Mark Wilson serves on the Board of Directors at BlackRock, Inc. Wilson served as the Chief Executive Officer of Aviva plc, a multinational insurance company headquartered in the UK, from January 2013 to October 2018. Prior to joining Aviva, he worked in Asia for 14 years, including as Chief Executive Officer of AIA Group Limited, a leading pan-Asian company. He graduated from the University of Waikato.
Article: Deutsche Bank, BlackRock CEOs warn against too much optimism in markets
Article - Media, PublicationsDeutsche Bank, BlackRock CEOs warn against too much optimism in markets
Reuters Staff, 27 May 2020
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The heads of Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE and BlackRock BLK.N on Wednesday warned against too much optimism in financial markets. Continue reading “Article: Deutsche Bank, BlackRock CEOs warn against too much optimism in markets”
Article: How the COVID-19 Bailout Gave Wall Street a No-Lose Casino
Article - Media
How the COVID-19 Bailout Gave Wall Street a No-Lose Casino
While ordinary Americans face record unemployment and loss, the COVID-19 bailout has saved the very rich
Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone, 13 May 2020
This financial economy is a fantasy casino, where the winnings are real but free chips cover the losses. For a rarefied segment of society, failure is being written out of the capitalist bargain.
Continue reading “Article: How the COVID-19 Bailout Gave Wall Street a No-Lose Casino”
Subject: Dr. Navneet Arora
Subject of Interest
Dr. Navneet Arora Is head of Quantitive Strategies at Citadel. Prior to joining Citadel, served as Director of Quantitative Research at American Century Investments. Previously, he served as Managing Director and Global Head of Model-Based Credit Research at BlackRock and as Global Head of Credit Research at Barclays Global Investors. Dr. Arora’s publishes in academic and practitioner journals, including Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Investment Management, and Energy Risk. Dr. Arora received a Ph.D. in finance from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, a post-graduate degree from Indian Institute of Management.
Article: Fund giant BlackRock issues stewardship playbook as a proxy-season test and SEC rulings loom
Article - Media, PublicationsFund giant BlackRock issues stewardship playbook as a proxy-season test and SEC rulings loom
Rachel Koning Beals, 18 March 2020
Fund giant BlackRock has released its stewardship playbook, a rough plan that furthers the industry-rattling pledge for sustainability from its leader Larry Fink earlier this year. Continue reading “Article: Fund giant BlackRock issues stewardship playbook as a proxy-season test and SEC rulings loom”
Article: ‘We are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance’
Article - Media, Publications‘We are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance’
State Street, 17 January 2020
BlackRock’s move to put climate change centre stage won’t be a huge shock to Australian companies, which are used to industry super funds flexing their muscles. Continue reading “Article: ‘We are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance’”
Article: World’s largest pension fund halts stock lending to short sellers
Article - MediaWorld’s largest pension fund halts stock lending to short sellers
Tim Kelly
Reuters, 3 December 2019
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world’s largest pension fund, has suspended stock lending for short selling, calling the practice inconsistent with its responsibilities as a long-term investor.
Article: Court Dismisses Some FX Rigging Claims Against Credit Suisse
Article - Media, PublicationsCourt Dismisses Some FX Rigging Claims Against Credit Suisse
Aziz Abdel-Qader, 04 September 2019
A New York judge overseeing litigation accusing 16 banks of rigging prices in the foreign exchange market on Wednesday narrowed, but refused to dismiss antitrust lawsuits against Credit Suisse Group AG.
A group of investors has sued the global banks back in May for allegedly rigging prices for their own benefit by sharing confidential orders and trading positions. Continue reading “Article: Court Dismisses Some FX Rigging Claims Against Credit Suisse”
Article: The Backlash to Larry Fink’s Letter Shows How Far Business Has to Go on Social Responsibility
Article - Media, PublicationsThe Backlash to Larry Fink’s Letter Shows How Far Business Has to Go on Social Responsibility
Mark R. Kramer, 31 January 2019
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor with $6 trillion under management, evoked heated controversy with his remarks last week that his company would change its hiring and potentially its compensation structure to advance diversity and ensure that five years from now the company is not just “a bunch of white men.” This follows on the heels of his annual letter to CEOs asserting that companies need to embrace a purpose beyond just profit maximization. Continue reading “Article: The Backlash to Larry Fink’s Letter Shows How Far Business Has to Go on Social Responsibility”
Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Tells Corporate CEOs to Engage in Better Eyewash
Article - Media, PublicationsBlackRock CEO Larry Fink Tells Corporate CEOs to Engage in Better Eyewash
Yves Smith, 21 January 2019
One of the sorry spectacles of modern life is having prominent individuals who profit from and serve as prime exemplars of major social ills trying to depict themselves as part of the solution, when they haven’t gone through any sort of Damascene conversion o give their virtue-signalling even a thin veneer of legitimacy. Today’s object lesson is Larry Fink, the Chairman and CEO of the ginormous fund manager BlackRock (not to be confused with the private equity/alternative asset manager Blackstone). BlackRock, with $6.2 trillion under management as of October, 2018, is the largest asset manager in the world,. Continue reading “Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Tells Corporate CEOs to Engage in Better Eyewash”
Article: The Fake Larry Fink Letter That Duped Reporters
Article - Media, PublicationsThe Fake Larry Fink Letter
That Duped Reporters
Alicia McElhaney, 16 January 2019
Asset management giant BlackRock is investigating a fake letter sent to reporters by someone posing as the firm’s chief executive officer Larry Fink, a spokesperson said Wednesday. “Don’t be fooled by imitations…Larry’s real CEO letter coming soon,” BlackRock tweeted Wednesday. The Financial Times was duped by the letter, which focused on climate change, a report from the news outlet said Wednesday. Continue reading “Article: The Fake Larry Fink Letter That Duped Reporters”
Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink earns recognition as a climate fraud
Article - Media, PublicationsBlackRock CEO Larry Fink earns recognition as a climate fraud
Friends of the Earth International, 31 October 2018
NEW YORK– In recognition for his outstanding contribution to climate change, the activist group Friends of the Earth U.S. today presented BlackRock CEO Larry Fink with a “climate fraud” award. BlackRock holds more stock in companies contributing to climate change than any other company in the world. Continue reading “Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink earns recognition as a climate fraud”
Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Wants a Kinder, Gentler Capitalism. He Should Look At His Own Investments.
Article - Media, PublicationsBlackRock CEO Larry Fink Wants a Kinder, Gentler Capitalism. He Should Look At His Own Investments.
Derek Seidman, 18 January 2018
Larry D. Fink may be the most powerful investor in the world. As founder and CEO of BlackRock, he oversees the investment of around $6 trillion – yes, trillion – in funds. When Fink talks, companies listen. Now Fink appears to be trying to wield BlackRock’s influence for good. In a letter he drafted that he’s sending to CEOs, Fink writes:
“Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.” Continue reading “Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Wants a Kinder, Gentler Capitalism. He Should Look At His Own Investments.”
Article: BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is an index of money laundering
Article - Media, PublicationsBlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is an index of money laundering
ALI BRELAND, 13 October 2017
Larry Fink, CEO of the investment management company BlackRock, hammered bitcoin on Friday. “Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world,” Fink said at the Institute of International Finance on Friday. “It’s an index of money laundering. That’s all it is.” Continue reading “Article: BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is an index of money laundering”
Article: BlackRock, PIMCO said to plan new front in bank FX-rigging cases
Article - Media, PublicationsBlackRock, PIMCO said to plan new front in bank FX-rigging cases
Bloomberg, 05 March 2017
Some of the world’s biggest investors are working with a U.S. law firm to prepare a fresh wave of litigation against banks accused of rigging foreign-exchange markets.
BlackRock, Pacific Investment Management Co. and hedge fund BlueCrest Capital Management are working with law firm Quinn Emanuel to recover losses they blame on the manipulation of currency benchmarks, according to two people familiar with the case, who asked not to be identified because nothing has been filed.
The target banks, including Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, J.P. Morgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and UBS Group, have been fined billions of dollars for conspiring to rig FX benchmarks. The firm, which will probably file lawsuits in London and New York, is trying to attract additional investors, the people said.
Quinn Emanuel’s clients will likely opt out of an existing New York class action over currency manipulation that won a total of about $2 billion in settlements from HSBC, Barclays, RBS, Goldman Sachs Group and others in 2015, according to people with knowledge of the firm’s strategy.
Opting out of the class action would allow large investors to seek higher settlements by pursuing a global strategy that includes the recovery of losses from London, where a significant portion of global trades are settled. The existing class action is limited to transactions that took place in New York.
The two law firms that are running the existing U.S. lawsuit, Hausfeld and Scott + Scott, won’t give up control of the case without a fight.
In an April 24 letter emailed to U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield, lawyers complained that “certain unnamed law firms were sending false and misleading communications to class members to persuade them to opt out of the settlements,” the judge said in a court order Thursday. She set a May 12 deadline for the two firms to make a formal request as to what she should do in response.
