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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2011
Commitments and Contingencies  
Commitments and Contingencies

Note 8.    Commitments and Contingencies

Off-Balance Sheet Commitments and Contingencies

On behalf of our clients, we lend their securities to brokers and other institutions. In most circumstances, we indemnify our clients for the fair market value of those securities against a failure of the borrower to return such securities. We require the borrowers to maintain collateral in an amount equal to or in excess of 100% of the fair market value of the securities borrowed. Information about these and other activities related to securities financing is provided in note 11 to the consolidated financial statements included in our 2010 Form 10-K.

 

The following table summarizes the fair values of indemnified securities financing and related collateral, as well as collateral invested in indemnified repurchase agreements, as of the dates indicated:

 

Legal Proceedings

In the ordinary course of business, we and our subsidiaries are involved in disputes, litigation and regulatory inquiries and investigations, both pending and threatened. These matters, if resolved adversely against us, may result in monetary damages, fines and penalties or require changes in our business practices. The resolution of these proceedings is inherently difficult to predict. However, we do not believe that the amount of any judgment, settlement or other action arising from any pending proceeding will have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, although the outcome of certain of the matters described below may have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations for the period in which such matter is resolved or a reserve is determined to be required. To the extent that we have established reserves in our consolidated statement of condition for probable loss contingencies, such reserves may not be sufficient to cover our ultimate financial exposure associated with any settlements or judgments. We may be subject to proceedings in the future that, if adversely resolved, would have a material adverse effect on our businesses or on our future consolidated results of operations or financial condition. Except where otherwise noted below, we have not recorded a reserve with respect to the claims discussed and do not believe that potential exposure, if any, as to any matter discussed can be reasonably estimated.

As previously reported, the SEC has requested information regarding registered mutual funds managed by SSgA that invested in sub-prime securities. As of June 30, 2007, these funds had net assets of less than $300 million, and the net asset value per share of the funds experienced an average decline of approximately 7.23% during the third quarter of 2007. Average returns for industry peer funds were positive during the same period. During the course of our responding to such inquiry, certain potential compliance issues have been identified and are in the process of being resolved with the SEC staff. These funds were not covered by our regulatory settlement with the SEC, the Massachusetts Attorney General and the Massachusetts Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of State announced in the first quarter of 2010, which concerned certain unregistered SSgA-managed funds that pursued active fixed-income strategies. Four lawsuits by individual investors in those active fixed-income strategies remain pending. The U.S. Attorney's office in Boston and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority have also requested information in connection with our active-fixed income strategies.

 

We are currently defending a putative ERISA class action by investors in unregistered SSgA-managed funds which challenges the division of our securities lending-related revenue between the SSgA lending funds and State Street in its role as lending agent.

As previously reported, two related participants in our agency securities lending program have brought suit against us challenging actions taken by us in response to their withdrawal from the program. We believe that certain withdrawals by these participants were inconsistent with the redemption policy applicable to the agency lending collateral pools and, consequently, redeemed their remaining interests through an in-kind distribution that reflected the assets these participants would have received had

they acted in accordance with the collateral pools' redemption policy. The participants have asserted damages of $120 million, an amount that plaintiffs have stated was the difference between the amortized cost and market value of the assets that State Street proposed to distribute to the plans in-kind in or about August 2009. While management does not believe that such difference is an appropriate measure of damages, as of September 30, 2010, the last date on which State Street acted as custodian for the participants, the difference between the amortized cost and market value of the in-kind distribution was approximately $49 million and if such securities were still held by the participants on such date, would have been approximately $28 million as of June 30, 2011. In taking these actions, we believe that we acted in the best interests of all participants in the collateral pools. We have not established a reserve with respect to this litigation.

As previously reported, we instituted redemption restrictions with respect to our agency lending collateral pools in 2008 during the disruption in the financial markets, and in 2010 established a $75 million reserve to address potential inconsistencies in connection with our implementation of those redemption restrictions.  In May 2011, we distributed substantially all of the reserve to "net providers" of liquidity in such pools, equal to the estimated excess liquidity used by "net consumers" of liquidity in those pools.

We continue to cooperate with the SEC in its investigation with respect to the SSgA lending funds and the agency lending program. Neither the civil proceedings described above nor the SEC investigation have been terminated as a result of our one-time $330 million cash contribution to the cash collateral pools and liquidating trusts underlying the SSgA lending funds in 2010 or the above-described distribution from the $75 million reserve, and the outcome of those matters cannot be assured.

As previously reported, the Attorney General of the State of California has commenced an action under the California False Claims Act and California Business and Professional Code related to services State Street provides to California state pension plans. The California Attorney General asserts that the pricing of certain foreign exchange transactions for these pension plans was governed by the custody contracts for these plans and that our pricing was not consistent with the terms of those contracts and related disclosures to the plans, and that, as a result, State Street made false claims and engaged in unfair competition. The Attorney General asserts actual damages of $56 million for periods from 2001 to 2007 and seeks additional penalties.

We provide custody and principal foreign exchange services to government pension plans in other jurisdictions, and attorneys general from a number of these other jurisdictions, as well as U.S. Attorney's offices, the SEC and other regulators, have made inquiries or issued subpoenas concerning our foreign exchange pricing. During the third quarter of 2010, we entered into a $12 million settlement with the State of Washington. This settlement resolves a contract dispute related to the manner in which we priced some foreign exchange transactions during our ten-year relationship with the State of Washington that ended in 2007. Our contractual obligations to the State of Washington were significantly different from those presented in our ongoing litigation in California. In addition, we are responding to information requests from other clients with respect to our foreign exchange services. A putative class action was filed in February 2011 in federal court in Boston that seeks unspecified damages, including treble damages, on behalf of all custodial clients that executed foreign exchange transactions through State Street. The putative class action alleges, among other things, that the rates at which State Street executed foreign currency trades constituted an unfair and deceptive practice and a breach of the duty of loyalty.

Three shareholder-related class action complaints are currently pending in federal court in Boston. One complaint purports to be brought on behalf of State Street shareholders. The two other complaints purport to be brought on behalf of participants and beneficiaries in the State Street Salary Savings Program who invested in the program's State Street common stock investment option. The complaints variously allege violations of the federal securities laws and ERISA in connection with our foreign exchange trading business, our investment securities portfolio and our asset-backed commercial paper conduit program.

As previously reported, we managed, through SSgA, four common trust funds for which, in our capacity as manager and trustee, we appointed various Lehman entities as prime broker. As of September 15, 2008 (the date two of the Lehman entities involved entered insolvency proceedings), these funds had cash and securities held by Lehman with net asset values of approximately $312 million. Some clients who invested in the funds managed by us brought litigation against us seeking compensation and additional damages, including double or treble damages, for their alleged losses in connection with our prime brokerage arrangements with Lehman's entities. A total of seven clients were invested in such funds, of which four currently have suits pending against us. Three cases are pending in federal court in Boston and the fourth is pending in Nova Scotia. We have entered into settlements with two clients, one of which was entered into after the client obtained a €42 million judgment from a Dutch court. As of September 15, 2008, the five clients with whom we have not entered into settlement agreements had approximately $170 million invested in the funds at issue.

We have claims against Lehman entities, referred to as Lehman, in bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. and the U.K. We also have amounts that we owe, or return obligations, to Lehman. The various claims and amounts owed have arisen from transactions that existed at the time Lehman entered bankruptcy, including foreign exchange transactions, securities lending arrangements and repurchase agreements. Subsequent to the end of the second quarter of 2011, we reached agreement with certain Lehman bankruptcy estates in the U.S., subject to court approval, to resolve the value of deficiency claims arising out of indemnified repurchase transactions in the U.S. We are in discussions with other Lehman bankruptcy administrators and would expect over time to resolve or obtain greater clarity on the other outstanding claims. We continue to believe that our realizable claims against Lehman exceed our potential return obligations, but the ultimate outcomes of these matters cannot be predicted with certainty. In addition, given the complexity of these matters, it remains likely that the resolution of these matters could occur in different periods.

 Tax Contingencies

In the normal course of our business, we are subject to challenges from U.S. and non-U.S. income tax authorities regarding the amount of taxes due. These challenges may result in adjustments to the timing or amount of taxable income or deductions or the allocation of taxable income among tax jurisdictions.

The IRS completed its review of our U.S. income tax returns for the tax years 2000—2006. In the course of that review, the IRS had challenged our treatment of leveraged leases known as sale-in, lease-out, or SILO, transactions. We reached an agreement with the IRS concerning our treatment of SILO transactions for all tax years, and closed the audit of the tax years 2000—2003 during the three months ended March 31, 2011. We expect to reach an agreement to close the IRS audit of the tax years 2004—2006 in 2011, and do not expect our ultimate exposure related to SILO transactions to differ materially from the amount accrued as of June 30, 2011.

Unrecognized tax benefits as of June 30, 2011 totaled approximately $234 million, compared to approximately $419 million as of December 31, 2010. Substantially all of the change was associated with the impact of our agreement with the IRS concerning our treatment of SILO transactions and the related closing of the IRS audit of tax years 2000—2003. It is reasonably possible that unrecognized tax benefits will further decrease by up to $158 million over the next 12 months as a result of the closing of the IRS audit of tax years 2004—2006 and related state filings.

The majority of the tax contingencies released as part of the SILO settlement related to tax years 2000—2003 were temporary items that did not affect our effective tax rate. Management believes that we have sufficiently accrued liabilities as of June 30, 2011 for tax exposures, including, but not limited to, exposures related to the IRS audit of the tax years 2004—2006, and related interest expense. Refer to note 2 for information with respect to tax assessments associated with our acquisition of Intesa.

Other Contingencies

In the normal course of our business, we offer products that provide book-value protection primarily to plan participants in stable value funds managed by non-affiliated investment managers of postretirement defined contribution benefit plans, particularly 401(k) plans. Information about these products and the related contingencies is provided in note 11 to the consolidated financial statements included in our 2010 Form 10-K.

As of June 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, the aggregate notional amount of the contingencies associated with these products, which are individually accounted for as derivative financial instruments, totaled $43.15 billion and $46.76 billion, respectively. The notional amounts of these contingencies are presented as "derivatives not designated as hedging instruments" in the table of aggregate notional amounts of derivative financial instruments provided in note 12. As of June 30, 2011, we have not made a payment under these contingencies that we consider material to our consolidated financial condition, and management believes that the probability of payment under these contingencies in the future that we would consider material to our consolidated financial condition is remote.