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December 13, 2020 at 04:56 PM
(Photo: Bloomberg)
State Street and UBS Group are having discussions about the possible merger of their asset-management businesses, according to a report late Friday in The Wall Street Journal that cites people familiar with the matter.
The talks started this year, and the two parties were near an agreement this summer, sources told the Journal; despite the lack of deal involving State Street Global Advisors, the firms “remained in touch.”
State Street executives believe its needs to boost the size of its asset management operations to compete in light of diminishing fees and other industry factors. Larger industry players include BlackRock with $7.8 trillion, Vanguard with $6.3 trillion , Charles Schwab with $5.9 trillion and Fidelity with $3.5 trillion.
“Wonder if this is all about distribution? I still think State Street should push their independence (i.e. that they’re not competing directly w/ advisors), but I guess distribution is king. UBS would certainly provide that … ,” said Nate Geraci, president of RIA The ETF Store in a tweet Friday.
Since buying a rival would be challenging, State Street — which has about $3 trillion in assets in its iShares and other products — looked at the option of striking a joint venture and reached out to several potential partners, including UBS. The two parties had discussed a similar arrangement in 2012, the Journal reports.
