The company traces its roots to Union Bank, which received a charter in 1792 from
Massachusetts Governor
John Hancock. It was the third bank to be chartered in Boston and its office was at the corner of State and Exchange Streets. In 1865, Union Bank received a national charter and became the National Union Bank of Boston. The bank later built a headquarters at Washington and State streets. The company is named after
State Street in Boston, which was known as the "Great Street to the Sea" in the 18th century as Boston became a flourishing maritime capital. State Street Deposit & Trust Co opened in July 1891. The name was shortened to State Street Trust Company in 1897. It became the custodian of the first U.S. mutual fund in 1924, the Massachusetts Investors Trust (now
MFS Investment Management). In 1966, the company completed construction of the
State Street Bank Building, a new headquarters building, the first high-rise office tower in downtown Boston. In 1972, the company opened its first international office in
Munich. In 1973, as a 50/50
joint venture with
DST Systems, the company formed Boston Financial Data Services, a provider of shareholder record-keeping, intermediary and investor services, and regulatory compliance. More than 100 top staff from
IBM were hired by State Street as it set about implementing IBM
mainframe computer systems. In 1975, William Edgerly became president and chief executive officer of the bank and shifted the company's strategy from commercial banking to investments and securities processing. In 1996, Bank of New York acquired the unit investment trust servicing business of Investors Fiduciary Trust Co., Kansas City, Mo. In 1997, State Street set up its office in Singapore. In 1999, State Street sold its retail and commercial banking businesses to
Citizens Financial Group.
21st century In 1990, State Street Bank Luxembourg was founded, and was the largest player in the country's fund industry by assets. In 2003, the company acquired the securities services division of
Deutsche Bank for $1.5 billion. The company also sold its corporate trust business to
U.S. Bancorp for $725 million. Also in 2003, State Street sold its private asset management business to
U.S. Trust. In July 2007, the company acquired
Investors Bank & Trust for $4.5 billion. In October 2008, the
United States Department of the Treasury invested $2 billion in the company as part of the
Troubled Asset Relief Program and in July 2009, the company became the first major financial firm to repay the Treasury. In 2010, the company acquired Mourant International Finance Administration. It also acquired the securities services group of
Intesa Sanpaolo for $1.87 billion. In December 2010, the company announced that it would be retrenching 5% of its workforce and effectively reducing the hourly wages of remaining employees by 10% via increased standard work hours. In November 2011, the company was named one of the world's 29 systemically important banks. In 2012, the company acquired
Goldman Sachs Administration Services, a hedge fund administrator, for $550 million. In November 2014, the company sold SSARIS Advisors, its
hedge fund unit, to senior management. In 2016, State Street launched a program called Beacon, focused on cutting costs and improving reporting technology. Their main focus was to shrink their US workforce in order to bolster profits in excess of $2.5 billion (2018 figures). Also in 2016, the company acquired the asset management business of
General Electric. In 2017, the company announced that Jay Hooley, the chief executive officer of the company, would retire, to be succeeded by Ronald P. O’Hanley, then vice chairman, president and CEO of State Street Global Advisors. In 2018, State Street completed its acquisition of Charles River Development, a
Burlington, Massachusetts provider of investment management software. The deal closed October 1, 2018, at a cost of approximately $2.6 billion that will be financed by the suspension of share repurchases and the issuing of common and preferred equity. News of the acquisition led to a drop in State Street shares of nearly 10% with share prices remaining flat since the purchase. In January 2019, State Street announced that it planned to lay off 1,500 employees, increasing the number to 2,300 in July. During that period, the company shifted their workforce from the United States to countries like China, India and Poland and operated under a hiring freeze. In September 2021, State Street agreed to buy
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.'s investor-services business for $3.5 billion in cash. Following continued scrutiny in receiving regulatory approvals, the deal was mutually agreed to be dropped in November 2022. In February 2025, State Street agreed to acquire Mizuho Financial Group's global custody and related business outside of Japan. This covered approximately US $580 billion in assets under custody and US $24 billion under administration. The transaction is expected to close in late 2025. In late 2025, State Street officially opened a Middle East & North Africa Regional Headquarters (RHQ) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In addition, on November 10, 2025, the company signed a cooperation agreement with Albilad Capital to support securities services in Saudi Arabia. ==Controversies==