The funds include AXA Rosenberg's Equity Alpha range, AXA World Funds and the AXA IM Fixed Income Investment Strategies (AXA FIIS) range.

State Street will provide AXA IM with a full range of offshore investment services including custody and settlement, fund accounting, transfer agency, financial reporting, compliance and domiciliary services. The transfer of assets and related services is scheduled in stages from 31 March to 30 September 2006. The consolidation of AXA IM and AXA Rosenberg's two Pan-European fund ranges to one administration service supplier has been conducted in the interest of improving, streamlining and optimising the process, and ultimately will reduce both costs and operational risks while improving the quality of service to clients.

The appointment of State Street to this expanded brief follows its appointment in December 2004 to provide investment operations for $300 billion of AXA IM's assets under management. These services cover middle office functions including fund accounting, performance measurement services and fund administration. The transfer of AXA IM's fund administration and investment operations support in France and Germany was completed in December 2004 with the UK transfer completed in March 2005.

Commenting on the appointment of State Street, Laurent Clamagirand COO, AXA Investment Managers, said: "This consolidation is a continuation of our stated strategy of focusing on those areas where we have undoubted competitive advantages in order to deliver superior investment solutions to our clients. Our decision to award an expanded brief to State Street is based on its proven expertise and demonstrable track record of service delivery, and a natural choice for us given the success of our investment services outsourcing partnership with them in France, Germany and the UK.

As we continue to develop our business, we are confident that State Street will be an important partner in helping us meet our servicing requirements."

Tim Caverly, executive vice president and head of investment servicing for continental Europe at State Street added: "We are delighted that we can continue to build on our relationship with AXA Investment Managers. For us, there is nothing better than being able to expand a relationship with an existing customer on the basis of proven expertise and service expectations being met or exceeded."