Mark Simons

Charles River Development, a State Street Company, announced that Australian Ethical Investment has selected the Charles River Investment Management Solution (Charles River IMS) to automate its front and middle office processes for its entire investment portfolio.

Australian Ethical, a leader in ethical investment, will use Charles River IMS for portfolio and risk management, trading, compliance, performance measurement and attribution (PMAR), investment book of record (IBOR), and transaction management. It will also use the State Street Alpha® Data Platform and Services to manage its investment data. Charles River IMS is used by 325 clients globally, managing more than USD 59 trillion in assets^[1].

“The cloud-based, open architecture of the Charles River IMS provides an operating model that can meet the evolving demands of many businesses,” said Vinayak Bhat, Head of Asia Pacific and Middle East at Charles River. “Managing an investment lifecycle on a single platform gives companies the flexibility to scale the technology and services as their business complexity and needs change. We are excited to work with Australian Ethical and support their growth.”

Australian Ethical Chief Financial Officer Mark Simons said, “We are pleased to be implementing Charles River in our front and middle office which will complement our move to State Street back office investment administration. We see Charles River and State Street Alpha as a critical step in maturing our investment management platform end-to-end. Having seamless data management and connectivity across our portfolios will provide significant operational efficiencies and reduce risk as we continue to grow.”

This front and middle office mandate follows the appointment of State Street as Australian Ethical’s back-office provider. This new agreement means Australian Ethical will deploy State Street Alpha, the first front-to-back portfolio management, data and asset servicing platform from a single provider.

State Street’s Country Head, Australia, Tim Helyar, said he looks forward to working with Australian Ethical as a front-to-back Alpha client: “The mandate further demonstrates that State Street Alpha provides value to asset managers and owners of varying complexity and scale, who are looking to streamline their investment process to deliver efficiencies and insights across their investment operations, from portfolio construction to custody.”

State Street’s mandate with Australian Ethical also includes integration with key strategic partners within State Street Alpha’s partner ecosystem.

Mr Helyar said the Australian Ethical mandate was further proof of State Street’s commitment to the Australian market: “This further demonstrates the value of State Street, where we are combining integrated global capabilities with an operating model that has global scale and a strong local presence.”

———

Notes:
[1] As of Q3 2024. Assets are inclusive of clients using the platform for purposes of secondary compliance.

The post Charles River® selected to manage Australian Ethical’s front office operations   appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Vinayak Bhat

Charles River Development (CRD), a State Street Company, has appointed Vinayak Bhat (Vin) as senior vice president (SVP), head of Asia Pacific (APAC), where he will be responsible for all business oversight within the region and collaboration with State Street Alpha^®, the first front-to-back asset servicing platform from a single provider for institutional investors. Charles River, provider of the Charles River Investment Management Solution (Charles River IMS), was acquired by State Street in 2018.

Vin joins Charles River from FactSet Research Systems where he was head of the Asia Pacific business. Vin has over 25 years of experience in leadership positions in sales, consulting, and engineering.  Prior to his time at FactSet, Vin spent a decade at Tata Consultancy Services.

“I’m very pleased to welcome Vin to the Charles River and Alpha platform organization,” said Spiros Giannaros, CEO and President of CRD. “In addition to his responsibilities for Charles River APAC, Vin will have client and commercial oversight of the Middle East and take on committee chair for a newly formed Alpha APAC executive committee. Vin’s primary location is Singapore, which allows him to work closely with the broader State Street organization on go-to market initiatives and client servicing.”

Vin remarked, “I am delighted to be joining CRD at a time of exceptional demand and excited to work closely with our Charles River and State Street Alpha clients, continuing our open partnership model that has been at the core of our success. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to build on growth and expansion in the region.”

Vin has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from National Institute of Technology Surat, India, and an MBA in General Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Vin is a CFA^® charterholder, CFA Institute.

The post Charles River appoints Vin Bhat as new head​ of Asia-Pacific  appeared first on AdviserVoice.