US/EUROPE – State Street Corp. says its acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s custody business makes it ‘European’ in a European financial services market, and demonstrates its commitment to the European pension market.

State Street’s chief executive David Spina told the Morgan Stanley Equity Research Software, Services, Internet and Networking Conference that the purchase in November 2002 of Deutsche Bank’s Global Securities Services business “makes State Street ‘European’ in a European financial services market and a big, local player with global capabilities”.

The move “demonstrates commitment to the European pension market,” Spina said in remarks posted to the company’s web site. State Street will pay an initial 1.2 billion dollars for the business.

Spina also saw the acquisition increasing its position in US pension servicing by 400 billion dollars and reducing the net overall custody unit costs by around 10% in the US. In the UK, the purchase underscores the company’s commitment to UK pension markets, Spina said.

State Street Global Advisors is the largest asset manager in the world, with 785.4 billion dollars in assets under management. As at the end of 2001 it was the ninth largest manager of European pension fund assets with 59.8 billion dollars of such assets under its wing.