BlackRock

Whether it’s AI managing regulations or nextgen tools acting as data scientists, executives say tech will change how asset managers work.

The industry’s biggest firms have grown bigger and the smaller firms have found it harder to compete on their own, the regulator found.

Even dedicated ESG indexes have shortcomings that many investors are probably unaware of, an expert says.

The firm now plans to integrate sustainability criteria into portfolio construction and exit investments with high risks from ESG-related issues.

Protesters and nonprofits are ramping up criticism of the largest fund managers for what they say is insufficient action around the global environmental crisis.

So much faith has been put on the partial trade deal with China that stocks have nearly recovered since President Trump’s first round of tariffs on imports.

Jeff Smith's dismissal was first announced in a memo by CEO Larry Fink and President Rob Kapito, who only said the executive had violated corporate policy.

At a meeting last year, the firm’s CEO discussed how behavior would be held to a higher standard than rank-and-file employees, people familiar with the matter said.

Mark Wiseman, global head of active equities and frontrunner to succeed CEO Larry Fink, said he failed to disclose a consensual relationship with a colleague.

“There’s less performance chasing than you saw in the past, and that’s a positive thing,” an expert says.

To stand out from the crowd, some issuers have embraced thematic strategies focused on niche investments that could become the next boom industry.

Challenges abound even without the issues posed by inconsistent global definitions.

SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson Jr. said his office studied 15 years of data to assess how the firms utilized their power on hundreds of proposals.

“The market is actually using proxies for understanding ESG data,” says BlackRock’s global head of sustainable investing.

The expansion is intended to free advisors to spend more time on client-facing tasks, executives say.

More than $1 trillion is invested in bond ETFs, with trading leaping 41% in 2018 from a year earlier, according to research.

By slashing fees, custodians are also eliminating special ETF platforms they had spent the past five years building out.

Geopolitical friction and a slowdown in global economic growth have boosted the metal’s demand despite signs of recent wavering.

“We need someone with a deep understanding of BlackRock, our business and, above all, our culture,” CEO Larry Fink wrote in a memo.

The strategies will invest in corporate bonds and large companies that issue high dividends, or have a growth or value tilt, documents show.