BlackRock to Launch its Own Trading Platform

BlackRock, which manages $3.4 trillion of assets for investors, will launch its own trading platform inside the firm, according to the Financial Times.

The world’s largest money manager moved its headquarters last year "in part to make room for the expanded trading business,'' the news service reported. The firm's founder and chief executive, Larry Fink, has criticized Wall Street firms for the "luxurious" profits they earn from trading.

BlackRock has begun ins tead to hire programmers and high-tech staff to build its own trading platform, which, by design and because of BlackRock's size, will become one of the world's largest.

As of September 30, 2010, BlackRock’s assets under management totaled $3.4 trillion across equity, fixed income, cash management, alternative investments, real estate, and advisory strategies.

BlackRock, based in New York, acquired Barclays Global Investors in December 2009 and now operates the business under the BlackRock name, making it the largest money manager in the world.

“We are developing the technology in-house to offer better value by lowering trading costs,” Rob Kapito, BlackRock president and one of eight founders of the company, told the Financial Times, in an interview.

If some BlackRock clients are selling a security and others are buying, the group can “cross” those trades internally without going through a Wall Street bank.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Practice management Technology
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING