State Street hires New York Life executive to run asset management unit

State Street in Boston has found a new leader for its asset management business.

Yie-Hsin Hung will join the custody bank in December and report to CEO Ron O'Hanley, State Street announced Tuesday. Hung will succeed Cyrus Taraporevala, who has led State Street Global Advisors since 2016 and plans to retire at the end of the year.

Hung is currently the CEO of New York Life Investment Management, the third-party asset management business operated by life insurance giant New York Life.

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Since she joined New York Life in 2010, its investment management division has recorded a nearly fourfold increase in third-party assets under management, State Street said in a press release.

Hung is an "industry veteran" with a "notable history of delivering growth," O'Hanley said.

"Her career has been impressive, successfully delivering strong results as she expanded [New York Life Investment Management's] investment capabilities, entered new markets and strengthened the business' data and technology infrastructure," O'Hanley said in the release.

Upon her arrival, Hung will become president and CEO of State Street Global Advisors and join the custody bank's executive team. Taraporevala will shift into an advisory role and help with the transition until early 2023.

Hung is a veteran of American Banker's 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance list, having been named every year since 2017. In 2021, she was No. 12 in the annual ranking.

The hiring comes during a period of uncertainty for State Street, whose year-old proposed acquisition of Brown Brothers Harriman's investor services business continues to await regulatory approval. The $3.5 billion deal, which would make State Street the largest U.S. custody bank, was originally expected to close by the end of 2021.

But the process has moved more slowly than originally forecast. In a regulatory filing on Sept. 6, which was the deal's original completion deadline, State Street said that it and Brown Brothers Harriman were "working together on a modified structure, terms and valuation" of the proposed acquisition and "reviewing the planned approach with regulators." 

State Street did not provide an updated deadline in the regulatory filing.

At an industry conference this month, State Street Chief Financial Officer Eric Aboaf told investors that the acquisition "has got to be done sometime this fall … because there's a franchise there."

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"While it's been managed well, I think it's in our interest and theirs, to be honest, either to find a good way to proceed or to pause," he said.

Aboaf noted that either side can opt to terminate the agreement whenever it wants.

But "neither party has chosen to do that and so I think that's a sign that the discussions are constructive," he said.