By Tim McLaughlin
BOSTON (Reuters) - Ron O'Hanley, the new leader of State Street 's (N:STT) $2.45 trillion asset management division, says he will look closely at expanding the bank's stable of bond-related products as exchange-traded funds run by rivals Vanguard and BlackRock have been more dominant in attracting investor money.
The 58-year-old O'Hanley started his new job as the head of State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) on Monday. A former top executive at Fidelity Investments, O'Hanley replaces SSgA CEO Scott Powers, 56, who will help with the transition after overseeing several years of robust growth in the division.
At SSgA, most of its assets, about $1.5 trillion, are invested in equity-related products such as the $185 billion SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (P:SPY). O'Hanley said last week in a telephone interview that he will look at expanding SSgA's base of fixed income assets, which total about $320 billion.
"Clearly I need to spend time on this," O'Hanley said.
Collaborating with well-known active fund managers is one place to build on.
O'Hanley cited State Street's recent collaboration with Jeff Gundlach, the star bond fund manager at DoubleLine. In late February, State Street and Gundlach launched the SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical ETF (P:TOTL), which Morningstar said could pose a challenge to the $2.6 billion PIMCO Total Return ETF (P:BOND).
"The relationship with DoubleLine is pretty attractive," O'Hanley said. "Clearly it something we have to look at more."
But as fund research firm Morningstar Inc pointed out recently in a report, "Vanguard is doing great. PIMCO is really struggling. Everybody else is doing all right."
Net deposits in Vanguard Group's passively run funds such as index funds and ETFs totaled $225.3 billion for the 12 months that ended Feb. 28, according to Morningstar. Net deposits for BlackRock (N:BLK) were $97 billion and SSgA had $30 billion, Morningstar said.
O'Hanley is well aware of Vanguard, a fund flows juggernaut that for years has sapped the strength of Fidelity, where he worked from 2010 to 2014. Before Fidelity, O'Hanley ran the investment management division of Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK).
But Fidelity had no ETF business to speak of when he arrived on the scene. State Street, along with Vanguard and BlackRock, are the ETF industry's three dominant players.
"What's attractive for State Street is that it has the building blocks for investors who more and more desire a customized investment solution," O'Hanley said.