Boston-based businesses like State Street Corp. have found a new advocate in Washington, D.C., with the formation of The New England Council’s Financial Services Committee.

While its goal has always been to protect the health of New England’s businesses by advocating issues on their behalf at the national and federal level, The New England Council now is focusing its considerable influence on the financial services sector.

The newly formed Financial Services Committee of The New England Council, an organization made up of public and private business, academic and health institutions, is expected to meet for the first time within the month. The Boston-based TNEC focuses on industries that are among the leading economic drivers in the area, said James T. Brett, the group’s president and chief executive officer.

Among the dozen or so members of the newly formed committee are industry powerhouses like State Street Global Advisors, Fidelity Investments and Merrill Lynch.

Brett said while the financial services industry has long been an economic priority in New England and therefore of the council, the time has come for TNEC to commit to a special focus specifically on that sector.

“We’ve been able to conclude there are 400,000 New Englanders employed in the financial industry … We thought it was very, very important to put together this committee because there are several pieces of legislation in Washington that are being debated and discussed by the members of Congress,” he said.

F. Gregory Ahearn, senior vice president and director of external affairs for State Street Global Advisors, has been involved with TNEC for a number of years and will sit on the newly formed committee. “The council has traditionally a very successful track record in terms of advocating for a variety of New England business constituencies, including financial services,” he said.

According to Ahearn, TNEC has already been part of several initiatives on behalf of the financial industry, including last year’s successful lobbying campaign for pension reform, which increased contribution limits for 401(k) plans, IRAs and provided catch-up provisions for individuals over the age of 50.

“It [pension reform] was a very major piece of legislation and the council played an instrumental role in it,” Ahearn said.

‘Active and Interested’

The committee will be used as a forum for industry members to participate in creating public policy that will affect them, said Brett.

While TNEC has always advocated the needs of financial services providers, its leaders felt there was a need for a separate committee because of the extensive and expanding scope of the industry’s presence here.

“It [formation of the committee] really reflects the importance of the financial services industry to New England,” said Ahearn. “The Greater Boston community is one of the largest centers for investment management in the world. [It’s] really on a par with New York, London and Zurich [Switzerland] in terms of the assets that are managed here and the number of employees that are represented here related to the financial services industry,” he said.

Other New England states are just as influential. Hartford, Conn., long a hub in the insurance sector, has recently seen businesses based there expand to incorporate a full range of financial services.

The goal of the committee is to discuss some of the legislative initiatives that are proposed by the U.S. Congress and then to prepare an issues agenda, deciding which “bills should we be supporting that would have a positive impact on the financial industry in New England,” said Brett.

Members of TNEC often travel to Washington, D.C., to lobby legislators on various issues and the committee expects its members will do the same.

Although there are many associations within the six New England states that lobby on behalf of members, a committee at TNEC is important for several reasons.

“One reason is we are [focused on] New England and we are [representing the interest of] all of New England,” said Brett. “There is no other organization that can say they represent all of New England … The bankers’ association is here in the commonwealth and that’s important but I think we need a voice. The New England Council’s the leading voice for the business community for New England on Capitol Hill.”

While members of the committee currently represent global financial services providers, Ahearn said it shouldn’t have a problem representing the smaller entities, such as banks with under $1 billion in assets. Credit union interests will also be represented, said Brett.

“That has been one of the secrets to the New England Council’s success: that they’ve had an ability to address a fairly broad range in terms of both size as well as focus of members,” said Ahearn. “We’re very active and interested in representing that spectrum of global players like State Street and Fleet [FleetBoston Financial Corp.] on through to targeted New England-based institutions that are more community focused. We’re very confident we can do that.”

Although the agenda has not been set as far as the issues at which the committee will look, Ahearn said there are several that are likely to draw its immediate attention, including a number of pension reform issues and some “post-Enron reform legislation that we would expect to be dealing with over the course of the next 45 days.”

While the committee represents a separate focus from the broader agenda of TNEC, don’t expect it to translate to a dilution of intensity. “I would expect us to remain very active, frankly, and if anything, increase our level of activity from what has been a fairly aggressive agenda in the past,” said Ahearn.