 2003. From 1986 to 1988, he worked as an economist and lawyer for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Mr. Maiuri joined State Street in October 2013 and has served as Executive Vice President and head of State Street Global Markets since June 2016 and head of State Street Global Exchange since July 2015. From 2013 to July 2015, he led State Street's Securities Finance division. Before joining State Street, Mr. Maiuri served as executive vice president and deputy chief executive officer of asset servicing at BNY Mellon, a global banking and financial services corporation, from 2009 to 2013.
Ms. Milrod joined State Street in December 2018 as Executive Vice President and Head of Global Clients Division. Prior to joining State Street, Ms. Milrod was most recently a senior advisor to Broadridge Financial Solutions, a provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions to banks, broker/dealers, asset managers and corporate issuers globally, from January 2018 through November 2018 and senior advisor to McKinsey & Co, a global management consulting firm, from May 2017 to June 2018. Ms. Milrod served as head of DTCC Solutions at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, a provider of information-based and business processing solutions to financial intermediaries globally, from February 2015 to November 2016 and before that served as chief administrative officer, leading operations and finance, from October 2012 to February 2015. Ms. Milrod held several senior positions with Deutsche Bank from 1993 to 2012.
Ms. Nolan joined State Street in October 2015 and serves as Chief Executive Officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to that, she served as Executive Vice President and co-head of State Street Global Services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa from January 2017 to January 2018. Prior to that role, she served as head of European Banking from October 2015 to January 2017. Before joining State Street, from January 2015 to October 2015, Ms. Nolan served as managing director at Deutsche Bank in the global custody and clearing business. Prior to that role, Ms. Nolan spent 12 years at J.P. Morgan in various senior leadership roles, including from 2009 to 2014 as the head of client services and client onboarding globally for markets and investor services.
Mr. Shagoury joined State Street in November 2015 as Executive Vice President, Information Technology and Global Chief Information Officer. Prior to joining State Street, Mr. Shagoury had several senior management positions from 2010 to November 2015 with the London Stock Exchange Group, a British-based stock exchange and financial information company, including the group chief operating officer and chief information officer.
State Street Corporation | 48
Mr. Taraporevala joined State Street in April 2016 and since November 2017 has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of State Street Global Advisors. He joined State Street Global Advisors as Executive Vice President and Global Head of Product and Marketing. Prior to joining State Street Global Advisors, Mr. Taraporevala was the head of Retail Management Accounts and Life Insurance & Annuities for Fidelity Investments from 2012 to October 2015. Prior to that, Mr. Taraporevala held senior leadership roles at BNY Mellon Asset Management, including executive director of North American distribution.
State Street Corporation | 49
PART II
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol STT. There were 2,503 shareholders of record as of January 31, 2019.
In June 2018, our Board approved a common stock purchase program authorizing the purchase of up to $1.2 billion of our common stock through June 30, 2019 (the 2018 Program).
In connection with our acquisition of Charles River Development, we did not repurchase any common stock during the second, third and fourth quarters of 2018. We resumed our common stock purchase program in the first quarter of 2019 and may repurchase up to $600 million through June 30, 2019 under the 2018 Program.
Stock purchases may be made using various types of mechanisms, including open market purchases or transactions off market, and may be made under Rule 10b5-1 trading programs. The timing of stock purchases, types of transactions and number of shares purchased will depend on several factors, including market conditions, our capital position, our financial performance and investment opportunities. Our common stock purchase program does not have specific price targets and may be suspended at any time. We may employ third-party broker/dealers to acquire shares on the open market in connection with our common stock purchase programs.
Additional information about our common stock, including Board authorization with respect to purchases by us of our common stock, is provided under "Capital" in “Financial Condition” in our Management's Discussion and Analysis and in Note 15 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference.
RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
As a bank holding company, our Parent Company is a legal entity separate and distinct from its principal banking subsidiary, State Street Bank, and its non-banking subsidiaries. The right of the Parent Company to participate as a shareholder in any distribution of assets of State Street Bank upon its liquidation, reorganization or otherwise is subject to the prior claims by creditors of State Street Bank, including obligations for federal funds purchased and securities sold under repurchase agreements and deposit liabilities.
Payment of dividends by State Street Bank is subject to the provisions of the Massachusetts banking law, which provide that State Street Bank's Board of Directors may declare, from State Street Bank's "net profits," as defined below, cash dividends annually,
semi-annually or quarterly (but not more frequently) and can declare non-cash dividends at any time. Under Massachusetts banking law, for purposes of determining the amount of cash dividends that are payable by State Street Bank, “net profits” is defined as an amount equal to the remainder of all earnings from current operations plus actual recoveries on loans and investments and other assets, after deducting from the total thereof all current operating expenses, actual losses, accrued dividends on preferred stock, if any, and all federal and state taxes.
No dividends may be declared, credited or paid so long as there is any impairment of State Street Bank's capital stock. The approval of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks is required if the total of all dividends declared by State Street Bank in any calendar year would exceed the total of its net profits for that year combined with its retained net profits for the preceding two years, less any required transfer to surplus or to a fund for the retirement of any preferred stock.
Under Federal Reserve regulations, the approval of the Federal Reserve would be required for the payment of dividends by State Street Bank if the total amount of all dividends declared by State Street Bank in any calendar year, including any proposed dividend, would exceed the total of its net income for such calendar year as reported in State Street Bank's Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income for a Bank with Domestic and Foreign Offices Only - FFIEC 031, commonly referred to as the “Call Report,” as submitted through the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and provided to the Federal Reserve, plus its “retained net income” for the preceding two calendar years. For these purposes, “retained net income,” as of any date of determination, is defined as an amount equal to State Street Bank's net income (as reported in its Call Reports for the calendar year in which retained net income is being determined) less any dividends declared during such year. In determining the amount of dividends that are payable, the total of State Street Bank's net income for the current year and its retained net income for the preceding two calendar years is reduced by any net losses incurred in the current or preceding two-year period and by any required transfers to surplus or to a fund for the retirement of preferred stock.
Prior Federal Reserve approval also must be obtained if a proposed dividend would exceed State Street Bank's “undivided profits” (retained earnings) as reported in its Call Reports. State Street Bank may include in its undivided profits amounts contained in its surplus account, if the amounts reflect transfers of undivided profits made in prior periods and if the Federal Reserve's approval for the transfer back to undivided profits has been obtained.
Under the PCA provisions adopted pursuant to the FDIC Improvement Act of 1991, State Street Bank may not pay a dividend when it is deemed, under the PCA
State Street Corporation | 50
framework, to be under-capitalized, or when the payment of the dividend would cause State Street Bank to be under-capitalized. If State Street Bank is under-capitalized for purposes of the PCA framework, it must cease paying dividends for so long as it is deemed to be under-capitalized. Once earnings have begun to improve and an adequate capital position has been restored, dividend payments may resume in accordance with federal and state statutory limitations and guidelines.
Currently, any payment of future common stock dividends by our Parent Company to its shareholders is subject to the review of our capital plan by the Federal Reserve in connection with its CCAR process. Information about dividends declared by our Parent Company and dividends from our subsidiary banks is provided under "Capital" in “Financial Condition” in our Management's Discussion and Analysis, and in Note 15 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference. Future dividend payments of State Street Bank and our non-banking subsidiaries cannot be determined at this time. In addition, refer to “Capital Planning, Stress Tests and Dividends” in "Supervision and Regulation" in Business in this Form 10-K and the risk factor “Our business and capital-related activities, including our ability to return capital to shareholders and repurchase our capital stock, may be adversely affected by our implementation of regulatory capital and liquidity standards that we must meet or in the event our capital plan or post-stress capital ratios are determined to be insufficient as a result of regulatory capital stress testing” in Risk Factors in this Form 10-K.
Information about our equity compensation plans is in Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters, and in Note 18 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference.
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SHAREHOLDER RETURN PERFORMANCE PRESENTATION
The graph presented below compares the cumulative total shareholder return on our common stock to the cumulative total return of the S&P 500 Index, the S&P Financial Index and the KBW Bank Index over a five-year period. The cumulative total shareholder return assumes the investment of $100 in our common stock and in each index on December 31, 2013. It also assumes reinvestment of common stock dividends.
The S&P Financial Index is a publicly available, capitalization-weighted index, comprised of 68 of the Standard & Poor’s 500 companies, representing 27 diversified financial services companies, 22 insurance companies and 19 banking companies. The KBW Bank Index is a modified cap-weighted index consisting of 24 exchange-listed stocks, representing national money center banks and leading regional institutions.
2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||
State Street Corporation | $ | 100 | $ | 109 | $ | 94 | $ | 112 | $ | 143 | $ | 95 | |||||||||||
S&P 500 Index | 100 | 114 | 115 | 129 | 157 | 150 | |||||||||||||||||
S&P Financial Index | 100 | 115 | 113 | 139 | 170 | 148 | |||||||||||||||||
KBW Bank Index | 100 | 109 | 110 | 141 | 168 | 138 | |||||||||||||||||
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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
(Dollars in millions, except per share amounts or where otherwise noted) | |||||||||||||||||||
YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31: | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | ||||||||||||||
Total fee revenue | $ | 9,305 | $ | 8,905 | $ | 8,116 | $ | 8,278 | $ | 8,010 | |||||||||
Net interest income | 2,671 | 2,304 | 2,084 | 2,088 | 2,260 | ||||||||||||||
Gains (losses) related to investment securities, net | 6 | (39 | ) | 7 | (6 | ) | 4 | ||||||||||||
Total revenue | 11,982 | 11,170 | 10,207 | 10,360 | 10,274 | ||||||||||||||
Provision for loan losses | 15 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 10 | ||||||||||||||
Total expenses | 8,968 | 8,269 | 8,077 | 8,050 | 7,827 | ||||||||||||||
Income before income tax expense | 2,999 | 2,899 | 2,120 | 2,298 | 2,437 | ||||||||||||||
Income tax expense (benefit) | 400 | 722 | (22 | ) | 318 | 415 | |||||||||||||
Net income from non-controlling interest | — | — | 1 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
Net income | $ | 2,599 | $ | 2,177 | $ | 2,143 | $ | 1,980 | $ | 2,022 | |||||||||
Adjustments to net income(1) | (189 | ) | (184 | ) | (175 | ) | (132 | ) | (64 | ) | |||||||||
Net income available to common shareholders | $ | 2,410 | $ | 1,993 | $ | 1,968 | $ | 1,848 | $ | 1,958 | |||||||||
PER COMMON SHARE: | |||||||||||||||||||
Earnings per common share: | |||||||||||||||||||
Basic | $ | 6.48 | $ | 5.32 | $ | 5.03 | $ | 4.53 | $ | 4.62 | |||||||||
Diluted | 6.40 | 5.24 | 4.97 | 4.47 | 4.53 | ||||||||||||||
Cash dividends declared | 1.78 | 1.60 | 1.44 | 1.32 | 1.16 | ||||||||||||||
Closing market price (at year end) | 63.07 | 97.61 | 77.72 | 66.36 | 78.50 | ||||||||||||||
AS OF DECEMBER 31: | |||||||||||||||||||
Investment securities | $ | 87,062 | $ | 97,579 | $ | 97,167 | $ | 100,022 | $ | 112,636 | |||||||||
Average total interest-earning assets | 185,637 | 191,235 | 199,184 | 220,456 | 209,054 | ||||||||||||||
Total assets | 244,626 | 238,425 | 242,698 | 245,155 | 274,089 | ||||||||||||||
Deposits | 180,360 | 184,896 | 187,163 | 191,627 | 209,040 | ||||||||||||||
Long-term debt | 11,093 | 11,620 | 11,430 | 11,497 | 10,012 | ||||||||||||||
Total shareholders' equity | 24,790 | 22,317 | 21,219 | 21,103 | 21,328 | ||||||||||||||
Assets under custody and/or administration (in billions) | 31,620 | 33,119 | 28,771 | 27,508 | 28,188 | ||||||||||||||
Assets under management (in billions) | 2,511 | 2,782 | 2,468 | 2,245 | 2,448 | ||||||||||||||
Number of employees | 40,142 | 36,643 | 33,783 | 32,356 | 29,970 | ||||||||||||||
RATIOS: | |||||||||||||||||||
Return on average common shareholders' equity | 12.2 | % | 10.6 | % | 10.5 | % | 9.8 | % | 9.8 | % | |||||||||
Return on average assets | 1.16 | 0.99 | 0.93 | 0.79 | 0.85 | ||||||||||||||
Common dividend payout | 27.58 | 29.89 | 28.46 | 28.99 | 25.03 | ||||||||||||||
Average common equity to average total assets | 8.9 | 8.6 | 8.2 | 7.6 | 8.4 | ||||||||||||||
Net interest margin, fully taxable-equivalent basis | 1.47 | 1.29 | 1.13 | 1.03 | 1.16 | ||||||||||||||
Common equity tier 1 ratio(2) | 12.1 | 12.3 | 11.7 | 12.5 | 12.4 | ||||||||||||||
Tier 1 capital ratio(2) | 16.0 | 15.5 | 14.8 | 15.3 | 14.5 | ||||||||||||||
Total capital ratio(2) | 16.9 | 16.5 | 16.0 | 17.4 | 16.4 | ||||||||||||||
Tier 1 leverage ratio(3) | 7.2 | 7.3 | 6.5 | 6.9 | 6.3 | ||||||||||||||
Supplementary leverage ratio(4) | 6.3 | 6.5 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 5.6 | ||||||||||||||
(1) Amounts represent preferred stock dividends and the allocation of earnings to participating securities using the two-class method.
(2) Ratios were calculated in conformity with the advanced approaches provisions of the Basel III final rule. Refer to Note 16 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
(3) The tier 1 leverage ratio was calculated in conformity with the Basel III final rule.
(4) The supplementary leverage ratio was calculated using the tier 1 capital as calculated under the supplementary leverage ratio provisions of the Basel III final rule.
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STATE STREET CORPORATION
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Net Interest Income | ||
Acquisition Costs | 65 | |
Restructuring and Repositioning Charges | 65 | |
Investment Servicing | ||
Investment Management | ||
Strategic Risk Management | ||
Significant Accounting Estimates | ||
We use acronyms and other defined terms for certain business terms and abbreviations, as defined on the acronyms list and glossary following the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
State Street Corporation | 54
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
GENERAL
As of December 31, 2018, we had consolidated total assets of $244.63 billion, consolidated total deposits of $180.36 billion, consolidated total shareholders' equity of $24.79 billion and over 40,000 employees. We operate in more than 100 geographic markets worldwide, including the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Our operations are organized into two lines of business, Investment Servicing and Investment Management, which are defined based on products and services provided.
Investment Servicing provides services for institutional clients, including mutual funds, collective investment funds and other investment pools, corporate and public retirement plans, insurance companies, investment managers, foundations and endowments worldwide. Products include: custody; product and participant level accounting; daily pricing and administration; master trust and master custody; depotbank services (a fund oversight role created by regulation); record-keeping; cash management; foreign exchange, brokerage and other trading services; securities finance; our enhanced custody product, which integrates principal securities lending and custody; deposit and short-term investment facilities; loans and lease financing; investment manager and alternative investment manager operations outsourcing; performance, risk and compliance analytics; and financial data management to support institutional investors. New products and services resulting from our acquisition of Charles River Development on October 1, 2018 include: portfolio modeling and construction; trade order management; investment risk and compliance; and wealth management solutions.
Investment Management, through State Street Global Advisors, provides a broad range of investment management strategies and products for our clients. Our investment management strategies and products span the risk/reward spectrum, including core and enhanced indexing, multi-asset strategies, active quantitative and fundamental active capabilities and alternative investment strategies. Our AUM is currently primarily weighted to indexed strategies. In addition, we provide a breadth of services and solutions, including environmental, social and governance investing, defined benefit and defined contribution and OCIO. State Street Global Advisors is also a provider of ETFs, including the SPDR® ETF brand. While management fees are primarily determined by the values of AUM and the investment strategies employed, management fees reflect other factors as well, including the benchmarks
specified in the respective management agreements related to performance fees.
For financial and other information about our lines of business, refer to “Line of Business Information” in this Management's Discussion and Analysis and Note 24 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
This Management's Discussion and Analysis should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K. Certain previously reported amounts presented in this Form 10-K have been reclassified to conform to current-period presentation.
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions in its application of certain accounting policies that materially affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses.
The significant accounting policies that require us to make judgments, estimates and assumptions that are difficult, subjective or complex about matters that are uncertain and may change in subsequent periods include:
• | accounting for fair value measurements; |
• | impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets; and |
• | contingencies. |
These significant accounting policies require the most subjective or complex judgments, and underlying estimates and assumptions could be subject to revision as new information becomes available. Additional information about these significant accounting policies is included under “Significant Accounting Estimates” in this Management's Discussion and Analysis.
Certain financial information provided in this Form 10-K, including this Management's Discussion and Analysis, is prepared on both a U.S. GAAP, or reported basis, and a non-GAAP basis, including certain non-GAAP measures used in the calculation of identified regulatory ratios. We measure and compare certain financial information on a non-GAAP basis, including information (such as capital ratios calculated under regulatory standards scheduled to be effective in the future) that management uses in evaluating our business and activities.
Non-GAAP financial information should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for or superior to, financial information prepared in conformity with U.S. GAAP. Any non-GAAP financial information presented in this Form 10-K, including this Management’s Discussion and Analysis, is reconciled
State Street Corporation | 55
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
to its most directly comparable currently applicable regulatory ratio or U.S. GAAP-basis measure.
We further believe that our presentation of fully taxable-equivalent NII, a non-GAAP measure, which reports non-taxable revenue, such as interest income associated with tax-exempt investment securities, on a fully taxable-equivalent basis, facilitates an investor's understanding and analysis of our underlying financial performance and trends.
This Management's Discussion and Analysis contains statements that are considered "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements include statements about our goals and expectations regarding our business, financial and capital condition, results of operations, strategies, financial portfolio performance, dividend and stock purchase programs, expected outcomes of legal proceedings, market growth, acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures and new technologies, services and opportunities, as well as industry, regulatory, economic and market trends, initiatives and developments, the business environment and other matters that do not relate strictly to historical facts. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially. We undertake no obligation to revise the forward-looking statements contained in this Management's Discussion and Analysis to reflect events after the time we file this Form 10-K with the SEC. Additional information about forward-looking statements and related risks and uncertainties is provided in "Risk Factors" in this Form 10-K.
We provide additional disclosures required by applicable bank regulatory standards, including supplemental qualitative and quantitative information with respect to regulatory capital (including market risk associated with our trading activities) and the liquidity coverage ratio, summary results of semi-annual State Street-run stress tests which we conduct under the Dodd-Frank Act and resolution plan disclosures required under the Dodd-Frank Act. These additional disclosures are accessible on the “Investor Relations” section of our corporate website at www.statestreet.com.
We have included our website address in this report as an inactive textual reference only. Information on our website is not incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K.
We use acronyms and other defined terms for certain business terms and abbreviations, as defined on the acronyms list and glossary in this Form 10-K.
OVERVIEW OF FINANCIAL RESULTS
TABLE 1: OVERVIEW OF FINANCIAL RESULTS | |||||||||||
Years Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
(Dollars in millions, except per share amounts) | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | ||||||||
Total fee revenue(1)(2)(3) | $ | 9,305 | $ | 8,905 | $ | 8,116 | |||||
Net interest income(2) | 2,671 | 2,304 | 2,084 | ||||||||
Gains (losses) related to investment securities, net | 6 | (39 | ) | 7 | |||||||
Total revenue(1)(3) | 11,982 | 11,170 | 10,207 | ||||||||
Provision for loan losses | 15 | 2 | 10 | ||||||||
Total expenses(1)(3) | 8,968 | 8,269 | 8,077 | ||||||||
Income before income tax expense | 2,999 | 2,899 | 2,120 | ||||||||
Income tax expense (benefit) | 400 | 722 | (22 | ) | |||||||
Net income from non-controlling interest | — | — | 1 | ||||||||
Net income | $ | 2,599 | $ | 2,177 | $ | 2,143 | |||||
Adjustments to net income: | |||||||||||
Dividends on preferred stock(4) | $ | (188 | ) | $ | (182 | ) | $ | (173 | ) | ||
Earnings allocated to participating securities(5) | (1 | ) | (2 | ) | (2 | ) | |||||
Net income available to common shareholders | $ | 2,410 | $ | 1,993 | $ | 1,968 | |||||
Earnings per common share: | |||||||||||
Basic | $ | 6.48 | $ | 5.32 | $ | 5.03 | |||||
Diluted | 6.40 | 5.24 | 4.97 | ||||||||
Average common shares outstanding (in thousands): | |||||||||||
Basic | 371,983 | 374,793 | 391,485 | ||||||||
Diluted | 376,476 | 380,213 | 396,090 | ||||||||
Cash dividends declared per common share | $ | 1.78 | $ | 1.60 | $ | 1.44 | |||||
Return on average common equity | 12.2 | % | 10.6 | % | 10.5 | % | |||||
(1) The new revenue recognition standard contributed approximately $272 million in total revenue and total expenses for 2018, compared to 2017, including approximately $190 million in management fees, $58 million in foreign exchange trading services and $24 million across other revenue lines, and expenses contributed approximately $183 million in other expenses, $59 million in transaction processing and $30 million across other expense line items.
(2) Approximately $15 million of swap costs in 1Q18 were reclassified from processing fees and other revenue within fee revenue to net interest income to conform to current presentation.
(3) Charles River Development contributed approximately $121 million and $57 million in total revenue and total expenses, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2018, including approximately $116 million in processing fees and other revenue and $5 million in other revenue lines, and expenses contributed approximately $28 million in compensation and employee benefits, $18 million in amortization of other intangible assets and $11 million in other expense lines.
(4) Additional information about our preferred stock dividends is provided in Note 15 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
(5) Represents the portion of net income available to common equity allocated to participating securities, composed of unvested and fully vested SERP shares and fully vested deferred director stock awards, which are equity-based awards that contain non-forfeitable rights to dividends, and are considered to participate with the common stock in undistributed earnings.
The following “Financial Results and Highlights” section provides information related to significant events, as well as highlights of our consolidated financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018 presented in Table 1: Overview of Financial Results. More detailed information about our consolidated financial results, including comparisons of our financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018 to those for the year ended December 31, 2017, is provided under “Consolidated Results of Operations,” "Line of Business Information" and "Capital" which follows these sections, as well as in our consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K. In this Management’s
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Discussion and Analysis, where we describe the effects of changes in foreign exchange rates, those effects are determined by applying applicable weighted average foreign exchange rates from the relevant 2017 period to the relevant 2018 period results.
Financial Results and Highlights
• | EPS of $6.40 in 2018 increased 22% compared to $5.24 in 2017. Both years include the impact of notable items. |
◦ | 2018 notable items included: |
▪ | Repositioning charges of approximately $300 million; |
▪ | Legal and related expenses of approximately $50 million; and |
▪ | Acquisition and restructuring costs primarily related to Charles River Development of approximately $24 million. |
◦ | 2017 notable items included: |
▪ | One-time estimated net impact of $270 million associated with the TCJA, including a one-time estimated tax expense of approximately $250 million and a one-time reduction in revenue of approximately $20 million; and |
▪ | Acquisition and restructuring costs related to GEAM and Beacon of approximately $266 million. |
• | 2018 revenues were impacted by unfavorable market conditions and fee compression. In light of challenging market and industry headwinds, we have launched a new expense program designed to reduce costs. |
• | 2018 ROE of 12.2% increased from 10.6% in 2017. Pre-tax margin of 25.0% in 2018 decreased from 26.0% in 2017. |
• | Operating leverage was (1.2)% for 2018. Operating leverage represents the difference between the percentage change in total revenue and the percentage change in total expenses, in each case relative to the prior year period. |
• | Fee operating leverage was (4.0)% for 2018. Fee operating leverage represents the difference between the percentage change in total fee revenue and the percentage change in total expenses, in each case relative to the prior year period. The negative fee operating leverage is primarily due to higher expenses, in part due to the aforementioned notable items. |
• | On October 1, 2018, we completed our acquisition of Charles River Development, a provider of investment management front office |
tools and solutions, for an all cash purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion. We funded the acquisition with a July 2018 issuance of common stock of approximately $1.15 billion, a September 2018 issuance of preferred stock of approximately $500 million and the suspension of approximately $950 million of share repurchases in 2018.
◦ | Total revenues contributed by Charles River Development in the fourth quarter of 2018 were approximately $121 million, including $116 million in processing fees and other revenue and $5 million in other revenue lines. |
◦ | Total expenses contributed by Charles River Development in the fourth quarter of 2018 were approximately $57 million, including $28 million in compensation and employee benefits, $18 million in amortization of other intangible assets and $11 million in other expense lines. |
• | We have resumed our common stock purchase program in the first quarter of 2019 and may repurchase up to $600 million through June 30, 2019 under the 2018 Program. |
Revenue
• | Total revenue and fee revenue increased 7% and 5%, respectively, in 2018 compared to 2017, primarily driven by higher management fees and foreign exchange trading services and, in the case of total revenue, higher NII, partially offset by lower securities finance revenue. |
◦ | The new revenue recognition standard, effective January 1, 2018, contributed approximately $272 million to total revenue in 2018 compared to 2017. |
◦ | Charles River Development contributed approximately $121 million to total revenue in 2018. |
• | Servicing fee revenue increased 1% in 2018 compared to 2017, primarily due to market appreciation and net new business, largely offset by challenging industry conditions, including fee pressure. |
• | Management fee revenue increased 15%, or $235 million, in 2018 compared to 2017, reflecting higher average global equity markets during 2018. The new revenue recognition standard contributed $190 million to management fee revenue in 2018, compared to 2017. |
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
• | Securities finance revenue decreased 10% in 2018 compared to 2017, primarily due to certain balance sheet repositioning efforts in 2018. |
• | Processing fees and other revenue increased 17% in 2018 compared to 2017, and reflects approximately $116 million from Charles River Development in 2018. |
• | NII increased 16% in 2018 compared to 2017, primarily due to higher U.S. interest rates and disciplined liability pricing, partially offset by a mix shift to HQLA. In 2018, we sold approximately $26 billion of non-HQLA, of which a significant portion has been reinvested in HQLA. |
Expenses
• | Total expenses increased 9% in 2018 compared to 2017, primarily due to repositioning charges taken in 2018, the adoption of the new revenue recognition standard in 2018 and higher technology costs, partially offset by net Beacon savings. |
◦ | In 2018, we initiated a new expense savings program and expect to realize $350 million in gross expense savings by the end of 2019. As part of that program, we recorded a repositioning charge in the fourth quarter of 2018 of approximately $223 million, consisting of $198 million of compensation and employee benefits expenses and $25 million of occupancy expenses. Including a charge taken in the second quarter of 2018, total repositioning charges were $300 million in 2018. |
◦ | In 2018, we achieved approximately $245 million of Beacon pre-tax year-over-year savings, net of Beacon investments. |
◦ | Total expenses in 2018 include approximately $272 million and $57 million related to the adoption of the new revenue recognition standard and our acquisition of Charles River Development, respectively. |
AUC/A and AUM
• | AUC/A decreased 5% in 2018 compared to 2017, primarily due to lower market levels. In 2018, newly announced asset servicing mandates totaled approximately $1.9 trillion. Servicing assets remaining to be installed in future periods totaled approximately $385 billion as of December 31, 2018. |
• | AUM decreased 10% in 2018 compared to 2017, primarily driven by weaker period end equity markets as well as institutional and cash outflows, partially offset by ETF net inflows. |
Capital
• | We declared aggregate common stock dividends of $1.78 per share, totaling $665 million in 2018, compared to $1.60 per share, totaling $596 million in 2017, representing an increase of approximately 12% on a per share basis. |
• | In the first quarter of 2018, we acquired 3.3 million shares of common stock at an average per share cost of $105.31 and an aggregate cost of approximately $350 million under our prior common stock purchase program (the 2017 Program) approved by our Board. |
• | In connection with our acquisition of Charles River Development, we did not repurchase any common stock under the common stock purchase plan approved by our Board in June 2018 (the 2018 Program), nor did we repurchase any common stock under the 2017 Program in the quarter ended June 30, 2018. We have resumed our common stock purchase program in the first quarter of 2019 and may repurchase up to $600 million through June 30, 2019 under the 2018 Program. |
• | In July 2018, we completed a public offering of approximately 13.24 million shares of our common stock. The offering price was $86.93 per share and net proceeds totaled approximately $1.15 billion. |
• | In September 2018, we issued 500,000 depositary shares each representing a 1/100th ownership interest in a share of our Fixed-to-Floating Rate Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series H, without par value per share, with a liquidation preference of $100,000 per share (equivalent to $1,000 per depositary share) and an initial dividend rate of 5.625% per annum. The net proceeds were approximately $500 million. |
• | Our standardized CET1 capital ratio decreased to 11.7% as of December 31, 2018 compared to 11.9% as of December 31, 2017, and Tier 1 leverage ratio decreased to 7.2% as of December 31, 2018 compared to 7.3% as of December 31, 2017. The decreases are primarily driven by higher deduction of goodwill of $1.5 billion and intangible assets of $1.0 billion as a result of our acquisition of Charles River Development, as well as the phase in of the intangible assets of $0.3 billion (100% in 2018 compared to 80% in 2017). |
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
CONSOLIDATED RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
This section discusses our consolidated results of operations for 2018 compared to 2017, as well as 2017 compared to 2016, and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying condensed notes to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
Total Revenue
TABLE 2: TOTAL REVENUE | |||||||||||||||||
Years Ended December 31, | % Change 2018 vs. 2017 | % Change 2017 vs. 2016 | |||||||||||||||
(Dollars in millions) | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | ||||||||||||||
Fee revenue: | |||||||||||||||||
Servicing fees | $ | 5,421 | $ | 5,365 | $ | 5,073 | 1 | % | 6 | % | |||||||
Management fees(1) | 1,851 | 1,616 | 1,292 | 15 | 25 | ||||||||||||
Foreign exchange trading services(1) | 1,201 | 1,071 | 1,099 | 12 | (3 | ) | |||||||||||
Securities finance | 543 | 606 | 562 | (10 | ) | 8 | |||||||||||
Processing fees and other(2) | 289 | 247 | 90 | 17 | 174 | ||||||||||||
Total fee revenue(2) | 9,305 | 8,905 | 8,116 | 5 | 10 | ||||||||||||
Net interest income: | |||||||||||||||||
Interest income | 3,662 | 2,908 | 2,512 | 26 | 16 | ||||||||||||
Interest expense | 991 | 604 | 428 | 64 | 41 | ||||||||||||
Net interest income | 2,671 | 2,304 | 2,084 | 16 | 11 | ||||||||||||
Gains (losses) related to investment securities, net | 6 | (39 | ) | 7 | nm | nm | |||||||||||
Total revenue(1)(2) | $ | 11,982 | $ | 11,170 | $ | 10,207 | 7 | 9 | |||||||||
(1) The new revenue recognition standard contributed approximately $272 million in total revenue for 2018, compared to 2017, including approximately $190 million in management fees, $58 million in foreign exchange trading services and $24 million across other revenue lines.
(2) Charles River Development contributed approximately $121 million in total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018, including approximately $116 million in processing fees and other revenue and $5 million in other revenue lines.
nm Not meaningful
Fee Revenue
Table 2: Total Revenue, provides the breakout of fee revenue for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
Servicing and management fees collectively made up approximately 78% of the total fee revenue in 2018, 2017 and 2016.
Servicing Fee Revenue
Generally, our servicing fee revenues are affected by several factors including changes in market valuations, client activity and asset flows, net new business and the manner in which we price our services. We provide a range of services to our clients, including core custody services, accounting, reporting and administration and middle office services, and the
nature and mix of services provided affects our servicing fees. The basis for fees will differ across regions and clients. In general, approximately 55% of our servicing fee revenues have been variable due to changes in asset valuations including changes in daily average valuations of AUC/A; another 15% of our servicing fees are impacted by the volume of activity in the funds we serve; and the remaining 30% of our servicing fees tend not to be variable in nature nor impacted by market fluctuations or values.
Changes in Market Valuations
Our servicing fee revenue is impacted by both our levels of and the geographic and product mix of our AUC/A. Increases or decreases in market valuations have a corresponding impact on the level of our AUC/A and servicing fee revenues, though the degree of impact will vary depending on asset types and classes and geography of assets held within our clients’ portfolios.
Over the past five years, including the year ended December 31, 2018, we estimate that worldwide market valuations impacted our servicing fee revenues by approximately (2)% to 5% annually and approximately 2% in 2018. See Table 3: Daily, Month-End and Year-End Equity Indices for selected indices. While the specific indices presented are indicative of general market trends, the asset types and classes relevant to individual client portfolios can and do differ, and the performance of associated relevant indices and of client portfolios can therefore differ from the performance of the indices presented. In addition, our asset classifications may differ from those industry classifications presented.
We estimate, using relevant information as of December 31, 2018 and assuming that all other factors remain constant, that:
• | A 10% increase or decrease in worldwide equity valuations, on a weighted average basis, over the relevant periods for which our servicing fees are calculated, would result in a corresponding change in our total servicing fee revenues, on average and over time, of approximately 3%; and |
• | A 10% increase or decrease in worldwide fixed income valuations, on a weighted average basis, over the relevant periods for which our servicing fees are calculated, would result in a corresponding change in our total servicing fee revenues, on average and over time, of approximately 1%. |
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
TABLE 3: DAILY, MONTH-END AND YEAR-END EQUITY INDICES(1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years Ended December 31, | Years Ended December 31, | Years Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 2017 | % Change | 2018 | 2017 | % Change | 2018 | 2017 | % Change | ||||||||||||||||||
Daily Averages of Indices | Averages of Month-End Indices | Year-End Indices | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
S&P 500® | 2,746 | 2,449 | 12 | % | 2,738 | 2,465 | 11 | % | 2,507 | 2,674 | (6 | )% | ||||||||||||||
MSCI EAFE® | 1,965 | 1,886 | 4 | 1,957 | 1,900 | 3 | 1,720 | 2,051 | (16 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
MSCI® Emerging Markets | 1,093 | 1,028 | 6 | 1,090 | 1,036 | 5 | 966 | 1,158 | (17 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
HFRI Asset Weighted Composite® | NA | NA | NA | 1,404 | 1,352 | 4 | 1,380 | 1,389 | (1 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Barclays Capital Global Aggregate Bond Index | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 479 | 485 | (1 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
(1) The index names listed in the table are service marks of their respective owners.
NA Not applicable
Client Activity and Asset Flows
Client activity and asset flows are impacted by the number of transactions we execute on behalf of our clients, including FX settlements, equity and derivative trades and wire transfer activity, as well as actions by our clients to change the asset class in which their assets are invested based on their risk acceptance tolerance. Industry trends, such as client redemptions out of hedge funds, can also impact our servicing fee revenues.
Over the past five years, including the year ended December 31, 2018, we estimate that client activity and asset flows, together, impacted our servicing fee revenues by approximately (1%) to 2% annually and approximately 1% in 2018. See Table 4: Industry Asset Flows for selected asset flow information. While the asset flows presented are indicative of general market trends, the asset types and classes relevant to individual client portfolios can and do differ, and our flows may differ from those market trends. In addition, our asset classifications may differ from those industry classifications presented.
TABLE 4: INDUSTRY ASSET FLOWS | |||||||
Years Ended December 31, | |||||||
(In billions) | 2018 | 2017 | |||||
North America - ICI Market Data(1)(2) | |||||||
Long-Term Funds(3) | $ | (349.6 | ) | $ | 66.8 | ||
Money Market | 119.8 | 81.2 | |||||
ETF | 310.9 | 470.8 | |||||
Total ICI Flows | $ | 81.1 | $ | 618.8 | |||
Europe - Broadridge Market Data(1)(4) | |||||||
Long-Term Funds(3) | $ | (52.1 | ) | $ | 713.5 | ||
Money Market | 12.4 | 75.7 | |||||
Total Broadridge Flows | $ | (39.7 | ) | $ | 789.2 | ||
(1) Industry data is provided for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to reflect the Company's activity or its clients' activity.
(2) Source: Investment Company Institute. Investment Company Institute (ICI) data includes funds not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Mutual fund data represents estimates of net new cash flow, which is new sales minus redemptions combined with net exchanges, while ETF data represents net issuance, which is gross issuance less gross redemptions. Data for mutual funds that invest primarily in other mutual funds and ETFs that invest primarily in other ETFs were excluded from the series. ICI classifies mutual funds and ETFs based on language in the fund prospectus.
(3) The long-term fund flows reported by ICI are composed of North America Market flows mainly in Equities, Hybrids and Fixed-Income Asset Classes. The long-term fund flows reported by Broadridge are composed of EMEA Market flows mainly in Equities, Fixed-Income and Multi Asset Classes.
(4) Source: © Copyright 2018, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. Funds of funds have been excluded from Broadridge data (to avoid double counting). Therefore, a market total is the sum of all the investment categories excluding the three funds of funds categories (in-house, ex-house and hedge). ETFs are included in Broadridge’s database on mutual funds, but this excludes exchange-traded commodity products that are not mutual funds.
Pricing
The industry in which we operate has historically faced pricing pressure, and our servicing fee revenues are also affected by such pressures today. On average, over the past 5 years, including the year ended December 31, 2018, we estimate that pricing pressure with respect to existing clients have impacted our servicing fees by approximately (2%) annually, with the impact ranging from (1%) to (4%) in any given year and during the year ended December 31, 2018, the impact was at the higher end of that range. Pricing concessions can be a part of a contract renegotiation with a client including terms that may benefit us, such as extending the terms of our relationship with the client, expanding the scope of services that we provide or reducing our dependency on manual processes through the standardization of the services we provide. The timing of the impact of additional revenue generated by such additional services, and the amount of revenue generated, may differ from the impact of pricing concessions on existing services due to the necessary time required to onboard those new services and the nature of those services. These same market pressures also impact the fees we negotiate when we win business from new clients.
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Net New Business
Over the past five years, including the year ended December 31, 2018, net new business, which includes business both won and lost, has affected our servicing fee revenues by approximately 2% on average with a range of 1% to 3% annually and approximately 1% in 2018. New business can include: custody; product and participant level accounting; daily valuation and administration; record-keeping; cash management; foreign exchange, brokerage and other trading services; securities finance; and other services. Revenues associated with new servicing mandates may vary based on the breadth of services provided, the time required to install the assets, and the types of assets installed.
Management Fee Revenue
Management fees generally are affected by changes in month-end valuations of AUM. Management fees for certain components of managed assets, such as ETFs, mutual funds and UCITS, are affected by daily average valuations of AUM. Management fee revenue is more sensitive to market valuations than servicing fee revenue, as a higher proportion of the underlying services provided, and the associated management fees earned, are dependent on equity and fixed-income security valuations. Additional factors, such as the relative mix of assets managed, may have a significant effect on our management fee revenue. While certain management fees are directly determined by the values of AUM and the investment strategies employed, management fees may reflect other factors, including performance fee arrangements, as well as our relationship pricing for clients.
Asset-based management fees for actively managed products are generally charged at a higher percentage of AUM than for passive products. Actively managed products may also include performance fee arrangements which are recorded when the fee is earned, based on predetermined benchmarks associated with the applicable account's performance.
In light of the above, we estimate, using relevant information as of December 31, 2018 and assuming that all other factors remain constant, including the impact of business won and lost and client flows, that:
• | A 10% increase or decrease in worldwide equity valuations, on a weighted average basis, over the relevant periods for which our management fees are calculated, would result in a corresponding change in our total management fee revenues, on average and over time, of approximately 5%; and |
• | A 10% increase or decrease in worldwide fixed-income valuations, on a weighted average basis, over the relevant periods for which our management fees are calculated, would result in a corresponding change in our total management fee revenues, on average and over time, of approximately 4%. |
Daily averages, month-end averages and year-end indices demonstrate worldwide changes in equity and debt markets that affect our management fee revenue. Year-end indices affect the values of AUM as of those dates. See Table 3: Daily, Month-End and Year-End Equity Indices for selected indices.
Additional information about fee revenue is provided under "Line of Business Information" included in this Management's Discussion and Analysis.
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Net Interest Income
See Table 2: Total Revenue, for the breakout of interest income and interest expense for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016. NII was $2,671 million for 2018, compared to $2,304 million and $2,084 million for 2017 and 2016, respectively.
NII is defined as interest income earned on interest-earning assets less interest expense incurred on interest-bearing liabilities. Interest-earning assets, which principally consist of investment securities, interest-bearing deposits with banks, resale agreements, loans and leases and other liquid assets, are financed primarily by client deposits, short-term borrowings and long-term debt.
NIM represents the relationship between annualized fully taxable-equivalent NII and average total interest-earning assets for the period. It is calculated by dividing fully taxable-equivalent NII by average interest-earning assets. Revenue that is exempt from income taxes, mainly earned from certain investment securities (state and political subdivisions), is adjusted to a fully taxable-equivalent basis using the U.S. federal and state statutory income tax rates.
See Table 5: Average Balances and Interest Rates - Fully Taxable-Equivalent Basis, for the breakout of NII on a FTE basis for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016. NII on a FTE basis increased in 2018 compared to 2017, primarily due to higher U.S. interest rates and a continued focus on disciplined liability pricing.
TABLE 5: AVERAGE BALANCES AND INTEREST RATES - FULLY TAXABLE-EQUIVALENT BASIS(1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||