State Street Takes Charge for Fixed Income Lawsuits; Money Funds Fine.
State Street Corporation announced a $279 million charge to "
establish a reserve to address legal exposure and other costs associated with the underperformance of certain active fixed-income strategies managed by
State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the company'
s investment management arm, and
customer concerns as to whether execution of these strategies was consistent with the customers' investment intent". See
Crane Data's 8/
29 News, "
State Street Limited Duration Bond Fund Wrongly Called Enhanced Cash".
The charge does not involve SSgA or State Street money market funds, however, including flagship
SSgA Prime Money Market Fund and
State Street Institutional Liquid Reserves. State Street Chairman & CEO
Ron Logue said on today'
s conference call, "
We have avoided any subprime investments in our money market products and have none of this exposure in our U.S. registered and unregistered money market products.... We are not abandoning the fixed-
income space, and we are committed to rebuilding." On CP programs, CFO Ed Resch adds, "
The commercial paper has continued to attract liquidity in the marketplace although at increased spreads.... At this time, we believe that we do not need to consolidate the conduits."