Harris | Oakmark, a Chicago-based investment management firm, has gone live with State Street’s front-to-back servicing platform Alpha.
State Street said the first phase of the integration was completed ahead of schedule, after the custodian was awarded with a middle-office mandate at the end of 2023. The second and final phase of the migration is targeted for completion in Q1 2026.
“We are excited to partner with State Street on their Alpha platform,” said, Young Lee, chief operating officer from Harris | Oakmark. “We have been very pleased with the progress made during the first phase of the migration as the platform will allow us to operate in a highly efficient operating environment and continue to provide exceptional services to our clients.”
State Street’s Alpha proposition has gone from strength to strength in recent months. During the firm’s third quarter earnings call, chief executive Ron O’Hanley spoke of the competitive advantage that it gives the firm.
“For years now, we’ve talked about the strategy and why we think it’s important and why we think it gives us a competitive advantage,” he said. “One of the reasons is just that. It’s the opportunity to deepen relationships. And the other reason why it’s so important is the flip side of taking long to install is that the business tends to be quite sticky because it’s much more analogous to enterprise outsourcing.”
“Harris | Oakmark marks another significant milestone for our Alpha business broadly,” says John Plansky, head of State Street Alpha. “Providing middle office services to more than 2,000 of their private wealth and retail SMA accounts allows us to deepen our relationship with Harris | Oakmark and further showcase our data capabilities for wealth managers.”