Global Link - Press Releases

Press Releases

August 14, 2001 12:00 GMT

State Street's FX Connect E-Forex Trading System Marks Five-Year Anniversary

Underscores State Street's First-Mover Position in Providing Industry Leading Solutions to Clients on Both Buy and Sell Sides

BOSTON, Mass., August 14, 2001 -- State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), the world's leading specialist in meeting the needs of sophisticated global investors, reported today the five-year anniversary of the first live trades on its electronic foreign exchange trading system, FX Connect, available via State Street's Global Link network.

Established in 1996, Global Link serves as State Street's central e-finance network, offering 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.

The first live trades on FX Connect took place on August 13th 1996. In 2000, FX Connect became the first ever multibank FX system when live trading commenced on March 1st with Deutsche Bank. Among the 25 banks participating today on FX Connect are ABN Amro, Bank of America, Bank of Montreal, Bear Stearns, Brown Brothers Harriman, CIBC World Markets, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Agricole Indosuez, Deutsche Bank, Fleet Boston Financial, National Australia Bank, Prudential Securities, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotia Capital, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered, TD Securities, and Westpac Banking Corporation.

"We are excited to celebrate five years of innovation and growth, and we continue to be encouraged by our exponential growth in trading volumes and the continuous addition of world-class participants in this dynamic e-forex marketplace," said Simon Wilson-Taylor, managing director and head of Global Link. "From the beginning, we have been single-mindedly focused on delivering major benefits to our buy-side customers by streamlining the transaction process and improving prices. Our commanding lead in the online multibank forex world is also due to the comprehensive nature of Global Link, which provides for unique asset-flow based research, and integrated trading across all asset classes. Our clients know that we understand the full complexity of the investment process, and value our ability to help them improve workflow and enhance investment returns across the entirety of their business."

FX Connect enables investors to trade foreign exchange with multiple banks in a secure, real-time environment. Designed to fully interface with clients' existing systems, FX Connect enables investors to transact spot, forward and swap block trades across an unlimited number of portfolios through multiple banks, offering unparalleled liquidity, flexibility and transactional efficiencies.

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.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements, as defined by federal 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, volatility of currency markets, 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. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of the date of release, August 14, 2001; and the company does not undertake to revise those forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.

Contact:

Carolyn Cichon
State Street Corporation
(617) 664-8672
cchicon@statestreet.com