State Street in Academic Partnership to Expand Crypto Research Effort
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: November 18, 2021
State Street has expanded its academic partnerships with the addition of two professors from top Boston-based business schools.
State Street Associates (SSA), the academic and data science research arm of the bank, will partner with Antoinette Schoar, a finance professor at MIT, who joins in an effort to see clients through risks and opportunities in the blockchain and cryptocurrencies space.
Robin Greenwood, a finance and banking professor at Harvard Business School, also joins to advance research on a range of topics, including central bank policy, equity investing, financial crises and behavioural finance.
“Our clients continue to watch the cryptocurrency space closely and are increasingly thinking of it as an asset class. Professor Schoar has emerged as a thought leader whose rigorous research is trusted by academics and professional investors alike,” says Will Kinlaw, head of research for State Street’s Global Markets arm, which includes State Street Associates. “We are also pleased to partner with Professor Greenwood, who brings deep expertise on a range of investment topics of interest to our clients, such as central bank policy and equity investing. We are delighted to have both on board and are confident that their insights will help our clients better manage risk and capitalize on market opportunities.”
Schoar is an expert in corporate finance, organisational economics and entrepreneurship. Her current research focuses on the topics of consumer and entrepreneurial finance, and how new financial technologies are impacting those areas. In addition to the work she will be doing with clients in the blockchain and cryptocurrencies space, Schoar will help apply research findings directly with State Street Digital.
Launched in June of this year, State Street Digital was created to address the industry’s evolving shift to digital finance. The new division builds on State Street’s prior digital capabilities and now includes crypto, central bank digital currency, blockchain and tokenization. State Street’s GlobalLink technology platform is also a component of State Street Digital.
Additionally, Schoar sits as the co-chair and co-director of the NBER Corporate Finance group and is the co-founder of ideas42, a non-profit that uses insights from behavioural economics and psychology to solve social problems.
“Cryptocurrencies have become rapidly popularised,” says Dr. Schoar. “This is an opaque market where opportunities are not obvious and risks are not well understood. At the same time, blockchain has the potential to provide new opportunities and applications for financial markets. I am excited to be collaborating with State Street and its clients as they devise strategies to navigate these important trends.”
Greenwood is senior associate dean for faculty development and research at Harvard Business School, and also the George Gund professor of finance and banking, the Anne and James F. Rothenberg Faculty Fellow, as well as the faculty director of the behavioural finance and financial stability project at Harvard Business School. His current research takes a particular focus on “macro-level” market inefficiencies such as asset price bubbles and measuring market frothiness.
In addition, Greenwood is a member of the Financial Advisory Roundtable of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a research associate at the US National Bureau of Economic Research. “State Street has a track record of engagement with the academic community to advance research into real-world challenges,” he says. “I look forward to working with the team at State Street Associates and to engaging with State Street’s clients to achieve better outcomes.”