State Street Invests in Apex Fintech, Expands Wealth Services with Digital Custody Partnership.

State Street has partnered with Apex Fintech Solutions to expand its wealth services offerings. State Street will use Apex's digital custody and clearing platform and has taken a minority stake in the company. The partnership aims to provide State Street's clients with a wider range of digital solutions for managing their assets.

Title: State Street Partners with Apex Fintech Solutions to Expand Wealth Services

State Street Corporation has entered into a strategic partnership with Apex Fintech Solutions, taking a minority stake in the fast-growing platform provider. The alliance aims to create the first fully digital, globally scalable custody and clearing solution tailored to the wealth management industry, reflecting mounting demand for modern, technology-driven investment infrastructure.

What Happened

Boston-based State Street, which oversees $49 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $5.1 trillion in assets under management, will leverage Apex’s digital-first custody and clearing platform to expand its wealth services. Apex, headquartered in the U.S. with more than 200 institutional clients and 22 million brokerage accounts, brings a modular system that supports digital custody, frictionless clearing, and direct access to U.S. markets.

The partnership integrates Apex’s API-driven solutions with State Street’s global footprint, institutional infrastructure, and technology ecosystem. Together, they plan to deliver a platform capable of servicing wealth advisors, self-directed platforms, and fintech disruptors across international markets. The collaboration also includes State Street’s Charles River Development Wealth division, which provides front-office software solutions overseeing more than $3 trillion in assets.

Why It Matters

The global wealth management industry is undergoing rapid transformation as clients demand faster, more transparent, and more cost-efficient services. Traditional custody systems often struggle to scale for both high-net-worth and mass affluent segments, creating friction for wealth advisors and their end clients. By combining forces, State Street and Apex are offering an alternative: a digital-first infrastructure that bridges institutional scale with fintech agility.

For State Street, the move reinforces its role not only as a custodian and asset manager but also as a key provider of digital infrastructure. For Apex, the investment provides access to new markets and strengthens its reputation as a backbone for next-generation wealth platforms.

John Plansky, executive vice president and head of State Street Wealth Services, framed the move as an extension of the firm’s commitment to help clients accelerate decision-making through advanced technology. Bill Capuzzi, CEO of Apex, underscored that backend systems must evolve as wealth management faces “enormous change driven by rapid market innovation and investor expectations.”

What’s Next

The rollout of the joint custody and clearing platform will initially focus on U.S. and global wealth managers looking for digital scalability. Over time, the alliance expects to target emerging wealth hubs in Asia and EMEA, where investor bases are increasingly digitally native. The integrated model is designed to support a range of clients—from high-net-worth advisors seeking sophisticated custody to fintech startups offering self-directed platforms to mass-market users.

Industry observers note that the partnership aligns with a broader trend: consolidation and modernization in the wealth technology stack. As the digital wealth management market is forecast to grow into the trillions by the end of the decade, partnerships that combine fintech innovation with institutional infrastructure are likely to define the competitive landscape.

By weaving Apex’s nimble digital architecture with State Street’s scale and global reach, the collaboration could prove to be a template for how legacy institutions and fintech disruptors cooperate rather than compete in the next phase of wealth management.

References

[1] https://financefeeds.com/state-street-partners-with-apex-to-build-global-digital-wealth-custody/
[2] https://www.morningstar.com/news/business-wire/20250903509131/state-street-corporation-and-apex-fintech-solutions-announce-strategic-partnership-to-address-growing-global-wealth-market-opportunity