State Street, the US-based combined asset manager and custody bank, missed profit estimates in its fourth-quarter financial results despite reporting a gain of 4.6% in assets under management.
Excluding one-off items, the company made $1.15 (€0.84) a share in the fourth quarter, more than it made in the same quarter of the previous year. But the figure was less than the $1.19 a share that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted.
The company now has $2.3 trillion – or €1.7 trillion – under management, making it among the largest asset managers in the world. The company also reported a rise of 5.4% in assets under custody and administration.
Joseph L Hooley, State Street chairman, president and chief executive, insisted 2013 was a good year for the company “despite both the ongoing headwinds created by the low rate environment and the increasing regulatory cost and complexity”.
Earlier this month, BlackRock released its fourth-quarter results, showing that the firm increased its assets under management to $4.3 trillion – or €3.1 trillion – compared with $3.8 trillion at the end of 2012.
Laurence D Fink, chairman and chief executive of BlackRock, says the growth was fuelled by net inflows of $117 billion.
Unlike State Street, BlackRock beat analyst expectations with its fourth-quarter earnings, which were 24% higher than in the same quarter of 2012. The firm’s share price rose, seeming to underline its position as the world’s biggest asset manager by assets.
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