Global Link - Press Releases

Press Releases

September 5, 2001 12:00 GMT

Standard Life Investments to Offer Funds Through Global Link

Expands Range of Money Market Funds Available Through Global Link

LONDON and EDINBURGH, September 5, 2001 -- State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), the world's leading specialist in meeting the needs of sophisticated global investors, and Standard Life Investments, one of the world's major asset management companies with over $110 billion of assets under management, announced today that they will collaborate to offer Standard Life's AAA-rated Money Market Fund over Fund Connect, a fund research and trade execution system on State Street's proprietary e-finance network, Global Link.

Fund Connect is an open online trading tool for research and electronic trading of a wide range of money market and investment funds offered by State Street and other world-class asset management firms. Customers can view real-time fund information such as performance, yields and composition as well as download prospectus and application forms. Fund Connect is offered over Global Link, State Street's e-finance network. Fund Connect currently offers investors AIM Global's Short Term Investment Company (STIC) Funds, Merrill Lynch Institutional Liquidity Funds, SSgA's Cash Management Funds, and State Street's Multicurrency Investment Funds (MCIV).

"State Street's innovative e-finance network provides us an ideal opportunity to offer our AAA Money Market Fund product directly to sophisticated global investors who execute cross border fund investing as a component of their portfolio management process," said Kevin Thompson, managing director, Money Market Funds at Standard Life Investments. "Our clients will appreciate the access Global Link provides through its open multi-asset electronic platform to a wide range of research, analytics and of course, electronic trade execution services."

Standard Life Investments (global liquidity funds) will initially make its AAA Cash Fund, a Dublin based open-ended fund, available over Global Link. The fund is listed on the Irish Stock Exchange with two subfunds, denominated in sterling and euro, both of which are UCITS status and have been awarded AAA/MR1+ credit and market risk ratings by Moody's Investor Services.

"Critical to Global Link's success over the past five years has been our commitment to collaborating with a wide range of innovative financial institutions and e-finance companies to bring world-class products and services to the network," said Simon Wilson-Taylor, managing director and head of Global Link. "The addition of Standard Life Investments' cash funds to Global Link's Fund Connect furthers our goal of expanding into a comprehensive range of single country equity index and global sector funds. Fund Connect, through its wide range of fund offerings, enables investors to optimize returns by managing cash and mitigating risks in global portfolios."

Established in 1996, Global Link provides clients access to a broad array of advanced e-finance applications and services across multiple asset classes with full connectivity to global investment managers' chosen trading destinations, including multiple exchanges, brokers, bank counterparties and other online trading venues. Global Link is currently used by over 400 asset management companies, including 17 of the world's 20 largest, and offers industry-leading world market research, analytics and secure, real-time trade execution services developed across multiple asset classes, including equities, foreign-exchange and fixed income. Global Link's buy-side clients, spanning 23 countries, collectively manage over half of the world's professionally managed cross-border assets. Global Link connects to brokers, exchanges, ECNs and banks across all asset classes.

With $6.1 trillion in assets under custody and $727 billion under management, State Street Corporation is the world's leading specialist in meeting the needs of sophisticated global investors. Offices are located in the United States, Canada, Chile, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Ireland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, United Arab Emirates, Russia, People's Republic of China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Australia. State Street Corporation's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol STT. For more information visit State Street's web site at www.statestreet.com.

Standard Life Investments is one of the world's major investment companies with assets under management of approximately £76 billion. Responsible for investing funds on behalf of over five million retail and institutional clients worldwide, we offer global coverage of investment instruments and markets. With operations in Europe, North America and Asia, Standard Life Investments has an extensive and developing global presence. Standard Life Investments is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Standard Life Assurance Company, one of the few companies to have been awarded a "Triple A" rating from both Standard & Poor's and Moody's.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements, as defined by U.S. securities laws, that are based on current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Important factors, including those mentioned in this news release, that could cause actual results to differ materially are set forth in the company's annual report and subsequent SEC filings. They include risks and uncertainties relating to the sustainability of worldwide economic growth and consolidations among clients and competitors. State Street encourages investors to review its annual report and SEC filings in conjunction with this announcement and prior to making any investment decision. Any forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of the date of release, September 5, 2001; and the company does not undertake to revise those forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.

Contact:

Hannah Grove
State Street Corporation
617-664-3377
hmgrove@statestreet.com