Addition, Subtraction ... Division

Welcome to this week's News Brief, a round up of some of Ignites' top stories of the past week.

SS&C last week announced plans to plunk down $1.3 billion to pick up Calastone in a bid to deepen its capabilities and broaden its network, Ignites' Sean Teehan reports. In addition to bringing in a tokenization platform for fund distribution, the deal would give SS&C access to massive markets, like Brazil, head of global investor and distribution services at the firm, Nick Wright told Ignites.

"We see our role to be the disruptors. We're not going to sit on the back foot and wait to be disrupted," Wright said. Learn more about SS&C's biggest deal since 2022. Calastone has 250 staffers and 4,500 relationships with financial organizations.

Earnings calls have brought news of more job cuts.

T. Rowe last week said it has made across-the-board staffing cuts, but did not say how many people were affected. The Baltimore-based firm added 252 staffers in 2024, and ended the year with 8,158 employees. State Street results showed that headcount at that firm dropped by 700 during the quarter. That's as the newly minted State Street Investment Management unit moves out of its Boston Seaport digs. About 1,500 employees will be moved to other State Street offices in the region.

Finally, the Department of Labor is expected to provide guidance that would pave the way for plan sponsors who seek to put private market products on 401(k) plan menus. But that doesn't mean lawyers won't have questions. "Let's say an executive order says private equity is fine, it wouldn't mean that any private equity investment is not going to be subject to fiduciary oversight or litigation risk," Jerry Schlichter, a prominent plaintiffs' lawyer told Ignites. "It still would have to survive that."

Weigh In: How Prepared Is the Industry for the ETF Share Class

With Securities and Exchange Commission approval of dual share class structures expected soon, Ignites Research wants to know how asset managers, distributors and service providers are preparing (or not). Take our 4-minute survey to shed light on the fund ecosystem's readiness.

Top-Heavy

Just 1% of all ETFs listed in the U.S. account for 50% of the industry's $11.5 trillion in assets. That leaves a scramble for assets among the remaining 3,960 or so products on the market. But it's not to say there aren't opportunities for new products to get attention. Active ETFs attracted or 37% of net flows across all ETFs during the first half of 2025, Brian Ponte reports.

Keep Reading...

Winners Take Half: Elite Few Dominate ETFs

State Street Head Count Down Nearly 700

Inside SS&C’s $1B Deal for ‘Bottled Lightning’

T. Rowe Cuts Jobs Across the Board

Executive Order or Not, Private Credit Could Still Prompt Lawsuits

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