State Street Corp. has formed a strategic alliance with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest state-owned commercial bank in that country, through which ICBC will retain State Street Global Advisors as its external asset manager under appropriate terms.
ICBC, which had $400 billion in assets as of year-end 1999, also will provide advice and support to SSgA as it enters Chinas investment markets.
Both parties will accept each other as inter-bank foreign exchange trading counterparties and will cooperate on custody and securities lending business, as well as exchanging market trend information. State Street also will advise ICBCs custody department on the launch of an open-end mutual fund.