Citywealth Leaders List, 60 second interview – Glenn Murphy, State Street

Date: 25 Mar 2026

Karen Jones

This week’s 60 seconds Citywealth Leaders List interview is dedicated to Glenn Murphy, Managing Director, Wealth Service at State Street.

Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role?

I’m the Managing Director forState Street’s Wealth Servicesbusiness in Europe, working with a great team to lead our expansion into the wealth management technology and servicing space in the region. In practice, that means I focus on leveraging State Street’s global capabilities to help wealth managers, private banks and platforms run more efficiently. I stepped into this role in late 2025, bringing over two decades of experience in wealth management to drive this new venture forward.

What does a typical day look like for you?

No two days are alike. I always start with a coffee, and a quick scan of industry news, if I find something interesting, say a competitor launching a new service or an acquisition, I’ll share it with my team first thing. Mornings usually involve calls with colleagues in different time zones and check-ins to keep our projects on track. Later in the day I might meet with a client or prospect to understand their needs or huddle with our product folks to fine-tune our wealth platform and journey. It’s a busy role, but the variety keeps me energised.

Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.

Our clients often bring us fascinating challenges. For example, a large international wealth manager is expanding across the UK and Europe has asked us to streamline operations without disrupting their client experience. They recently challenged us to prove that our platform could handle their entire investment process – from trade execution to custody – seeking an all-in-one system. I love tough requests like that, because they push us to find even better solutions for our clients.

What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?

Wealth management is changing rapidly, and our clients face a couple of big challenges. One major hurdle is upgrading their technology and digital capabilities – investors today expect a seamless digital experience, but many firms are held back by outdated systems and high operating costs. We support our clients with a modern, integrated platform so they modernise at their pace. We also extend native technology capabilities by partnering with leading 3^rd party providers. For example, we have established a collaboration with Apex Fintech Solutions, a custody and clearing platform, enabling firms to deliver comprehensive, digital-first wealth offerings. We act as a strategic partner to our clients, helping them to solve for everyday operational challenges while meeting their strategic goals and objectives – all without disrupting their day-to-day business.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

Honestly, one of my proudest achievements is happening right now through building State Street’s Wealth Services business in Europe from the ground up. The global wealth market is not only experiencing significant growth, it is evolving and changing in real time. It’s not often you get to start a new business inside an established company, working with a fantastic team to make it happen.  So, I’m really excited about the progress we’ve made since I took on this role. We’ve assembled a fantastic team and even forged some game-changing partnerships. I’ve had other proud moments in my career, as a Chief Operating Officer and other c-suite roles and have especially enjoyed those that involved helping to modernise technology at some great wealth firms. However, getting to be part of building this business and seeing State Street’s vision taking off is especially rewarding.

What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?

I think a great leader needs a few key qualities. Integrity comes first, doing the right thing and building trust with your team and your clients. After that, I’d say strong listening and communication skills are crucial. A good leader listens to their people and communicates a clear vision, so everyone knows where they’re heading together. Adaptability is also important, especially in a fast-changing industry like ours.  You must be ready to pivot and learn new things. Finally, empathy and support for your team go a long way. I’ve been lucky to have mentors who invested in my growth, and I try to pay that forward by being supportive and helping my team develop and succeed.

Who do you most admire and why?

I have genuine admiration for a friend that passed away over two decades ago.  He fought in the Second World War as a tank commander, but throughout his life had so many genuine experiences to share.  Magnificently, he had many leadership roles in his life from professional, to educational, to community and brought so much knowledge, experience and wisdom to every discussion.  What I also admired most was that he had lived ‘our’ history and met so many fantastic people along the way, developing a style of approach to life that was unreplaceable.

Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?

For pleasure, Easter Island via Chile, and also India.  I absolutely love the night sky, unhindered by light pollution, and so getting to a place like Easter Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was absolute bliss, together with its mix of a strong heritage, such as to see those massive Moai statues, simply made for a great experience – it’s not the same as simply seeing it in the British Museum! I’m a big fan of travelling, having now visited over 70 countries so far.

If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?

I’ve always been passionate about technology. In fact, earlier in my career I served as a Chief Technology Officer at a wealth management firm. So, if I weren’t in the wealth industry, I’d probably be running a fintech or tech startup, something where I could build new solutions and solve problems through technology. But I love what I do now and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

How do you relax after a long day?

I like to keep it simple. Spending time with my partner is the best way for me to unwind, often we’ll cook dinner together, go for a walk or just sit around catching up on the day. I am also chair and trustee for a small charity and like to spend my spare time advancing initiatives in my own community and meeting new people – I learnt a long time ago, in life, you can juggle everything you put your mind to, and now that AI is here, we have no more excuses not too!

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