Custodian mandate agreement renewed between La Caisse and State Street

100 jobs created in Montréal's financial sector

MONTRÉAL, May 2, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - Today La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec announced the renewal of an agreement for the custodian services with State Street ̶ the entity responsible for settling transactions and safeguarding assets traded by La Caisse. State Street, a global financial services leader, already serves as La Caisse's designated custodian, a role it has played for 14 years. It will continue to use the services of Desjardins Trust as sub-custodian of La Caisse's Canadian assets.

This agreement enables La Caisse to improve its efficiency and agility, reduce costs and contribute to Québec's economic development. In addition to generating significant savings, the agreement with State Street allows La Caisse to continue to simplify its operational and technological activities. Some of the main operational benefits achieved through the agreement include faster updates of La Caisse's records and optimized banking transactions as a result of improved cash flows, both as proposed by State Street.

100 jobs created in Montréal
As part of this agreement, State Street has committed to create 100 professional financial services jobs over the next year, practically tripling its number of employees in Montréal. This talent pool will be concentrated in a new Global Centre of Excellence in fund accounting that will help strengthen high-level financial expertise in Montréal.

More direct access, both here and internationally
The level of service received will be enhanced through direct access to specialists from the various business sectors of State Street and Desjardins Trust and the physical presence of some of the custodian's representatives in La Caisse's offices. The agreement will also allow La Caisse to leverage State Street's strengthened international network in certain growing countries, thereby facilitating investment activities in these countries.

For Bernard Morency, Executive Vice-President, Depositors, Strategy and Chief Operations Officer of La Caisse, "renewal of this agreement reinforces our operational agility and strengthens La Caisse's ability to meet its strategic goals in Québec and around the world."

"With this agreement, La Caisse reaches another important milestone in its operational re-engineering, aimed at transforming its technologies and operations so that they will be better structured and more agile," said Pierre Miron, Executive Vice-President, Operations and Information Technology of La Caisse. "By continuing our business relationship with State Street, we rest assured that we have a partner that is well aware of our priorities, and whose vision is perfectly aligned with our business needs."

"We are delighted to expand our longstanding partnership of more than 20 years with CDPQ," said Stephen Nazzaro, executive vice president of State Street Corporation.  "Our commitment to technology innovation allows us to partner with our clients to help them achieve their strategic priorities." "We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Caisse de dépôt as they grow their business," added Rob Baillie, head of State Street's Global Services business in Canada.

Rigorous bidding process
Eight firms responded to the bid launched last year and three firms were selected as finalists. The proposals were then subject to a due diligence process, in accordance with Caisse policies. Additional requests led the finalists to review and adjust their respective service offerings. In the end, State Street's proposal provided the best fit with La Caisse's requirements. The agreement takes effect today.

ABOUT LA CAISSE DE DÉPÔT ET PLACEMENT DU QUÉBEC
La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is a financial institution that manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2013, it held $200.1 billion in net assets. As one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, La Caisse invests in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure and real estate, globally. For more information: www.lacaisse.com.

SOURCE: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

Jean-Benoît Houde
Senior Adviser, Media Relations
514 847-5493
[email protected]