Ann Fogarty, State Street's chief operating officer of investment services, wants to rewrite the narrative around banking operations. (In September, Fogarty was elevated to enterprise COO.)
Far from being a "back office" function, she argues her department sits at the center of State Street's efforts to scale, as the bank expands its products, technology and global footprint.
Fogarty joined State Street in 2021 from BNY Mellon, where she'd spent over three decades. Her mandate covers custody, accounting, fund administration, middle office and alternatives; businesses that account for more than 80% of State Street's consolidated revenue and client assets under custody and administration, according to the bank.
"In our business, the back office is the front office because that's the service," she said.
Over the past year, she has been in charge of the smooth integration of several acquisitions, building the operating infrastructure behind new capabilities and pushing automation and AI further into production. M&A, in particular, requires equal attention to technical, cultural and commercial due diligence, she said.
"For me, the most important thing is discipline and execution," Fogarty said.
She points to State Street's acquisition of Japanese banking group Mizuho's global custody and related businesses outside of Japan as a particular highlight of the past year. The deal, which closed in October 2025 and saw the transfer of $580 billion assets under custody and $24 billion in assets under administration, has meant gains in geographic depth as well as important lessons from a different corporate culture, she said.
Meanwhile, she has helped to build infrastructure and implement a revised operating model. State Street has moved agentic AI capabilities into production, an achievement Fogarty said she is particularly proud of because of the care taken around design. The bank is using automation and AI to reduce manual transactions and aged back office cash settlements, and to improve productivity in accounting through driverless NAV technology.
Fogarty's thinking around AI was sharpened through a program at MIT, where she first focused on the technology itself before studying its broader application to transformation. The experience gave her "a more comprehensive understanding of how AI can be applied safely in large-scale environments," as well as greater confidence in a field where nobody has all the answers, she said.
Her broader thesis is that the adoption of AI will ultimately lead banks to implement faster, more sophisticated capabilities, including intraday pricing and liquidity.
As AI changes the nature of work, Fogarty advises the next generation of industry leaders not to rely solely on screen-based tools. There's "no substitute" for being in the room, she said.
"Never forget the importance of human relationships, and the value of having conversations, and the importance of EQ [emotional quotient] and cultural awareness," she said.
