STATE STREET CORP
For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 15, 2024.
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A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.
FY2023 · Filed Feb 15, 2024
Contents
Item 1. BUSINESS
OVERVIEW
State Street Corporation is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services to institutional investors. We believe we are an essential partner to institutional investors and operate with the purpose of helping to create better outcomes for the world’s investors and the people they serve. Our clients - asset managers and owners, insurance companies, official institutions, and central banks - rely on us to deliver solutions that support their goals across the investment life cycle.
Through our subsidiaries, including our principal banking subsidiary, State Street Bank and Trust Company, referred to as State Street Bank, we operate in more than 100 geographic markets worldwide, including the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. We provide a broad range of financial products and services to institutional investors worldwide, with $41.81 trillion of AUC/A and $4.13 trillion of AUM as of December 31, 2023.
We had consolidated total assets of $297.26 billion, consolidated total deposits of $220.97 billion, consolidated total shareholders' equity of $23.80 billion and approximately 46,000 employees as of December 31, 2023.
State Street Corporation, referred to as the Parent Company, was organized in 1969 under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is a financial holding company. We conduct our business primarily through State Street Bank, which traces its beginnings to the founding of the Union Bank in 1792. State Street Bank's current charter was authorized by a special Act of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1891, and its present name was adopted in 1960. State Street Bank operates as a specialized bank, referred to as a trust or custody bank, that services and manages assets on behalf of its institutional clients.
Our executive offices are located at One Congress Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114 (telephone (617) 786-3000). For purposes of this Form 10-K, unless the context requires otherwise, references to “State Street,” “we,” “us,” “our” or similar terms mean State Street Corporation and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. The Parent Company is a source of financial and managerial strength to our subsidiaries.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
On the “Filings & reports” tab of our website atinvestors.statestreet.com, we make available, free of charge, all reports we electronically file with, or furnish to, the SEC including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, as well as any amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after those documents have been filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. These documents are also accessible on the SEC’s website atwww.sec.gov. We have included the website addresses of State Street and the SEC in this report as inactive textual references only. Information on those websites (or any other) is not incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K.
We have Corporate Governance Guidelines, as well as written charters for the Examining and Audit Committee, the Executive Committee, the Human Resources Committee, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, the Risk Committee and the Technology and Operations Committee of our Board of Directors, or Board, and a Code of Ethics for Senior Financial Officers, a Standard of Conduct for Directors and a Standard of Conduct for our employees. Each of these documents is accessible on the “Corporate governance” tab of our website atinvestors.statestreet.com.
We provide additional disclosures required by applicable bank regulatory standards, including supplemental qualitative and quantitative information with respect to regulatory capital (including market risk associated with our trading activities), the LCR and the NSFR, summary results of annual State Street-run stress tests that we conduct under the Dodd-Frank Act, and resolution plan disclosures required under the Dodd-Frank Act. These additional disclosures are accessible on the “Filings & reports” tab of our website atinvestors.statestreet.com.
We use acronyms and other defined terms for certain business terms and abbreviations, as defined on the acronyms list and glossary under Item 8 in this Form 10-K.
LINES OF BUSINESS
Our operations are organized into two lines of business: Investment Servicing and Investment
Management, which are defined based on products and services provided.
Our Investment Servicing line of business provides a range of services to our clients. Through State Street Investment Services, State Street Global Markets®, State Street Alpha®, and State Street Digital®, we provide investment services for institutional clients, including mutual funds, collective investment funds and other investment pools, corporate and public retirement plans, insurance companies, investment managers, foundations and endowments worldwide. Our financial services and products allow our large institutional investor clients to execute financial transactions on a daily basis in markets across the globe. As most institutional investors cannot economically or efficiently build their own technology and operational processes necessary to facilitate all of their global securities settlement needs, our primary role as a global trust and custody bank is to aid our clients to efficiently perform services associated with the clearing, settlement and execution of securities transactions and related payments.
Products under the Investment Servicing line of business include: back office products such as custody, accounting, regulatory reporting, investor services, performance and analytics; middle office products such as investment book of record, transaction management, loans, cash, derivatives and collateral services, record keeping, client reporting and investment analytics; investment manager and alternative investment manager operations outsourcing; performance, risk and compliance analytics; financial data management to support institutional investors; foreign exchange, brokerage and other trading services; securities finance, including prime services products; and deposit and short-term investment facilities.
We provide some or all of the Investment Servicing integrated products and services to clients in the United States and in many other markets, including, among others, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea and the United Kingdom. As of December 31, 2023, we serviced AUC/A of approximately $29.95 trillion in the Americas, approximately $8.91 trillion in Europe and the Middle East and approximately $2.95 trillion in the Asia-Pacific region.
Included within our Investment Servicing line of business is the Charles River Investment Management Solution, a technology offering which is designed to automate and simplify the institutional investment process across asset classes, from portfolio management and risk analytics through trading and post-trade settlement, with integrated compliance and managed data throughout. With the acquisition of CRD in 2018, we took the first step in building our front-to-back platform, State Street Alpha. In 2021, we further expanded State Street Alpha's technology offering with the acquisition of Mercatus, Inc., enabling the launch of Alpha for Private Markets. In 2023, we enhanced State Street Alpha with the release of two notable upgrades to its fixed income management module. Today our State Street Alpha platform combines portfolio management, trading and execution, analytics and compliance tools, and advanced data aggregation and integration with other industry platforms and providers.
In 2021, we established State Street Digital to focus on the development of services related to digital assets and related technologies, such as blockchain, tokenization, cryptocurrency, and central bank digital currency, including the evolution of a new integrated business and digital operating model designed to support primarily our institutional clients' digital investment cycle.
Our Investment Management line of business provides a broad range of investment management strategies and products for our clients through State Street Global Advisors. Our investment management strategies and products for equity, fixed income and cash assets, including core and enhanced indexing, multi-asset strategies, active quantitative and fundamental active capabilities and alternative investment strategies, span the risk/reward spectrum of these investment products. Our AUM is currently primarily weighted to indexed strategies. In addition, we provide a breadth of services and solutions, including ESG investing, defined benefit and defined contribution products, and Global Fiduciary Solutions. State Street Global Advisors is also a provider of ETFs, including the SPDR®ETF brand. As of December 31, 2023, State Street Global Advisors had AUM of approximately $4.13 trillion.
Additional information about our lines of business is provided under “Line of Business Information” included in our Management's Discussion and Analysis, and in Note 24 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K. Additional information about our non-U.S. activities is included in Note 26 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
COMPETITION
We operate in a highly competitive environment in all areas of our business globally. Our competitors include a broad range of financial institutions and servicing companies, including other custodial banks, deposit-taking institutions, investment management firms, insurance companies, mutual funds, broker/dealers, investment banks, benefits consultants, investment analytics businesses, business service and software companies, technology companies, data providers and information services firms. As our businesses grow and markets evolve, we may encounter increasing and new forms of competition around the world.
We believe that many key factors drive competition in the markets for our business. Technological expertise, economies of scale, required levels of capital, pricing, quality and scope of services, and sales and marketing are critical to our Investment Servicing line of business. For our Investment Management line of business, key competitive factors include expertise, experience, availability of related service offerings, quality of service, price, efficiency of our products and services, and performance.
Our success and competitive position may depend on our ability to develop and market new and innovative services, to adopt or develop new technologies, to implement efficiencies into our operational processes, to bring new services to market in a timely fashion at competitive prices, to integrate existing and future products and services effectively into State Street Alpha and State Street Digital, to continue to expand our relationships with existing clients, and to attract new clients.
We are a G-SIB and are subject to extensive regulation and supervision with respect to our operations and activities. Not all of our competitors have similarly been designated as systemically important nor are all of them subject to the same degree of regulation as a bank or financial holding company, and therefore some of our competitors may not be subject to the same limitations, requirements and standards with respect to their operations and activities. Most other financial institutions designated as systemically important have substantially greater financial resources and a broader base of operations than we do and are, consequently, in a better competitive position to manage and bear the costs of this enhanced regulatory requirement. See “Supervision and Regulation” in this Item for more information.
HUMAN CAPITAL
Our human capital strategy is a meaningful driver of our overall enterprise strategy and our long-term performance. Our employees drive the company’s value proposition, innovate better ways to serve our clients and act as custodians of our reputation. We seek to empower our employees by providing development and learning opportunities to help each person reach their full potential, by promoting an inclusive, diverse and equitable workplace and by improving organizational effectiveness.
In 2023, we continued to execute on our human capital strategy, as described in the sections below. Our employee population at December 31, 2023 increased approximately 10% compared to December 31, 2022 to approximately 46,000 employees. This increase was almost entirely driven by the consolidation of one of our operations joint ventures in India in the fourth quarter of 2023, as described below in this “Human Capital” section. Approximately 74% of our employees are located outside the United States.
The Board of Directors’ Human Resources Committee oversees our human capital management strategy, and receives regular updates on matters such as recruitment, retention, development, culture and inclusion, diversity and equity initiatives. Our Enterprise Talent Management Committee, which consists of senior executives, provides leadership, input and advice on our global talent-related initiatives to support our strategic priority to continually seek to become a higher-performing organization.
Organizational Effectiveness
Driving improvements in both individual and organizational productivity is a key enabler of our overall human capital management strategy, and we are focused on strategic workforce planning, building upon current headcount budgeting and forecasting activities. Our productivity efforts aim to promote the optimal cost and efficiency of our human capital through clear alignment between our business strategy and our organizational structure, headcount, personnel expense, geographic footprint, performance management, people development and reward systems. We focus on cultivating a high performing workforce that is adept at achieving profitable growth, responsive to changing business needs, and structured and resourced to deliver desired outcomes. Professional development and employee learning are necessary to achieve our human capital goals, and we seek to align our learning and development offerings with our corporate strategy as described in more detail below under “Attracting and Retaining Top Talent.” We believe that improving the productivity of our workforce and strengthening our operational and execution focus will yield more engaged and higher
performing employees and optimize our ability to serve our clients, grow revenues and improve operating margin.
In 2023, we continued to streamline and increase the efficiency of our operations to drive sustained productivity improvements, which we expect to enable us to further enhance our client service model. As noted above, in the fourth quarter of 2023, as part of ongoing transformation and productivity initiatives, we completed the consolidation of one of our operations joint ventures in India. Subsequently in 2023, we announced plans to assume full ownership of a second operations joint venture in India, which is expected to be completed in 2024 and further streamline our operating model in India.
Workforce Engagement and Culture
Our culture and values help to define us as a company and provide employees with a clear and compelling value proposition. Our culture traits provide a blueprint for employees in carrying out their work:
Choose to Own It;
Break Through Silos;
Deliver Results with Integrity and Speed;
Do Better Every Day; and
Care for Our Colleagues, Clients and Community.
We aim to promote strong levels of employee commitment and connection to the company by highlighting our shared culture traits and the behaviors that drive our business strategy. Our leadership training programs are designed to embed these culture traits into our development processes. We also provide multiple avenues for recognition of employees who role-model our culture traits, such as through our Risk Excellence Awards, which recognize and reward employees who demonstrate exemplary risk management behaviors. Through our Bravo program, employees recognized their colleagues over 118,000 times for outstanding work in 2023. We believe that a culture where employees feel valued, engaged and empowered makes State Street a more desirable place to work, helps us attract key talent and retain employees as they grow in their careers, fostering an environment that enhances each individual’s productivity and professional satisfaction.
We use our compensation program to incentivize our executives to role-model these shared culture traits. In determining executive compensation, we first measure enterprise-level performance. We then evaluate executives’ performance against individual objectives derived from our corporate goals, including their performance advancing and role-modeling the critical leadership behaviors and culture traits that drive our business strategy.
The integrity and ethical decision-making of our employees is also paramount for our culture and we want our employees to know their opinions are valued, to feel comfortable asking questions and raising concerns, and to have no fear of retaliation. We encourage employees to speak up if they see behavior that is inconsistent with our Standard of Conduct, policies, culture or values, and we regularly communicate the multiple channels provided for them to do so, including our Speak Up Line (which can be used to report anonymous concerns), Global Human Resources team and other avenues. Reports are provided to State Street’s Lead Director, General Counsel and General Auditor, depending on the nature of the reported concern. Encouraging professional challenge and debate is also a key leadership behavior that we use in evaluating candidates for executive promotions. Our approach is to promote ethical conduct by treating minor policy breaches as learning opportunities, and treating major policy breaches and misconduct promptly, professionally and seriously.
Attracting and Retaining Top Talent
Our talent management efforts are focused on developing and retaining top talent and industry leaders in markets that align with current and future demands and the evolution of our business. Retention and ongoing development of our talent requires competitive compensation and benefits, a wide range of learning and development offerings, strong support by engaged and well-trained leaders and managers and a culture where employees feel valued, engaged and empowered. As such, we carefully monitor our hiring, promotion and turnover rates and implement programs to help retain and develop our employees.
In 2023, we continued to focus on our strategic workforce planning efforts to improve internal mobility, upskilling employees capable of expanding or changing their contributions, and limiting our external hiring to priority areas. Through our various internal mobility efforts, more than one-third of open roles in 2023 were filled with internal candidates. Hiring managers have visibility into internal talent pools, allowing us to continue to leverage our global employee population as our talent source.
As a critical component of our ability to attract and retain employees, we regularly monitor our compensation program to maintain competitiveness. Our overall aim with respect to compensation is to reward high performance, motivate employees and provide competitive incentive opportunities. Compensation typically comprises fixed compensation, which reflects individual skills and abilities relative to role requirements, and variable compensation, which is designed to link total compensation to organizational, business line, risk management and individual performance. Our compensation program is intended to drive our business strategy by differentiating pay based on
performance, including, as described above, the performance of our executives in advancing and role-modeling the leadership behaviors and culture traits that drive that strategy.
Professional development and employee learning are also key elements of our talent retention strategy. We seek to align our learning and development offerings with our corporate strategy by offering skill enhancement opportunities addressing the rapidly changing, technology-centric demands of the financial services industry. This includes structured, pre-defined ‘learning-pathways’ like the Global Delivery Academy, which provides standardized technical training support for new employees, as well as individual access to a wide range of learning offerings that allow manager and employee to define a personalized development journey. We also provide professional development opportunities and access to enhanced or new roles to help deepen our employees’ skillsets and provide them with a broader perspective on the company.
Inclusion, Diversity and Equity
Inclusion, diversity and equity have long been a focus for our company, and we aim to deliver programs, resources and support that foster an environment in which every employee feels valued, inspired and empowered to leverage their diverse experiences and identities to provide innovative and authentic service to our clients, community and each other.
We believe that our strength comes from our diversity, including with respect to disability, gender, LGBTQ+ identity, race and veteran status, and our objective is to attract, hire and promote the best person for each job, positioning us to be an essential partner to our clients. We established enterprise-wide multi-year diversity goals for gender (globally) and employees who are black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) (United States only) in 2017. In 2023, we made progress compared to 2022 in six of the eight goal categories. Although we fell short of achieving all of our diversity goals, we achieved five of our eight goals, including all of our goals for BIPOC employees in the United States in 2023. We are proud of our progress and continue to integrate key learnings as we prepare to establish our next set of multi-year goals.
We are also focused on transparency and accountability and publish information about our inclusion, diversity and equity-related goals and activities on our website because we believe that maintaining transparency about where we are and where we have more work to do is an important part of holding ourselves accountable. We also publish our EEO-1 demographic data and pay equity information on our website.
We continue to accelerate progress via our “10 Actions Against Racism and Inequality,” which we established in July 2020. These concrete actions include goals to increase our Black and Latinx representation among our senior leaders, while addressing racial and social injustice and inequity by enhancing inclusion and diversity within our own company and advocating for the same in our industry and communities. In 2023, we announced our achievement of Management Leadership for Tomorrow’s (MLT) Black Equity at Work Bronze Certification. State Street became the first global SIFI to earn this designation, which focuses on rigorous action with accountability, development and implementation of a comprehensive Black equity plan.
At the end of 2023, our global workforce was approximately 56% men and 44% women, and women represented approximately 39% of our leadership (defined as senior vice president level and above). In the United States, approximately 37% of our workforce self-identified as members of the BIPOC community.
Community Engagement
Through our community engagement programs, we aim to benefit the communities where our employees work and live, develop employees’ professional and leadership skills, and increase employee engagement and retention through meaningful volunteer opportunities that affirm a sense of purpose and demonstrate alignment with our values.
We are proud of our impact on communities around the world through employee volunteering and the financial support of State Street Foundation to non-profit organizations. We provide training and support for State Street employees to serve as members of boards of directors of charitable organizations, expanding their leadership skills through community service. Our skills-based volunteer program gives employees the opportunity to strengthen their communities while also improving their professional skills in alignment with our overall human capital management strategy. Additionally, our matching gifts program recognizes the employees' contributions in the community by monetizing volunteer time, matching personal donations and supporting employee fundraising efforts. We believe that being a good corporate citizen drives employee engagement, enhances our reputation with clients and potential employees, improves brand recognition and builds public trust.
SUPERVISION AND REGULATION
We are registered with the Federal Reserve as a bank holding company pursuant to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. The Bank Holding Company Act generally limits the activities in which bank holding companies and their non-banking subsidiaries may engage to managing or controlling banks and to a range of activities that are considered to be closely related to banking. Bank holding companies that have elected to be treated as financial holding companies, such as the Parent Company, may engage in a broader range of activities considered to be “financial in nature.” The regulatory limits on our activities also apply to non-banking entities that we are deemed to “control” for purposes of the Bank Holding Company Act, which may include companies of which we own or control 5% or more of a class of voting shares. The Federal Reserve may order a bank holding company to terminate any activity, or its ownership or control of a non-banking subsidiary, if the Federal Reserve finds that the activity, ownership or control constitutes a serious risk to the financial safety, soundness or stability of a banking subsidiary or is inconsistent with sound banking principles or statutory purposes. The Bank Holding Company Act also requires a bank holding company to obtain prior approval of the Federal Reserve before it acquires substantially all the assets of any bank, or ownership or control of more than 5% of the voting shares of any bank.
The Parent Company has elected to be treated as a financial holding company and, as such, may engage in a broader range of non-banking activities than permitted for bank holding companies and their subsidiaries that have not elected to become financial holding companies. Financial holding companies may engage directly or indirectly, either de novo or by acquisition, in activities that are defined by the Federal Reserve to be financial in nature, provided that the financial holding company gives the Federal Reserve after-the-fact notice of the new activities. Activities defined to be financial in nature include, but are not limited to: providing financial or investment advice; underwriting; dealing in or making markets in securities; making merchant banking investments, subject to significant limitations; and any activities previously found by the Federal Reserve to be closely related to banking. In order to maintain our status as a financial holding company, we and each of our U.S. depository institution subsidiaries are expected to be well capitalized and well managed, as defined in applicable regulations and determined in part by the results of regulatory examinations, and must comply with Community Reinvestment Act obligations. Failure to maintain these standards may result in restrictions on our activities and may ultimately permit the Federal Reserve to take enforcement actions against us and restrict our ability to engage in activities defined to be financial in nature.
In response to the 2008 financial crisis, as well as other factors, such as technological and market changes, both the scope of the laws and regulations and the intensity of the supervision to which our business is subject has increased. Regulatory enforcement and fines have also increased across the banking and financial services sector. Many of these changes have occurred as a result of the Dodd-Frank Act and its implementing regulations, most of which are now in place. Subsequently, in 2018, the EGRRCPA was enacted. The EGRRCPA’s revisions to the U.S. financial regulatory framework have altered certain laws and regulations applicable to us and other major financial services firms. Changes in key personnel at the federal banking agencies that regulate such banking organizations, including the Federal Reserve, the FDIC and the OCC (U.S. Agencies), may result in increased prudential and conduct oversight, more extensive regulatory requirements, changing interpretations of existing rules and guidelines, and potentially more stringent enforcement and more severe penalties. Irrespective of any regulatory change, we expect that our business will remain subject to extensive regulation and supervision.
In addition, increased regulatory requirements and initiatives have been and are being implemented globally with respect to financial institutions, including the implementation of the Basel III rule (refer to “Regulatory Capital Adequacy and Liquidity Standards” in this “Supervision and Regulation” section and under “Capital” in “Financial Condition” in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K for a discussion of Basel III, as well as the U.S. Agencies’ proposed rule regarding the Basel III endgame), the Capital Requirements Directive and Capital Requirements Regulation and the E.U. Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), as well as proposals for amending the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive and under the Capital Markets Union Action Plan.
Many aspects of our business are subject to regulation by other U.S. federal and state governmental and regulatory agencies and self-regulatory organizations (including securities exchanges), and by non-U.S. governmental and regulatory agencies and self-regulatory organizations. Some aspects of our public disclosure, corporate governance principles and internal control systems are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), the Dodd-Frank Act and regulations and rules of the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange.
Regulatory Capital Adequacy and Liquidity Standards
Basel III Rule
We are subject to the Basel III framework (Basel III rule) in the United States. The provisions of the
Basel III rule related to minimum capital requirements, capital buffers and deductions and adjustments to regulatory capital were fully implemented as of January 2019. We are also subject to the market risk capital rule as implemented by U.S. banking regulators.
As required by the Dodd-Frank Act, we are subject to a “capital floor,” also referred to as the Collins Amendment, in the assessment of our regulatory capital adequacy. Thus, our risk-based capital ratios for regulatory assessment purposes are the lower of each ratio calculated under the standardized approach and the advanced approaches. We are also subject to the capital conservation buffer and the countercyclical capital buffer described below in this “Supervision and Regulation” section.
On July 27, 2023, the U.S. Agencies issued a proposed rule to implement the Basel III endgame (Basel III Endgame Proposal) for large banks, and separately proposed revisions to the U.S. G-SIB capital surcharge framework (G-SIB Surcharge Proposal). The Basel III Endgame Proposal would, among other things, eliminate the advanced approaches for monitoring capital adequacy in favor of a new standardized expanded risk-based approach that would include, unlike the current standardized approach, operational risk and CVA risk RWA components, and would also replace the existing market risk rule with the new fundamental review of the trading book (FRTB) framework. The G-SIB Surcharge Proposal would, among other things, measure the G-SIB surcharge in more granular 0.1% increments as opposed to the 0.5% increments that currently apply.
The Basel III Endgame Proposal would maintain the current Basel III rule’s dual-requirement structure, whereby we and State Street Bank would be required to calculate our risk-based capital ratios under both the expanded risk-based approach and the standardized approach. In addition, the proposal would modify the existing standardized approach by requiring that the proposed new market risk standards, FRTB, also be applied in the standardized approach.
The Basel III Endgame Proposal would apply the SCB and G-SIB surcharge to the risk-based capital requirements calculated under both the expanded risk-based approach and the existing standardized approach. The Basel III Endgame Proposal includes an effective date of July 1, 2025, with three-year transition arrangements until the requirements are fully phased in on July 1, 2028. The G-SIB Surcharge Proposal is set to be implemented two calendar quarters after the date of the adoption of the final rule, which is currently to be determined.
Based on our current understanding of the Basel III Endgame Proposal, we estimate that, if the expanded risk-based approach had been applied on a fully phased-in basis as of December 31, 2023, and in the absence of taking any actions to mitigate its impact, our expanded risk-based approach RWA as of that date would have been approximately 15% higher than our actual standardized approach RWA as of that date.
Any estimate of how the expanded risk-based approach may impact us is subject to uncertainty, as actual results may differ from the anticipated results and may be materially affected by and dependent on a range of factors, including business performance, future capital actions, the results of future supervisory stress tests, and interpretations (including changes in interpretations) of, and potential modifications by the U.S. Agencies to, the proposal.
Risk Weighted Assets
The existing Basel III rule provides two frameworks for the calculation of RWA for purposes of bank regulatory compliance: the “standardized” approach and the “advanced” approaches, which are applicable to advanced approaches banking organizations, like us.
The standardized approach prescribes standardized risk weights for certain on- and off-balance sheet exposures in the calculation of RWA. The advanced approaches consist of the Advanced Internal Ratings-Based Approach (AIRB) used for the calculation of RWA related to credit risk and the Advanced Measurement Approach (AMA) used for the calculation of RWA related to operational risk.
In November 2019, the U.S. Agencies issued a final rule that, among other things, implements the standardized approach for counterparty credit risk (SA-CCR), a methodology for calculating the exposure amount for derivative contracts. Under the final rule, beginning on January 1, 2022, we had the option to use the SA-CCR or the Internal Model Methodology (IMM) to measure the exposure amount of our cleared and uncleared derivative transactions under our advanced approaches calculation. We have elected to use the SA-CCR for purposes of our advanced approaches capital calculations. Since January 1, 2022, we are required to determine the
amount of these exposures under our standardized approach capital calculation using the SA-CCR.
Minimum Risk-Based Capital Requirements
Among other things, the Basel III rule (as amended) requires:
a minimum CET1 risk-based capital ratio of 4.5% and a minimum SLR of 3% for advanced approaches banking organizations;
a minimum Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 6%;
a minimum total capital ratio of 8%; and
the stress capital and countercyclical capital buffers, referenced below, as well as a G-SIB surcharge and the enhanced SLR (which acts as an SLR buffer) described in “Capital” in “Financial Condition” in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K.
Under the Basel III rule, our total regulatory capital is composed of three tiers: CET1 capital, Tier 1 capital (which includes CET1 capital), and Tier 2 capital. The total of Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital, adjusted as applicable, is referred to as total regulatory capital.
CET1 capital is composed of core capital elements, such as qualifying common shareholders' equity and related surplus plus retained earnings and the cumulative effect of foreign currency translation plus net unrealized gains (losses) on debt and equity securities classified as AFS, less treasury stock and less goodwill and other intangible assets, net of related deferred tax liabilities. Tier 1 capital is composed of CET1 capital plus additional Tier 1 capital instruments which, for us, includes four series of preferred equity outstanding as of December 31, 2023. Tier 2 capital includes certain eligible subordinated long-term debt instruments. Total regulatory capital consists of Tier 1 capital and Tier 2 capital.
Certain other items, if applicable, must be deducted from Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital, including certain investments in the capital of unconsolidated banking, financial and insurance entities and the amount of expected credit losses that exceeds recorded allowances for loan and other credit losses. Expected credit losses are calculated for wholesale credit exposures by formula in conformity with the Basel III rule.
G-SIB Surcharge
The eight U.S. bank holding companies deemed to be G-SIBs, including us, are required to calculate the G-SIB surcharge annually according to two methods, and be bound by the higher of the two:
Method 1: Assesses systemic importance based upon five equally-weighted components: size, interconnectedness, complexity, cross-jurisdictional activity and substitutability; or
Method 2: Alters the calculation from Method 1 by factoring in a short-term wholesale funding score in place of substitutability and applying a fixed coefficient to each of the five components.
Method 2 is the binding methodology for us as of December 31, 2023. Our current G-SIB surcharge, through December 31, 2024, is 1.0%. Based upon preliminary calculations using data as of December 31, 2023, we currently anticipate that our surcharge will remain at 1% through December 31, 2025; however, that calculation has not yet been finalized and is subject to many financial, balance sheet, market and other factors, and consequently there is a risk that a higher G-SIB surcharge of 1.5% will result from the final calculation. As noted above, our G-SIB surcharge must be calculated annually, and year-over-year changes in our Method 1 or Method 2 G-SIB scores may therefore result in changes to our G-SIB surcharge. If our Method 1 or Method 2 score changes year-over-year such that we would become subject to a higher surcharge, the higher surcharge would not become effective for two years from the “as of” date (e.g., a higher surcharge calculated as of December 31, 2023 would not become effective until January 1, 2026). If, however, our Method 1 or Method 2 score changes year-over-year such that we would become subject to a lower surcharge, we would be subject to the lower surcharge beginning one full year from the “as of” date (e.g., a lower surcharge calculated as of December 31, 2023 would become effective January 1, 2025).
Stress Capital Buffer
On March 4, 2020, the U.S. Agencies issued the SCB final rule that replaced, under the standardized approach, the fixed capital conservation buffer (2.5%) with an SCB calculated as the difference between the institution’s starting and lowest projected CET1 ratio under the severely adverse scenario of the Federal Reserve’s supervisory stress test plus planned common stock dividend payments (as a percentage of RWA) from the fourth through seventh quarter of the supervisory stress testing planning horizon. Based on our results from the 2023 supervisory stress test, our SCB for the period of October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024 is set at the prescribed minimum of 2.5% of
RWA. For additional information about the SCB final rule, refer to “Capital Planning, Stress Tests and Dividends” in this “Supervision and Regulation” section.
Under the SCB final rule, a banking organization would be able to make capital distributions and discretionary bonus payments without specified quantitative limitations (although subject to other potential regulatory constraints, such as supervisory limitations), as long as it maintains its required SCB plus the applicable G-SIB surcharge (plus any potentially applicable countercyclical capital buffer) over the minimum required risk-based capital ratios and as long as it satisfies all leverage based capital requirements and buffers. From time to time, under certain economic conditions, banking regulators may establish a minimum countercyclical capital buffer up to a maximum of 2.5% of total RWA. The countercyclical capital buffer was initially set by banking regulators at zero, and has not been increased since its inception.
Assuming a countercyclical buffer of 0%, the minimum capital ratios as of January 1, 2024, including a capital conservation buffer and an SCB of 2.5% for advanced and standardized approaches, respectively, and a G-SIB surcharge of 1.0%, are 8.0% for CET1 capital, 9.5% for Tier 1 risk-based capital and 11.5% for total risk-based capital, in order for us to make capital distributions and discretionary bonus payments without limitation.
Leverage Ratios
We are subject to a minimum Tier 1 leverage ratio and SLR. The Tier 1 leverage ratio is based on Tier 1 capital and adjusted quarterly average on-balance sheet assets. The Tier 1 leverage ratio differs from the SLR primarily in that the denominator of the Tier 1 leverage ratio is a quarterly average of on-balance sheet assets, while the SLR additionally includes off-balance sheet exposures. We must maintain a minimum Tier 1 leverage ratio of 4%.
We are also subject to a minimum SLR of 3%, and as a U.S. G-SIB, we must maintain a 2% SLR buffer in order to avoid any limitations on distributions to shareholders and discretionary bonus payments to certain executives. If we do not maintain this buffer, limitations on these distributions and discretionary bonus payments would be increasingly stringent based upon the extent of the shortfall.
In November 2019, pursuant to the EGRRCPA, the U.S. Agencies adopted a final rule that excludes central bank deposits from a custodial banking organization’s total leverage exposure for purpose of calculating the SLR. This exclusion is not applicable to total leverage exposure under the calculation of Tier 1 leverage. This exclusion is equal to the lesser of (i) the total amount of funds the custodial banking organization and its consolidated subsidiaries have on deposit at qualifying central banks and (ii) the total amount of client funds on deposit at the custodial banking organization that are linked to fiduciary or custodial and safekeeping accounts. The rule became effective on April 1, 2020. For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, we excluded $69.6 billion of average balances held on deposit at central banks from the denominator used in the calculation of our SLR based on this custodial banking exclusion. The TLAC and LTD that State Street is required to hold under SLR-based requirements reflect the exclusion of certain central bank balances as a consequence of the rule.
The SA-CCR final rule that went into effect for us on January 1, 2022, also requires us to incorporate the SA-CCR into the calculation of our total leverage exposure for the purpose of calculating SLR.
Total Loss-Absorbing Capacity
The Federal Reserve has implemented rules on TLAC, LTD and clean holding company requirements for U.S. domiciled G-SIBs, such as us. The requirements are intended to improve the resiliency and resolvability of certain U.S. banking organizations through enhanced prudential standards. The TLAC rule imposes: (1) external TLAC requirements (i.e., combined eligible Tier 1 regulatory capital and LTD); (2) separate external LTD requirements; and (3) clean holding company requirements that impose restrictions on certain types of liabilities and limit non-TLAC related third party liabilities to 5% of external TLAC.
Among other things, the TLAC rule requires us to comply with minimum requirements for external TLAC and external LTD. Specifically, since January 2023, we must hold:
(1) combined eligible Tier 1 regulatory capital and LTD in the amount equal to the greater of 21.5% of total RWA (18.0% minimum plus a 2.5% capital conservation buffer plus a G-SIB surcharge calculated for these purposes under Method 1 of 1.0% plus any applicable counter-cyclical buffer, which is currently 0%) and 9.5% of total leverage exposure (7.5% minimum plus the enhanced SLR buffer of 2.0%), as defined by the SLR rule; and
(2) qualifying external LTD equal to the greater of 7.0% of RWA (6.0% minimum plus a G-SIB surcharge calculated for these purposes under Method 2 of 1.0%) and 4.5% of total leverage exposure, as defined by the SLR rule.
Additionally, certain large banking organizations, such as us and State Street Bank, are required to make deductions from regulatory capital for investments in certain unsecured debt instruments issued by bank holding companies and U.S. intermediate holding companies of foreign banks that
are subject to the Federal Reserve’s TLAC and LTD requirements, as well as foreign G-SIBs.
Liquidity Coverage Ratio and Net Stable Funding Ratio
In addition to capital standards, the Basel III framework introduced two quantitative liquidity standards: the LCR and the NSFR.
We are subject to the rule issued by the U.S. Agencies implementing the BCBS's LCR in the United States. The LCR is intended to promote the short-term resilience of internationally active banking organizations, like us, to improve the banking industry's ability to absorb shocks arising from market stress over a 30 calendar day period and improve the measurement and management of liquidity risk.
The LCR measures an institution’s HQLA against its net cash outflows under a prescribed stress environment. We report LCR to the Federal Reserve daily and are required to calculate and maintain an LCR that is equal to or greater than 100%. In addition, we publicly disclose certain qualitative and quantitative information about our LCR consistent with the quarterly disclosure requirements of the Federal Reserve's final rule.
Compliance with the LCR has required that we maintain an investment portfolio that contains an adequate amount of HQLA. In general, HQLA investments generate a lower investment return than other types of investments, resulting in a negative impact on our NII and our NIM. In addition, the level of HQLA we are required to maintain under the LCR is dependent upon our client relationships and the nature of services we provide, which may change over time. Deposits resulting from certain services provided (“operational deposits”) are treated as more resilient during periods of stress than other deposits. As a result, if balances of operational deposits increased relative to our total client deposit base, we would expect to require less HQLA in order to maintain our LCR. Conversely, if balances of operational deposits decreased relative to our total client deposit base, we would expect to require more HQLA. On May 5, 2020, the U.S. Agencies issued a rule that modified the LCR rule to neutralize the impact on LCR of the advances made by the MMLF (and Paycheck Protection Liquidity Facility program) and the exposures securing such advances.
In October 2020, the U.S. Agencies issued a final rule implementing the BCBS’s NSFR in the U.S. The final rule requires large banking organizations to maintain an amount of available stable funding, which is a weighted measure of a company’s funding sources over a one-year time horizon, calculated by applying standardized weightings to the company’s equity and liabilities based on their expected stability, that is no less than the amount of required stable funding, which is calculated by applying standardized weightings to assets, derivatives exposures and certain other items based on their liquidity characteristics. As a U.S. G-SIB, we are required to maintain an NSFR that is equal to or greater than 100%. In addition, in 2023, we began publicly disclosing certain qualitative and quantitative information about our NSFR consistent with the semi-annual disclosure requirements of the Federal Reserve’s final rule. Additional information about our NSFR is provided in “Asset Liquidity” in “Liquidity Risk Management” in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K.
Capital Planning, Stress Tests and Dividends
Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, in March 2020, the Federal Reserve adopted capital planning and stress test requirements for large bank holding companies, including us, which form part of the Federal Reserve’s annual stress testing and capital planning framework. The Federal Reserve conducts its own stress tests of our business operations using supervisory models, referred to as supervisory stress tests, the results of which it uses to calibrate our annual SCB, subject to a minimum of 2.5%. In addition, under the Federal Reserve’s capital plan rule, we must conduct periodic stress testing of our business operations and submit an annual capital plan to the Federal Reserve, taking into account the results of separate stress tests designed by us and by the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve conducts a qualitative assessment of our capital plan as part of the annual supervisory process known as CCAR, to evaluate the strength of our capital planning practices, including our ability to identify, measure, and determine the appropriate amount of capital for our risks, and controls and governance supporting capital planning.
The Federal Reserve's final SCB rule to integrate its annual capital planning and stress testing requirements with certain ongoing regulatory capital requirements applies to certain bank holding companies, including us. The final rule introduced an SCB and related changes to the capital planning and stress testing processes. The standardized approach SCB equals the greater of (i) 2.5%; and (ii) the maximum decline in our CET1 capital ratio under the severely adverse scenario over the supervisory stress test measurement period, plus the ratio of (a) the sum of the dollar amount of our planned common stock dividends for the fourth through seventh quarters of the supervisory stress test projection period to (b) our projected RWA for the quarter in which our projected CET1 capital ratio reaches its minimum in the supervisory stress test. Risked-based regulatory capital requirements under the standardized approach include the SCB, as summarized above, as well as our G-SIB capital surcharge and any applicable countercyclical capital buffer.
The final rule made related changes to capital planning and stress testing processes for bank holding companies subject to the SCB requirement. In particular, the final rule assumes that bank holding companies maintain a constant level of assets and RWA throughout the supervisory stress test projection period. In addition, under the final rule the supervisory stress test no longer assumes that bank holding companies make all nine quarters of planned capital distributions under stress, although the SCB incorporates the dollar amount of four quarters of planned common stock dividends, as described above.
The final rule did not change regulatory capital requirements under the advanced approaches, the Tier 1 leverage ratio or the SLR.
Our SCB requirement was 2.5% for the period from October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023. On June 28, 2023, we were notified by the Federal Reserve of the results from the 2023 supervisory stress test. Our SCB calculated under the 2023 supervisory stress test was well below the 2.5% minimum, resulting in an SCB at that floor, which went into effect starting October 1, 2023 and will remain effective through September 30, 2024.
Although the final SCB rule changed the effects of the CCAR and supervisory stress test processes so that the SCB, rather than CCAR, is the source of our stress-based capital requirements, we continue to be subject to CCAR's capital plan requirements and the supervisory assessment of our capital planning activities. Under the capital planning requirements, our annual capital plan must include a description of all of our planned capital actions over a nine-quarter planning horizon, including any capital qualifying instruments, any capital distributions, such as payments of dividends on, or repurchases of, our stock, and any similar action that the Federal Reserve determines could affect our consolidated capital. The capital plan must include a discussion of how we will maintain capital above the minimum regulatory capital ratios, including the minimum ratios under the Basel III rule, and serve as a source of strength to State Street Bank under supervisory stress scenarios. Changes in our strategy, merger or acquisition activity or unanticipated uses of capital could result in a change in our capital plan and its associated capital actions, including capital raises or modifications to planned capital actions, such as repurchases of our stock, and may require resubmission of the capital plan to the Federal Reserve if, among other reasons, we would not meet our regulatory capital requirements after making the proposed capital distribution.
In addition to its stress testing and capital planning requirements, the Federal Reserve has the authority to prohibit or to limit the payment of dividends, the repurchase of common stock, or other capital actions that reduce capital by the banking organizations it supervises, including the Parent Company and State Street Bank, if, in the Federal Reserve’s opinion, the capital action would constitute an unsafe or unsound practice in light of-the financial condition of the banking organization. All of these policies and other requirements could affect our ability to pay dividends and repurchase our stock or require us to provide capital assistance to State Street Bank and any other banking subsidiary. Our common stock and other stock dividends, including the declaration, timing and amount thereof, remain subject to consideration and approval by our Board of Directors at the relevant times.
The Federal Reserve, under the Dodd-Frank Act, previously required us to conduct semi-annual State Street-run stress tests and to publicly disclose the summary results of our State Street-run stress tests under the severely adverse economic scenario. We are also required to undergo an annual supervisory stress test conducted by the Federal Reserve. The EGRRCPA modifies certain aspects of these stress-testing requirements, reducing the number of scenarios in the Federal Reserve’s supervisory stress test from three to two and modifying our obligation to perform company-run stress-tests from semi-annually to annually. The Federal Reserve adopted a final rule in October 2019 that, among other things, implemented this modification.
Enhanced Prudential Standards
The Dodd-Frank Act, as amended by the EGRRCPA, establishes a systemic risk regime to which large bank holding companies with $100 billion or more in consolidated assets, such as us, are subject. The Federal Reserve is required to tailor the application of the enhanced prudential standards to bank holding companies based on their size, complexity, risk profile and other factors. U.S. G-SIBs, such as us, are subject to the most stringent requirements, including heightened capital, leverage, liquidity and risk management requirements and single-counterparty credit limits (SCCL).
The FSOC can recommend prudential standards, reporting and disclosure requirements for SIFIs to the Federal Reserve, and must approve any finding by the Federal Reserve that a financial institution poses a grave threat to financial stability and must undertake mitigating actions. The FSOC is also empowered to designate systemically important payment, clearing and settlement activities of financial institutions, subjecting them to prudential supervision and regulation, and, assisted by the Office of Financial Research within the U.S. Department of the Treasury, can gather data and reports from financial institutions, including us.
Under the Federal Reserve's enhanced prudential standards regulation under the Dodd-Frank
Act, as amended by the EGRRCPA, we are required to comply with various liquidity-related risk management standards and maintain a liquidity buffer of unencumbered highly liquid assets based on the results of internal liquidity stress testing. This liquidity buffer is in addition to other liquidity requirements, such as the LCR and the NSFR. The regulations also establish requirements and responsibilities for our risk committee and mandate risk management standards.
In 2018, the Federal Reserve finalized rules that established SCCL for large banking organizations. U.S. G-SIBs, including us, are subject to a limit of 15% of Tier 1 capital for aggregate net credit exposures to any “major counterparty” (defined to include other U.S. G-SIBs, foreign G-SIBs and non-bank SIFIs supervised by the Federal Reserve). In addition, we are subject to a limit of 25% of Tier 1 capital for aggregate net credit exposures to any other unaffiliated counterparty. The final SCCL rules became effective for us on January 1, 2020.
The Federal Reserve has established a rule that imposes contractual requirements on certain “qualified financial contracts” to which U.S. G-SIBs, including us, and their subsidiaries are parties. Under the rule, certain qualified financial contracts generally must expressly provide that transfer restrictions and default rights against a U.S. G-SIB, or subsidiary of a U.S. G-SIB, are limited to the same extent as they would be under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act and their implementing regulations. In addition, certain qualified financial contracts may not, among other things, permit the exercise of any cross-default right against a U.S. G-SIB or subsidiary of a U.S. G-SIB based on an affiliate’s entry into insolvency, resolution or similar proceedings, subject to certain creditor protections.
The systemic-risk regime also provides that for U.S. G-SIBs deemed to pose a grave threat to U.S. financial stability, the Federal Reserve, upon an FSOC vote, must limit that institution’s ability to merge, restrict its ability to offer financial products, require it to terminate activities, impose conditions on activities or, as a last resort, require it to dispose of assets. Upon a grave threat determination by the FSOC, the Federal Reserve must issue rules that require financial institutions subject to the systemic-risk regime to maintain a debt-to-equity ratio of no more than 15 to 1 if the FSOC considers it necessary to mitigate the risk of the grave threat. The Federal Reserve also has the ability to establish further standards, including those regarding contingent capital, enhanced public disclosures and limits on short-term debt, including off-balance sheet exposures.
As a G-SIB, we are subject to enhanced supervision and prudential standards. Our status as a G-SIB has also resulted in heightened expectations of our U.S. and international regulators with respect to our capital and liquidity management and our compliance and risk oversight programs. These heightened expectations have increased our regulatory compliance costs, including personnel, technology and systems, as well as significant additional implementation and related costs to enhance our regulatory compliance programs. Regulatory compliance requirements are anticipated to remain at least at the elevated levels we have experienced over the past several years.
Failure to meet current and future regulatory capital requirements could subject us to a variety of enforcement actions, including the termination of State Street Bank's deposit insurance by the FDIC, and to certain restrictions on our business, including those that are described above in this “Supervision and Regulation” section.
Not all of our competitors have similarly been designated as systemically important nor are all of them subject to the same degree of regulation as a bank or financial holding company, and therefore some of our competitors may not be subject to the same additional capital requirements.
For additional information about our regulatory capital position and our regulatory capital adequacy, as well as current and future regulatory capital requirements, refer to “Capital” in “Financial Condition” in our Management's Discussion and Analysis, and Note 16 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K.
The Volcker Rule
We are subject to the Volcker Rule and implementing regulations. The Volcker Rule prohibits banking entities, including us and our affiliates, from engaging in certain prohibited proprietary trading activities, as defined in the Volcker Rule regulations, subject to exemptions for market-making related activities, risk-mitigating hedging, underwriting and certain other activities. The Volcker Rule also requires banking entities to either restructure or divest certain ownership interests in, and relationships with, covered funds (as such terms are defined in the Volcker Rule regulations).
The Volcker Rule regulations require banking entities to establish extensive programs designed to promote compliance with the restrictions of the Volcker Rule. We have established a compliance program that we believe complies with the Volcker Rule regulations as currently in effect. Our compliance program restricts our ability in the future to service certain types of funds, in particular covered funds for which State Street Global Advisors acts as an advisor and certain types of trustee relationships. Consequently, Volcker Rule compliance entails both the cost of a compliance program and loss of certain revenue and future opportunities.
Recovery and Resolution Planning
Under Section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Act, we are required to submit a resolution plan on a biennial basis jointly to the Federal Reserve and the FDIC (as used in this “Recovery and Resolution Planning” section, the Agencies). The purpose of our resolution plan is to describe our preferred resolution strategy and to demonstrate that we have the resources and capabilities to execute on that strategy in the event of major financial distress. Through resolution planning, we seek to maintain our role as a key infrastructure provider within the financial system, while minimizing risk to the financial system.
The final rule published on November 1, 2019 requires U.S. G-SIBs to file a full resolution plan and a targeted resolution plan on an alternating basis in the relevant submission years. We submitted our updated 2023 165(d) resolution plan by July 1, 2023. Under the 165(d) rule, results are due from the Agencies by July 1, 2024, unless the deadline is extended due to extenuating circumstances. Our next 165(d) resolution plan submission to the Agencies is due by July 1, 2025.
In the event of material financial distress, our preferred resolution strategy is the Single Point of Entry (SPOE) Strategy. The SPOE Strategy provides that prior to the bankruptcy of the Parent Company and pursuant to a support agreement among the Parent Company, SSIF (a direct subsidiary of the Parent Company), our Beneficiary Entities (as defined below) and certain of our other entities, SSIF is obligated, up to its available resources, to recapitalize and/or provide liquidity to State Street Bank and the other entities benefiting from such capital and/or liquidity support (collectively with State Street Bank, “Beneficiary Entities”), in amounts designed to prevent the Beneficiary Entities from themselves entering into resolution proceedings. Following the recapitalization of, or provision of liquidity to the Beneficiary Entities, the Parent Company would enter into a bankruptcy proceeding under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Beneficiary Entities and our other subsidiaries would be transferred to a newly organized holding company held by a reorganization trust for the benefit of the Parent Company’s claimants.
Under the support agreement, the Parent Company pre-funded SSIF by contributing certain of its assets (primarily its liquid assets, cash deposits, investments in intercompany debt, investments in marketable securities and other cash and non-cash equivalent investments) to SSIF at the time it entered into the support agreement and will continue to contribute such assets, to the extent available, on an ongoing basis. In consideration for these contributions, SSIF has agreed in the support agreement to provide capital and liquidity support to the Parent Company and all of the Beneficiary
Entities in accordance with the Parent Company’s capital and liquidity policies. Under the support agreement, the Parent Company is only permitted to retain cash needed to meet its upcoming obligations and to fund expected expenses during a potential bankruptcy proceeding. SSIF has provided the Parent Company with a committed credit line and issued (and may issue) one or more promissory notes to the Parent Company (the “Parent Company Funding Notes”) that together are intended to allow the Parent Company to continue to meet its obligations throughout the period prior to the occurrence of a “Recapitalization Event”, which is defined as the earlier occurrence of: (1) one or more capital and liquidity thresholds being breached or (2) the authorization by the Parent Company's Board of Directors for the Parent Company to commence bankruptcy proceedings. The support agreement does not obligate SSIF to maintain any specific level of resources and SSIF may not have sufficient resources to implement the SPOE Strategy.
In the event a Recapitalization Event occurs, the obligations outstanding under the Parent Company Funding Notes would automatically convert into or be exchanged for capital contributed to SSIF. The obligations of the Parent Company and SSIF under the support agreement are secured through a security agreement that grants a lien on the assets that the Parent Company and SSIF would use to fulfill their obligations under the support agreement to the Beneficiary Entities. SSIF is a distinct legal entity separate from the Parent Company and the Parent Company’s other affiliates.
In accordance with our policies, we are required to monitor, on an ongoing basis, the capital and liquidity needs of State Street Bank and our other Beneficiary Entities. To support this process, we have established a trigger framework that identifies key actions that would need to be taken or decisions that would need to be made if certain events tied to our financial condition occur. The trigger thresholds are set at levels intended to provide for the availability of sufficient capital and liquidity to enable an orderly resolution without extraordinary government support that results in us emerging from resolution as a stabilized institution with market confidence restored.
Upon the occurrence of a Recapitalization Event: (1) SSIF would not be authorized to provide any further liquidity to the Parent Company; (2) the Parent Company would be required to contribute to SSIF any remaining assets it is required to contribute to SSIF under the support agreement (which specifically exclude amounts designated to fund expected expenses during a potential bankruptcy proceeding); (3) SSIF would be required to provide capital and liquidity support to the Beneficiary Entities to support such entities’ continued operation to the extent of its available resources and consistent with
the support agreement; and (4) the Parent Company would be expected to commence Chapter 11 proceedings under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. No person or entity, other than a party to the support agreement, should rely on any of our affiliates being or remaining a Beneficiary Entity or receiving capital or liquidity support pursuant to the support agreement, including in evaluating any of our entities from a creditor's perspective or determining whether to enter into a contractual relationship with any of our entities.
State Street Bank is also required to submit periodically to the FDIC a plan for resolution in the event of its failure, referred to as an IDI plan. We submitted our last IDI plan by December 1, 2023 in alignment with changes to the IDI plan requirements as set out in the June 25, 2021 policy statement issued by the FDIC. The FDIC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking for the IDI Rule in August 2023 that, among other changes, would require IDI Plans to be submitted on a biennial basis by Group A filers (IDIs with $100 billion or more in total assets), which is the category applicable to State Street.
Additionally, we are required to submit a recovery plan periodically to the Federal Reserve. The plan includes strategies designed to respond to stress factors at an early stage and stabilize and maintain operational continuity and market confidence. Our recovery strategies are intended to be implemented before our resolution plan is triggered. We are also engaged in recovery planning requirements in certain international jurisdictions where we operate.
Orderly Liquidation Authority
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, certain financial companies, including bank holding companies such as the Parent Company, and certain covered subsidiaries, can be subjected to the orderly liquidation authority. For the FDIC to be appointed as our receiver, two-thirds of the FDIC Board and two-thirds of the Federal Reserve Board must recommend appointment, and the U.S. Treasury Secretary, in consultation with the U.S. President, must then make certain extraordinary financial distress and systemic risk determinations. Absent such actions, we, as a bank holding company, would remain subject to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
The orderly liquidation authority went into effect in 2010, and rulemaking is proceeding incrementally, with some regulations now finalized and others planned but not yet proposed. If the FDIC were appointed as the receiver of the Parent Company pursuant to the orderly liquidation authority, the FDIC would have considerable powers to resolve the Parent Company, including: (1) the power to remove officers and directors responsible for the Parent Company's failure and to appoint new directors and officers; (2) the power to assign assets and liabilities to a third party or bridge financial company without the need for creditor consent or prior court review; (3) the ability to differentiate among similarly situated creditors, subject to a minimum recovery right to receive at least what they would have received in bankruptcy liquidation; and (4) broad powers to administer the claims process to determine distributions from the assets of the receivership to creditors not transferred to a third party or bridge financial institution.
In 2013, the FDIC released its proposed SPOE strategy for resolution of a SIFI under the orderly liquidation authority. The FDIC’s release outlines how it would likely use its powers under the orderly liquidation authority to resolve a SIFI by placing its top-tier U.S. holding company in receivership and keeping its operating subsidiaries open and out of insolvency proceedings by transferring the operating subsidiaries to a new bridge holding company, recapitalizing the operating subsidiaries and imposing losses on the shareholders and creditors of the holding company in receivership according to their statutory order of priority.
Derivatives
Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act imposed a comprehensive regulatory structure on the OTC derivatives market, including requirements for clearing, exchange trading, capital, margin, reporting and record-keeping. Title VII also requires certain persons to register as a major swap participant, a swap dealer or a securities-based swap dealer. The CFTC, the SEC, and other U.S. regulators have largely implemented key provisions of Title VII, although certain final regulations have only been in place for limited periods of time and others have not been finalized. Through this rulemaking process, these regulators collectively have adopted or proposed, among other things, regulations relating to reporting and record-keeping obligations, margin and capital requirements, the scope of registration and the central clearing and exchange trading requirements for certain OTC derivatives. The CFTC has also issued rules to enhance the oversight of clearing and trading entities. The CFTC, along with other regulators, including the Federal Reserve, have also issued rules with respect to margin requirements for uncleared derivatives transactions.
State Street Bank has registered with the CFTC as a swap dealer. As a registered swap dealer, State Street Bank is subject to significant regulatory obligations regarding its swap activity and the supervision, examination and enforcement powers of the CFTC and other regulators. The CFTC has granted State Street Bank a limited-purpose swap dealer designation. Under this limited-purpose designation, interest rate swap activity conducted by
State Street Bank’s Global Treasury group is not subject to certain of the swap regulatory requirements otherwise applicable to swaps entered into by a registered swap dealer, subject to a number of conditions. For all other swap transactions, our swap activities remain subject to all applicable swap dealer regulations.
Subsidiaries
The Federal Reserve is the primary federal banking agency responsible for regulating us and our subsidiaries, including State Street Bank, with respect to both our U.S. and non-U.S. operations. Our banking subsidiaries are subject to supervision and examination by various regulatory authorities and have regulatory requirements that may differ from the Parent Company.
State Street Bank
State Street Bank is a member of the Federal Reserve System, its deposits are insured by the FDIC and it is subject to applicable federal and state banking laws and to supervision and examination by the Federal Reserve, the Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks, as well as the FDIC and the regulatory authorities of those states and countries in which State Street Bank operates a branch.
As with the Parent Company, State Street Bank is considered an advanced approaches banking organization subject to the Basel III framework in the United States and is also subject to the market risk capital rule jointly issued by U.S. Agencies to implement the changes to the market risk capital framework in the United States. As required by the Dodd-Frank Act, State Street Bank, as an advanced approaches banking organization, is subject to a “capital floor,” also referred to as the Collins Amendment, in the assessment of its regulatory capital adequacy, including the capital conservation buffer and countercyclical capital buffer described above in this “Supervision and Regulation” section.
Under the Basel III rule, State Street Bank's regulatory capital calculations, including any additions or deductions from capital for regulatory purposes, are consistent with the calculations of the Parent Company. For additional information about the Basel III endgame proposal, including the proposed replacements of the advanced approaches and existing market risk capital framework, refer to “Basel III Rule” above in this “Supervision and Regulation” section.
Similar to our Parent Company, State Street Bank is subject to the Tier 1 leverage ratio and the supplementary leverage ratio. However, as State Street Bank is an IDI subsidiary of a U.S. G-SIB, it is required to maintain a minimum Tier 1 leverage ratio of 5% and a minimum SLR of 6% to be considered well capitalized.
Furthermore, for the purposes of calculating the SLR, State Street Bank is similarly subject to a final rule adopted by the U.S. Agencies that excludes central bank deposits from a custodial banking organization’s total leverage exposure. For the quarter ended December 31, 2023, State Street Bank excluded $69.6 billion of average balances held on deposit at central banks from the denominator used in the calculation of our SLR based on this custodial banking exclusion.
Pursuant to the U.S. Agencies’ LCR and NSFR final rules, as a subsidiary of a U.S. G-SIB, State Street Bank is similarly required to maintain an LCR and NSFR, respectively, equal to or greater than 100%.
We and our subsidiaries that are not subsidiaries of State Street Bank are affiliates of State Street Bank under federal banking laws, which impose restrictions on various types of transactions, including loans, extensions of credit, investments or asset purchases by or from State Street Bank, on the one hand, to us and those of our subsidiaries, on the other. Transactions of this kind between State Street Bank and its affiliates generally are limited with respect to each affiliate to 10% of State Street Bank’s capital and surplus, as defined by the aforementioned banking laws, are limited in the aggregate for all affiliates to 20% of State Street Bank's capital and surplus, and in some cases are also subject to strict collateral requirements. Derivatives, securities borrowing and securities lending transactions between State Street Bank and its affiliates became subject to these restrictions pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd-Frank Act also expanded the scope of transactions required to be collateralized. In addition, the Volcker Rule generally prohibits similar transactions between the Parent Company or any of its affiliates and covered funds for which we or any of our affiliates serve as the investment manager, investment adviser, commodity trading advisor or sponsor and other covered funds organized and offered pursuant to specific exemptions in the Volcker Rule regulations.
Federal law also requires that certain transactions by a bank with affiliates be on terms and under circumstances, including credit standards, that are substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the bank, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions involving other non-affiliated companies. Alternatively, in the absence of comparable transactions, the transactions must be on terms and under circumstances, including credit standards, that in good faith would be offered to, or would apply to, non-affiliated companies.
State Street Bank is also prohibited from engaging in certain tie-in arrangements in connection with any extension of credit or lease or sale of property or furnishing of services. Federal law provides for a depositor preference on amounts
realized from the liquidation or other resolution of any depository institution insured by the FDIC.
Other Subsidiaries
Our other subsidiary trust companies are subject to supervision and examination by the OCC, the Federal Reserve or by the appropriate state banking regulatory authorities of the states in which they are organized and operate. Our continental European banking subsidiary, State Street Bank International GmbH is a significant entity in accordance with European banking regulations and accordingly is supervised directly by the European Central Bank. State Street Bank International GmbH operates in several countries including Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, France and Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, the London branch of State Street Bank is dually regulated by the Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, in Ireland our depositary and fund administration companies are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and in Canada our trust company is regulated by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. Our other subsidiaries internationally engaged in our investment servicing activities are regulated by applicable authorities in the jurisdictions of their activities. Our subsidiaries involved in our investment management and securities and markets businesses are regulated by governments, securities exchanges, self-regulatory organizations, central banks and regulatory bodies in U.S. federal and state and non-U.S. jurisdictions, especially in those jurisdictions in which we maintain an office.
Many aspects of our investment management activities are subject to U.S. federal and state, as well as non-U.S., laws and regulations primarily intended to benefit the investment holder, rather than our shareholders. These laws and regulations generally grant supervisory agencies and bodies broad administrative powers, including the power to limit or restrict us from conducting our investment management activities in the event that we fail to comply with such laws and regulations, and examination authority. Our business related to investment management and trusteeship of collective trust funds and separate accounts offered to employee benefit plans is subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and is regulated by the U.S. DOL.
The majority of our non-U.S. asset servicing operations are conducted pursuant to the Federal Reserve's Regulation K through State Street Bank’s Edge Act subsidiary or through international branches of State Street Bank. An Edge Act corporation is a corporation organized under federal law that conducts foreign business activities. In general, banks may not make investments in their Edge Act corporations (and similar state law corporations) that exceed 20% of their capital and surplus, as defined in the relevant banking regulations, and the investment of any amount in excess of 10% of capital and surplus requires the prior approval of the Federal Reserve.
In addition to our non-U.S. operations conducted pursuant to Regulation K, we also make new investments abroad directly (through us or through our non-banking subsidiaries) pursuant to the Federal Reserve's Regulation Y, or through international bank branch expansion, neither of which is subject to the investment limitations applicable to Edge Act subsidiaries.
Additionally, Massachusetts has its own bank holding company statute, under which we, among other things, may be required to obtain prior approval by the Massachusetts Board of Bank Incorporation for an acquisition of more than 5% of any additional bank's voting shares, or for other forms of bank acquisitions.
Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Transparency
Certain of our subsidiaries are subject to the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, and related regulations, which contain AML and financial transparency provisions and which require implementation of an AML compliance program, including processes for verifying client identification and monitoring client transactions and detecting and reporting suspicious activities. AML laws outside the United States contain similar requirements. State Street Corporation and its subsidiaries are also required to comply with sanctions laws and regulations administered and imposed by the United States government, including the U.S. Treasury Department’s OFAC and the Department of State, as well as comparable sanctions programs imposed by foreign governments and multilateral bodies. We have implemented an enterprise-wide AML and sanctions compliance program, including policies, procedures and internal controls that are designed to promote compliance with applicable AML laws and regulations and sanctions. AML laws and regulations applicable to our operations may be more stringent than similar requirements applicable to our non-regulated competitors or financial institutions principally operating in other jurisdictions. Compliance with applicable AML and related requirements is a common area of review for financial regulators, and any failure by us to comply with these requirements could result in fines, penalties, lawsuits, regulatory sanctions, difficulties in obtaining governmental approvals, restrictions on our business activities or harm to our reputation.
Deposit Insurance
The Dodd-Frank Act made permanent the general $250,000 deposit insurance limit for insured deposits. The FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) is funded by assessments on FDIC IDIs. The FDIC assesses DIF premiums based on an IDI's average
consolidated total assets, less the average tangible equity of the IDI during the assessment period. For larger institutions, such as State Street Bank, assessments are determined based on regulatory ratings and forward-looking financial measures to calculate the assessment rate, which is subject to adjustments by the FDIC, and the assessment base.
In July 2022, the FDIC adopted a final rule, applicable to all IDIs, to increase initial base deposit insurance assessment rate schedules uniformly by 2 basis points, effective as of the first quarterly assessment period of 2023. The FDIC also concurrently maintained the Designated Reserve Ratio (DRR) target for the DIF at 2% for 2023. The increase in assessment rate schedules is intended to increase the likelihood that the reserve ratio of the DIF reaches the statutory minimum of 1.35% by the statutory deadline of September 30, 2028.
Following the failures of certain banks and the resulting losses to the DIF in the first half of 2023, the FDIC adopted a final rule on November 16, 2023 to implement a special assessment to recover the cost associated with protecting uninsured depositors. Under the final rule, the assessment base for the special assessment is equal to an IDI’s estimated uninsured deposits reported as of December 31, 2022, adjusted to exclude the first $5 billion of uninsured deposits. The $5 billion exclusion is applied once to the aggregate uninsured deposits of a consolidated banking organization. The final rule provides that the FDIC will collect the special assessment at a quarterly rate of 3.36 basis points over eight quarterly assessment periods, subject to change depending on any adjustments to the loss estimate, mergers, failures, or amendments to reported estimates of uninsured deposits. We recognized the entire estimated amount of our portion of the special assessment, approximately $387 million, as an accrued liability and related expense in the fourth quarter of 2023. The final rule becomes effective on April 1, 2024 and the first collection will be reflected on the invoice for the first quarterly assessment period of 2024, with the first payment due on June 28, 2024. For additional information about the FDIC special assessment, refer to “Closures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and Related FDIC Matters” under “Other Matters” included in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K.
The FDIC is required to determine whether and to what extent adjustments to the assessment base are appropriate for “custody banks” that satisfy specified institutional eligibility criteria. The FDIC has concluded that certain liquid assets could be excluded from the deposit insurance assessment base of custody banks. This, subject to change by the FDIC, has the effect of reducing the amount of DIF insurance premiums due from custody banks. State Street Bank qualifies as a custody bank for this purpose. The custody bank assessment adjustment may not exceed total transaction account deposits identified by the institution as being directly linked to a fiduciary or custody and safekeeping asset.
Prompt Corrective Action
The FDIC Improvement Act of 1991 requires the appropriate federal banking regulator to take “prompt corrective action” with respect to a depository institution if that institution does not meet certain capital adequacy standards, including minimum capital ratios. While these regulations apply only to banks, such as State Street Bank, the Federal Reserve is authorized to take appropriate action against a parent bank holding company, such as our Parent Company, based on the under-capitalized status of any banking subsidiary. In certain instances, we would be required to guarantee the performance of a capital restoration plan if one of our banking subsidiaries were undercapitalized.
Support of Subsidiary Banks
Under Federal Reserve regulations, a bank holding company such as our Parent Company is required to act as a source of financial and managerial strength to its banking subsidiaries. This requirement was added to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act by the Dodd-Frank Act. This means that we have a statutory obligation to commit resources to State Street Bank and any other banking subsidiary in circumstances in which we otherwise might not do so absent such a requirement. In the event of bankruptcy, any commitment by us to a federal bank regulatory agency to maintain the capital of a banking subsidiary will be assumed by the bankruptcy trustee and will be entitled to a priority payment.
Insolvency of an Insured U.S. Subsidiary Depository Institution
If the FDIC is appointed the conservator or receiver of an FDIC-insured U.S. subsidiary depository institution, such as State Street Bank, upon its insolvency or certain other events, the FDIC has the ability to transfer any of the depository institution’s assets and liabilities to a new obligor without the approval of the depository institution’s creditors, enforce the terms of the depository institution’s contracts pursuant to their terms or repudiate or disaffirm contracts or leases to which the depository institution is a party. Additionally, the claims of holders of deposit liabilities and certain claims for administrative expenses against an IDI would be afforded priority over other general unsecured claims against such an institution, including claims of debt holders of the institution and, under current interpretation, depositors in non-U.S. branches and offices, in the liquidation or other resolution of such an institution by any receiver. As a result, such persons would be treated differently from and could receive, if anything, substantially less than
the depositors in U.S. offices of the depository institution.
Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
The financial services industry faces increased global regulatory focus regarding cybersecurity and data privacy. Many aspects of our businesses are subject to cybersecurity and data privacy legal and regulatory requirements enacted by U.S. federal and state governments and other non-U.S. jurisdictions. These requirements impose, among other things, mandatory cybersecurity and data privacy obligations, including providing for individual rights, enhanced governance and accountability requirements, and significant fines and litigation risk for noncompliance. In addition, several jurisdictions have enacted or proposed localization requirements and restrictions on cross-border transfers of personal information that may restrict our ability to conduct business in those jurisdictions or create additional financial, legal and regulatory burdens to do so. For example, in the E.U., we are subject to the GDPR, which requires, among other things, a comprehensive privacy, data protection and cybersecurity program to protect the personal and sensitive data of residents of the European Economic Area. Following the withdrawal of the U.K. from the EU, we are also subject to the U.K. General Data Protection Regulation (a version of the GDPR as implemented into U.K. law).
The U.S. Agencies finalized a rule in November 2021 requiring banking organizations to notify their primary federal regulators as soon as possible and no later than 36 hours after identifying a “computer-security incident” that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the viability of their operations, their ability to deliver banking products and services or the stability of the financial sector. The final rule became effective April 1, 2022.
In March 2022, the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA) was signed into law and requires, among other things, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to develop and implement regulations for covered entities to report certain covered cyber incidents within 72 hours from the time the company reasonably believes the incident occurred. In addition, the SEC adopted new rules on July 26, 2023 that require registrants to publicly disclose on a Form 8-K material cybersecurity incidents within four business days of determining that such an incident is material.
Most recently, the EU adopted DORA in November 2022, which requires, among other things, financial institutions to follow certain rules regarding protection, detection, containment, recovery and repair capabilities with respect to information and communication technology-related incidents. Financial institutions will have until January 17, 2025 to comply with DORA before enforcement begins. In addition, numerous jurisdictions have passed laws, rules and regulations regarding cybersecurity and data privacy risk management, and many are considering new or updated requirements that could impact our businesses, particularly as the application, interpretation and enforcement of these laws, rules and regulations are often uncertain and evolving.
Further discussion of cybersecurity and data privacy risk management is provided in “Information Technology Risk Management” included in our Management's Discussion and Analysis in this Form 10-K.
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES
Economic policies of the U.S. government and its agencies influence our operating environment. Monetary policy conducted by the Federal Reserve directly affects the level of interest rates, which may affect overall credit conditions of the economy. Monetary policy is applied by the Federal Reserve through open market operations in U.S. government securities, changes in reserve requirements for depository institutions, and changes in the discount rate and availability of borrowing from the Federal Reserve. Government regulation of banks and bank holding companies is intended primarily for the protection of depositors of the banks, rather than for the shareholders of the institutions and therefore may, in some cases, be adverse to the interests of those shareholders. We are similarly affected by the economic policies of non-U.S. government agencies, such as the ECB.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.