State Street On The Hot Seat, Receives Wells Notice

State Street Corp. received some bad news from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, receiving a Wells notice regarding its solicitation of business in the public pension plan domain.

State Street: Wells notice investigation said to center on use of lobbyists

The SEC is investigating how State Street used lobbyists and consultants to influence the decision making process, a growing focus of SEC enforcement actions.  Federal rules prohibit an asset manager from contributing to a political campaign where the official has authority over pension assets the firm manages.

“Since 2012, we’ve eliminated the hiring of lobbyists and consultants for our asset servicing dealings with U.S. public retirement plans in support of our...