ENDOWMENTS

Harvard's Blyth Quits

The head of Harvard University's $37.6 billion endowment, the world's largest, has resigned two months after taking a temporary medical leave of absence, according to a school announcement.

Stephen Blyth, a 48-year-old native of England who earned a Ph.D. in statistics at Harvard, assumed the top role at Harvard Management Co. in January 2015. The university said he resigned for "personal reasons" and the exit is effective immediately.

Robert Ettl, the endowment's chief operating officer, will continue to serve as interim CEO while an outside recruiting firm conducts a search for Mr. Blyth's successor. Two other Harvard investment executives, Rene Canezin and Rich Hall, will continue to serve as co-chairmen of the investment committee.

--Dawn Lim

EARNINGS

Cuts Lift State Street

State Street Corp. reported a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates on lower costs, sending its shares higher.

Net income climbed to $619 million, or $1.47 a share, from $418 million, or 93 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, per-share profit was $1.46.

Total expenses fell 13% to $1.86 billion, as State Street pressed ahead with its "Beacon" project slated to shed about $550 million in costs over the next five years.

"We expected to see $100 million [in savings] in 2016," Joseph Hooley, State Street's chief executive, said in an interview. "Now we're tracking to $140 million based on our ability to advance some of our Beacon initiatives."

Revenue declined 1.3% to $2.57 billion. Analysts had forecast a $1.26-a-share profit on $2.65 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

State Street shares rose 9.3% to $63.77 on Wednesday.

--Justin Baer

STANDARD CHARTERED

Chairman Named

Standard Chartered PLC named International Monetary Fund official and former Spanish central banker José Viñals as its next chairman, after searching for more than a year to replace the outgoing John Peace.

Mr. Viñals will start in October and take over the role from Mr. Peace on Dec. 1.

Naguib Kheraj, the Standard Chartered director who led the search for a new chairman, will become deputy chairman.

Mr. Viñals is financial counselor and director of the monetary and capital-markets department of the IMF. He joined the IMF in 2009 after a 25-year career at the Bank of Spain.

--Margot Patrick

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 28, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)